Some Notes and Dates for Panelists (Updated 8/06/2008)

Started by Kava, March 11, 2008, 09:55:49 AM

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Kava

Whoo~ I'll be updating with a new thread in the near future to have a better organized listing of information for Panels for 2009. For now, this thread has information from 2008, which might be helpful for panelists wondering what they can expect. ~ Kava (August 6, 2008)

Deadline to submit a panel: April 15th

Deadline to submit a panel that will be listed in Fanime's Program Guide: March 25th

Please keep in mind when submitting forms that panel descriptions for the program guide should be included on your form if at all possible, and should be 300 characters in length, or less.

^-^ That's why there are two fields, one for an 'overview' of your panel to tell ME what your panel is about and one for a 'description' that is fit for public consumption on the website and in the program guide.

Tips for Advertising your panel to increase attendance:
We recommend telling friends and family about your panel, posting about it here on the Fanime forums or in any other forum where it would be appropriate. Additionally, some panelists have had good results from creating a short video clip to advertise their panel and uploading it on Youtube. (If you upload to Youtube, be sure to send me a link!)

Program Guide Listings Character Limits:
It says this on the panel submission form, but I'm noting as I put descriptions onto the website that many forms submitted did not adhere to the 300 character limit for the panel descriptions. While I'm willing to be lenient on the website, because additional text costs us nothing there, character limits will be strictly enforced for the program guide.

The program guide also has a firm limit of 40 characters for a panel title. Both of these limits include spaces. Ie: Title needs to be 40 characters or less with spaces, Description needs to be 300 characters or less with spaces.

I'll attempt to e-mail panelists whose descriptions or titles are too long, to give them a chance to truncate them, but when the deadline comes (again - March 25th), I'll be shortening them myself if no short versions have been provided by the panelists.

Notes on Panel lengths:
When considering how long you want your panel to be, don't panic thinking that you must have a panel that is exactly 1 hour or 2 hours long! The Fanime schedule runs in hourly time blocks - so it isn't possible to reserve a panel room for a half an hour. However, an ideal time for a panel that has reserved an hour in the room is actually about 50 minutes. That leaves 5 minutes at the start and end for set-up, breakdown, audience to leave and arrive, etc. Also, it is acceptable for a panel to end early.

A panel should be a minimum of about 40 minutes in length, and we appreciate it if you notify us ahead of time that your panel will not last the full length of time in a panel room. Panels that are about 90 minutes in length can reserve a 2 hour time slot, and simply notify us in their submission that the actual presentation will only last about 90 minutes.

Notes on Panel Badges:
I want to clarify first a couple of frequently asked questions.

If I already have a full weekend badge for the convention - do I need a panels badge in order to give my panel?
Answer: No, you don't. The badges that  panels is willing to provide are mainly there so that panelists who are coming to the convention for only the days of panels won't need to pay for attendance on those days. If you're giving one or two panels, but you want to be at the convention all weekend, you may want to just get yourself a pre-reg convention pass. Even with two day-passes, you're not saving much if you're going to pay for the other two days anyways. If you're giving an Industry panel - we usually recommend getting Industry badges for your company instead. I can only give two one-day passes for a single Industry panel, but you can get weekend passes through registering as an attending Industry. (Professional Reg is here: http://www.fanime.com/professional/professional-registration )

I already bought a convention pass, but it turns out I could get a free pass through giving more panels - can I get re-imbursed for my bought badge?
Answer: No, I'm sorry. If you need your qualifying badge(s) for others helping you with the panel instead of yourself, that can be arranged, but I don't give re-imbursements to those who have already pre-registered for regular member convention badges.

I only qualify for a day-pass through panels, but I plan to attend the convention all weekend. Can I get a discount on a weekend pass?
Answer: No, I'm sorry. There is no way to get a discount on a weekend pass through giving a single hour-long panel, or even two. If you're giving a minimum of three hour-long panels, you qualify for a weekend pass through your panels, and one additional weekend pass for an assistant.

So how does this work? When do we get the badges? How do we pick them up?
Answer: First, keep in mind the requirements. 1 panel = two one-day passes for the day of your panel. These are not general 'panelist' badges. They're convention badges with your name on them that are good for a particular day, and you must show a valid ID when you pick them up. Ie: Don't expect to be able to hand them off to someone else. To qualify for weekend passes rather than day passes, you must be hosting a minimum of 3 hour-long panels.

If you need badges - you'll need to send information to either [email protected] or [email protected] with the full real names of the individuals whose names will go on the passes. You can include a nick-name or con-name, but if you don't give me a real name either the badge will not be given or you won't be allowed to pick it up since your ID won't match the name the badge was processed for. Also keep in mind that if you're getting a badge for more than just yourself - whoever is getting the badge needs to be helping in your panel, and not merely a friend you wanted to give a free pass too. Make them earn it!

At-con you'll pick up your panels badges at Programming Ops this year. Programming Ops is located on the second floor of the Hilton hotel, right around the corner from two of the panel rooms. I'll post hours that Ops will be open later, as those haven't been determined quite yet. (Please don't confuse us with Con Ops... they're on the other end of the con center from us.)

So... what if I agreed to do three panels and they were approved, and then later one of them was canceled? Do I still get my weekend badges?
Answer: Yes, you do. If your panel or panels were approved and then the con needs to cancel one of them for any reason, you will still receive the badges for the panels that were previously approved. We feel that's only fair. However, that is only if the convention cancels a panel that was previously approved. If you cancel a panel, you will not receive the badges that you would have been eligible for had you given it.

For those wishing to utilize Stage Zero to advertise their panel, you have two options.
#1 You can prepare a video/audio presentation to advertise your panel which can be played on the Stage Zero screen. It should be no longer than 2 minutes in length, and must be approved by Stage Zero staff before they are shown. You'll need to present these to Programming Ops when you check-in at the convention, so that they can be displayed. If you want to hand them over prior to when Programming Ops opens up on Friday, (I'll give these hours later), you'll need to make special arrangements with the panels coordinator (that's me!).

#2 You can choose a day that you want to appear on stage zero personally to give props to your panel. Your live promo time will be limited to 5 minutes or less. Please plan to finish your live promo within the allotted time so that Stage Zero can get back to their other programming. ^-^

More Notes about Stage Zero:

  • Video presentations for stage zero should be in the form of files (not .wmv, but most other things work) that SZ staff can put onto their computers, not DVD's that they'd be required to 'play'. A good idea is to put your panel title, day, time, and location into the file name. ie: DYI7pmSat24May2008VidMain.mpeg or VideoGripe4pmSun25May2008Panel3.avi  (those aren't real file names, just stuff I made up for examples)
  • Your in-person and live 'promo' time will not be scheduled. You'll want to visit the stage during or slightly before one of the 'open programming' hours when none of the scheduled events are going on to get your promo time. Show up, introduce yourself, and show them your panelist badge - or let them know which panel is yours. Be prepared to wait a bit, and they'll get you on when they're able to. Remember that you're allotted a set amount of time, regardless of whether anything is specifically scheduled to go after you or not, and you should be prepared to relinquish the stage once your time is up.

Programming Ops Hours
Friday: 3:30pm - 10pm
Saturday: 9am - 10pm
Sunday: 9am - 10pm
Monday: 10am - 2pm

Important note: Weekend and Friday-Only passes will be available through Professional Registration on Thursday night from 5pm-8pm or Friday morning from 10am-12pmNoon. After this, all badges will be picked up through Programming Ops. Saturday or Sunday only passes cannot be picked up via professional registration.

That's it for the moment, but if anyone has any other questions or can think of any dates I haven't listed yet - feel free to reply here and ask. I'll update this post as needed.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

#1
I should be finishing up with putting up currently submitted Industry and Fan Panel Descriptions on the Fanime website: http://www.fanime.com/events/panels later today (Friday March 14th), or tomorrow morning. (Except for a handful who I need to e-mail about their panel descriptions.)

Guest Panel descriptions should start going up next week!

For now, I'm putting up all acceptable descriptions even if they are past the character limits set, partly because I am so behind and I want to let everyone know what panels we're having without further delays!

However, to be fair to the panelists who did adhere to the 300 character limit, panels with long descriptions will have about a week after being notified to modify their descriptions to fit within the character limits.

For those trying to figure out how to do a character count on your descriptions, MS Word has a 'word count' option under 'tools' that will give you a little box with all kinds of nifty character count information. What you want to look at is: Character count with spaces. That number should be less than 300 for your panel description.

The following is my list of panels that currently need to shorten their panel descriptions:
(I noted what their current character count is at.)
None left!

I'll be sending them e-mails when I get a chance and the 'week after notification' doesn't start until the e-mail is sent (I know not all my panelists check this board ^^) - but I have access to this forum from work and can only e-mail in my few free hours at home.

Edited Monday morning 3/17: I sent out the e-mails this morning. Already got several responses! Thanks everyone! ^-^
Tuesday morning 3/18: I'm deleting panel names listed once they've sent me their corrections. Only four left. ^-^
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Chun

I sent my revision yesterday for The World of Pangya, but the status hasn't changed here...
~Chun

Su-Cool. There's Not Enough Of It.
Fanime Panelist (Pangya: 2007, 2008; Vocaloid: 2009, 2010)

Kava

Yep. Sorry Chun. I'll be trying to get updates in tonight. My weekend was unexpectedly full, I had a lot of errands last night, and I can't access my personal e-mail with the updates when I'm at work during the day so I have to do it from home.

The good news though - I did manage to meet with scheduling this last weekend to go over panels. I should be sending out estimated times in another week ... probably two at most. ^^

Edit: Actually, I think all of the above listed panelists have sent me revised descriptions already, except for Gaia Online, who gave us permission to alter it ourselves to fit the character limitations. I just haven't had time to put up the altered descriptions yet.

Gomen! I'll get it done as soon as I can. You're all fantastic.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

Okay! All the edited descriptions are up, and a few of the Guest panel descriptions finally! I have 9 panels submitted within the last week. Those descriptions will go into the program guide if the panels are approved, and I should be responding to those panel submissions tomorrow night. Submissions after this will not go into the program guide.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Jane_HTGPanel


Kava

I'm a little behind again at the moment. Partly, this is because my laptop died last week on Thursday which severely limited what I was able to get done this last weekend.

I'm hoping to get a couple of things done tonight:
-Putting up the listings for the rest of the confirmed panels who made it in before the program guide deadline.
-Responding to the half a dozen panel submissions that came in after the program guide deadline.

Then, I'm aiming for about April 19th/20th to send out the first tentative panel dates/times to all of you.

The date got pushed back from when I originally wanted to have it done, because with the loss of my laptop I also lost my nicely organized address book where I'd already taken the time to put everyone into a single group for sending mass e-mails to panelists, and that's work I'll have to re-do.

The plan is to get everything into a schedule that we -think- will work and then simply send you all a copy of that - so that you'll be able to see not only when and where you're scheduled, but what else is scheduled at the same time.

You'll have an opportunity after this to request a change.

HOWEVER - I would appreciate all panelists keeping in mind that It's literally impossible to schedule 60 panels between Noon and Three on Saturday (It's a four day con!), and that there is -always- something going on at the con, and that contrary to popular belief... not -everyone- attends music fest and masquerade (and those who don't deserve to have something else going on to go to, eh?). I'm definitely attempting to accomodate requests that were made as best as I can.

No updates today other than this last post.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

Updated the first post to include information about Panels Badges. ^-^

Sorry that those other tasks haven't been accomplished yet. Laptop is up and running again with a new HD (as of Sat. afternoon), so should get done in the next day or two.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Sparhawk

I do not see any of our panels/workshops listed in the web site or on the list here in the forum.  Is this because we have not worked out details yet or just because things are a tad behind??  For best results for our panels we need to get the info out there so people can know to come.

Please let me know what going on and what we can do to help.

Thanks

Benjamin Hsu, Director
TKRG.

Kava

Ben-

Your panels are not yet listed because I was so slammed the week of the program guide deadline that I didn't get them up immediately - and Thursday that week my laptop died which rendered me unable to make updates to the website. I finally got my computer back up and running two days ago, and I still have a lot to do to catch up. You are on the schedule, and will be on the website in the near future.

Thanks,

-Kava (Rena)
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

First post updated to clarify that panel badges are only for 'panelists' - not for 'panelist and whatever friends they want to give a free pass to', and to answer another question about panel badges that hasn't come up yet... but may because of this year's full schedule.

I'm not caught up yet... and those two things listed several days ago, I haven't got done yet, but I'm hoping to have time for them tonight! Thanks for your patience, everyone. ^_______^

-Kava
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

I've now sent e-mail replies to all panel submissions received, and panel submissions are no longer being accepted. We've got a very full schedule this year!

I'll try to list some of the added panels in the other thread. Mostly the guest panels, as the Fan/Industry panels I mostly listed even though I hadn't had a chance to send e-mail replies yet.

I haven't updated the website yet. I ran out of time! I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow night.

-Kava
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Chun

Quote from: Kava on April 17, 2008, 12:51:27 AM
I'll try to list some of the added panels in the other thread. Mostly the guest panels, as the Fan/Industry panels I mostly listed even though I hadn't had a chance to send e-mail replies yet.

So would it be safe to assume if a company (Another industry Panel) registered and mailed about a possible panel on the 15th, there is still possibility for them to make a booth/hold an event?

Sorry, I've gotten some short-notice requests from the company and they're wondering about the status.

~Chun

Su-Cool. There's Not Enough Of It.
Fanime Panelist (Pangya: 2007, 2008; Vocaloid: 2009, 2010)

Kava

Quote from: Chun on April 17, 2008, 12:59:35 AM
Quote from: Kava on April 17, 2008, 12:51:27 AM
I'll try to list some of the added panels in the other thread. Mostly the guest panels, as the Fan/Industry panels I mostly listed even though I hadn't had a chance to send e-mail replies yet.

So would it be safe to assume if a company (Another industry Panel) registered and mailed about a possible panel on the 15th, there is still possibility for them to make a booth/hold an event?

Sorry, I've gotten some short-notice requests from the company and they're wondering about the status.

~Chun
The last Industry Panel submission I received was sent in on April 9th, and I replied to all the rest of those early this afternoon when I came home for lunch. Tonight, I replied to the rest of the fan panel submissions. I can't tell you the possibility of a Dealer's booth - you'd have to inquire of Dealers about that. [email protected] I believe.

For a panel... I might be able to make an exception, but they'd probably have to take one of the open slots that are available, and there's not much left. My schedule is very, very... full. Send me an e-mail - because I'm going to go edit the web page right now to remove the links to the panel forms.

-Kava
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

I sent out an e-mail to all panelists last night with a preview of scheduled times and days. Here's hoping I didn't overlook anyone! This isn't publicly released yet, because panelists now have a few days to reply and let us know if they absolutely cannot give a panel at the scheduled time, and then we'll attempt to re-arrange things to suit their needs if possible.

This will soon be followed by an e-mail about Stage Zero advertising.... another about solidfying tech requirements for panels, and another about Badges for panels which will also include the information about when/where to check-in at-con, pickup badges, etc.

No other updates right now other than this last post.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

First post edited to show information about advertising on stage zero.
E-mail was also sent this morning to all panelists, requesting names of panelists desiring badges and giving the information about stage zero. Less than a month to go!

-Kava
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

First post edited to answer another question about badges that has come up several times already. ie: 'can we get a discount on a weekend pass if we only qualify for day-passes through giving panels'.

-Kava
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

#17
Hokay! I'm still catching up on a few things, but hopefully I haven't completely lost anything in a black hole.

Major update to the web page last night. Not quite all the panel descriptions are up now, but nearly all of them. Will hopefully put the last ones up tonight.

I'll be sending out an e-mail probably on the weekend with more details about stage zero and programming ops hours, when those getting badges can pick them up, and how and when to check-in at-con. Added a few bits about Stage Zero here for now.

The delay on programming ops hours is mainly as we wrestle with the issue of whether or not it will be open Thurs. night or Fri. morning at all for those who have weekend badges to pick them up, and if not, what other options we can offer. We'll have it sorted out by this coming weekend.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

Updated the first post with hours for Programming Ops. Will send that delayed/belated e-mail to all panelists by the end of the weekend.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels

Kava

Updated the note about where panelist badges can be picked up Thur. night or Fri. morning prior to Prog. Ops opening. (ie: they'll be available through prof. registration)

Note: This option is only available for Weekend passes or Friday-only passes.
Rena
Panels Coordinator 2007-2014
Programming Director, 2015

Panels Twitter: http://twitter.com/FanimePanels