Hello everyone!
The panel form has been live for about 30 hours currently, and I have about 19 panel submissions, with at least that many more expected within the next few days. I also have at least 4 or 5 queries as to when/how soon people will hear back as to whether or not their panel was approved. I don't have an exact time frame or date for you, but I wanted to try and give you an idea of what to expect.
We are attempting to convert our panel approval process from one that originally depended mostly on WHEN a panel was submitted into one where the quality and popularity of the panels submitted play a larger part in the approval process. Your time of submission is still important, since we have deadlines to meet, and a panel submitted in January or February will have far more chances to get approved than a panel submitted in April.
The new approval process is still slightly in flux, as we are experimenting with how best to do this.
For this year, our plan, is to have several 'rounds' of approvals for panels. Only a certain number of panels will be approved at each round, to leave room for GOH panels, Industry panels, and perhaps higher quality or more popular Fan panels that have yet to be submitted.
For now, I'm planning to make the first round of approvals in the first or second week of February, depending on how fast the submissions come in. There will be another round in March, one after the Program guide deadline in April, and a final one (if there are any slots left), after the final submission deadline. Any panel that is not approved in one round will be reconsidered for the next round, unless the panelist is sent an e-mail letting them know that we are for some reason unable or unwilling to host their particular panel
As has been the practice for the last couple of years, any panels that do not make it into even the final approval round, will be put on a waiting list. There are nearly always at least a few cancellations the week before the con that leave empty time-slots needing to be filled at the last moment.
We're hoping this will help us continue to improve the quality of the panels held at Fanime. ^-^
-Rena
Hey everyone! Here's an update!
We've done a tentative round of approvals for the first round this morning.
54 panels were submitted as of 11am this morning. We looked through them all, and tentatively chose 21 to be approved at the moment.
I'm planning to review these choices with some other staff members and announce the final list of approved panels for this round on Wednesday the 9th, in the evening. Probably you'll get a preview here in the forums first with just panel titles, and the full descriptions should go up on the website shortly after.
Please don't be overly alarmed if your panels were not approved in this first round. They'll be re-considered for the second round, which should be in approximately 1 month. If there was an issue or possible complication with your panel, panel staff will contact you via e-mail to discuss within the next week (ideally), or two (more realistically).
As a note, just because your panel wasn't approved this round, doesn't mean there was anything wrong with it. :) For this first, relatively early, round, we focused on approving panels to fill roughly 1/5 of the total available time-slots. That worked out to approximately 29 hours - so we culled 30 hours worth of programming from the current submissions for approval. We don't want to approve too much too early, as at this point we are not yet certain how many hours the GOH panels will take, nor have we received very many of the Industry panel submissions yet, so we are being cautiously selective. ;)
If you have any questions I failed to provide for, feel free to post them in reply here, or to e-mail 'panels AT fanime DOT com' with your question.
Preliminary Notice of 1st Round Panel Approvals
These are the panels that were approved in the first round, in alphabetical order. They should appear on the website with full descriptions soon. (Please e-mail any questions to panels AT fanime DOT com and panel staff will get back to you as soon as we are able.)
Abridging a Series
Awesomely Bad J-Music Videos
Banzai Arcade 2.5
Banzai Arcade Lite
Con survival for Dummies
Cthulu for President
Gaia Variety Hour
Gannon-Banned
Hentai for the Ladies
Hetalia
How to Make a Cosplay Group
Intro to Memes
Jpop Vs. Kpop Battle Royale
Let's Buy Toys
Manga Censorship Hall of Fame
Naruto 101
Official Gaia Panel
Pokemon DS Café
The Dub Show
The Great Debate
Visual Kei - More than Music
There were several different Hetalia panels that were submitted, from what I've heard. Which Hetalia panel was the one that got approved?
Quote from: Kiara on February 09, 2011, 08:05:42 PM
There were several different Hetalia panels that were submitted, from what I've heard. Which Hetalia panel was the one that got approved?
I was wondering the same thing, hope they'll specify soon I'm dying to know.
@Kiara and Wolftale: The panel descriptions are on the Fanime main site under "Panel Listings", if that helps. c:
Ahhh! Thank you ;D completely forgot about that ^^;;
For those panels that got accepted, is it possible to see our submission forms again? I had what I wrote saved on my computer but it somehow got deleted and I just would like to have the exact words that I gave the fanime officials :3
Question- are those of us who have already had our panels approved allowed to change our requested timeslots? My friend and I who are co-hosting the Intro to Memes panel deliberately said on the form that we can't host it on Saturday night and had set our first choice timeslot to Sunday night because we wanted to attend the Masquerade. But now it's been announced that Masquerade's on Sunday which sorta screws us over. x_x; Not to mention we'd possibly be losing a good chunk of our possible audience... rofl *kicked*
Would we email the panels department for that, or is it a no-go? D:
Apologies for the late reply.
The Hetalia panel that was approved was the one that was submitted with a title only of 'Hetalia'. And yes, there were at least 4 or 5 different hetalia panels submitted. There may be another one approved this next round.
@Marisuga: If you need the text of your panel submission back, please send an e-mail to panelsATfanimeDOTcom, and include the original title of your panel. One of our staff will mail it back to the original contact on the submission form.
@Armored-Heart: We anticipate that several panels might need time/day changes due to the change in the masquerade scheduling. I replied to your e-mail just a bit ago.
Also: My apologies to those still waiting to hear back. I'll be attempting to contact as many of you as possible today.
@Kava My friend who will be co-hosting just said she got the email; thanks! c:
*crosses fingers.* Come on return of the Comedy Club.
I was wondering, they said it would be one month after the first round of panels was looked through. Does that mean 30 days or one month as in the next month to the day? I suppose I'm just getting anxious about finding out about the panels. >u<
Hey all - I apologize for this, but the second round of panel approvals is being delayed till March 19th.
My staff and I simply weren't able to e-mail everyone in between that we needed to contact, and it's unfair to expect them to respond on such short notices. A bunch of e-mails are going out tonight. I'm sorry for the delay, and thank you very much for your patience.
-Rena
Argh, false hope of an update! :P Back to waiting!
How long do you expect email confirmation for yay or nay to go out?
I'm extra antsy because it's mid March and Fanime is soooo close D:
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 17, 2011, 11:54:44 PM
How long do you expect email confirmation for yay or nay to go out?
I'm extra antsy because it's mid March and Fanime is soooo close D:
^-- This! With a side helping of "need to know whether or not we need to be making hotel reservations!" (Fortunately the hotel my group's looking at isn't on-site or even in town, but still, haaate having plans still up in the air!)
/anxious
Hey Folks! Sorry for the two week delay. Without further ado, here are another 31 panels that have made it to the schedule thus far:
Pop-Fiction
Hetalia After Hours
Hetalia Budget cooking
Translating Anime & Manga
Gaia Feedback Social
Johnny and Associates
What's Wrong with Res. Evil?
Wig Styling
3D Film Making with Monty Oum
TGWTG: JewWario/Psychotaku
The Comedy Club at Fanime
Graphic Design for Manga
How To: Amateur Voice Acting
Magikarp: A History
Aniplex of America Panel
Durarara!! Panel
Whose Line Is It? Anime!
Whose Line Is It? Anime! (16+)
Religion in Anime
Bodycasting 101
Armor: Plan it - Make it
Sewing Basics for Cosplay
Under-Cosplay-Wear
Cafe Verfuhren:BL Butler Cafe
Building Gundum Model 101
Bento 101
BJD After Dark
Storytime @ Fanime
Manime!
Let's Go Beat the Death Note
There'll be another approval round in two weeks - after the April 1st Program Guide submission deadline. I intend to fill the schedule at that time - after that we'll move to a waiting list.
At the moment, there are still about 50 possible hours free on the panels schedule - and we have already reserved time-slots for most of the GoH panels.
To give you an idea of how stiff the competition is this year - right now, there are still 45 submissions that have not yet been approved.
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 17, 2011, 11:54:44 PM
How long do you expect email confirmation for yay or nay to go out?
I'm extra antsy because it's mid March and Fanime is soooo close D:
I think I should have been more specific too...
Will we get a confirmation that the request was received?
I'm kinda worried I didn't send it right D:
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 19, 2011, 11:58:43 PM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 17, 2011, 11:54:44 PM
How long do you expect email confirmation for yay or nay to go out?
I'm extra antsy because it's mid March and Fanime is soooo close D:
I think I should have been more specific too...
Will we get a confirmation that the request was received?
I'm kinda worried I didn't send it right D:
My staff and I don't have the time these days to reply to every submission, unfortunately. When you submit a panel request, you receive an e-mail asking you to verify your e-mail address (this prevents spam submissions from getting through), and after you verify your e-mail address, the submission is sent to us.
If you think that something may have gone wrong with your submission, feel free to e-mail panels to ask about it.
-Rena
Awesome. The comedy club got the green light. Although I think the registration page should instructed people to check the forums.
I'll make sure to squeeze in a joke about steampunk during our panel.</butt kissing>
So my panel is on the list of approved panels (Magikarp: A History) but I never received a confirmation e-mail. Did anyone else not receive one, or was this just me?
Quote from: Cosplay_Rose on March 20, 2011, 06:28:39 PM
So my panel is on the list of approved panels (Magikarp: A History) but I never received a confirmation e-mail. Did anyone else not receive one, or was this just me?
I haven't either, but I saw mine on the approved list, so I figured that they just haven't had the opportunity to send it and know that mine's still approved. If I don't get any e-mails about the panel schedule, then I'd start to get concerned, especially since I have to make sure it doesn't clash with any of my gatherings, but since I see it on the list, I'm good.
Is there going to be another Whose Line is it Fanime? this year? I went last year to see Ebner and it was hilarious. :D
Quote from: Eliteslayer on March 20, 2011, 09:10:19 PM
Quote from: Cosplay_Rose on March 20, 2011, 06:28:39 PM
So my panel is on the list of approved panels (Magikarp: A History) but I never received a confirmation e-mail. Did anyone else not receive one, or was this just me?
I haven't either, but I saw mine on the approved list, so I figured that they just haven't had the opportunity to send it and know that mine's still approved. If I don't get any e-mails about the panel schedule, then I'd start to get concerned, especially since I have to make sure it doesn't clash with any of my gatherings, but since I see it on the list, I'm good.
It actually makes me feel a lot better to know that I wasn't the only one who didn't receive an e-mail telling me that I was approved. I also figured that they just didn't have time to send them all out, but I wanted to be sure. :)
I received no confirmation email either. So no fret there. I'm sure they will send them out in time.
I'm sorry. I realize this is a change from previous years, but as I've already stated in my earlier post, my staff and I will not have time to individually e-mail each panelist this year. I will be sending out e-mails to all panelists after the first of next month.
-Rena
Wahoo Banzai arcade
Quote from: Kava on March 20, 2011, 12:59:07 PM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 19, 2011, 11:58:43 PM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 17, 2011, 11:54:44 PM
How long do you expect email confirmation for yay or nay to go out?
I'm extra antsy because it's mid March and Fanime is soooo close D:
I think I should have been more specific too...
Will we get a confirmation that the request was received?
I'm kinda worried I didn't send it right D:
My staff and I don't have the time these days to reply to every submission, unfortunately. When you submit a panel request, you receive an e-mail asking you to verify your e-mail address (this prevents spam submissions from getting through), and after you verify your e-mail address, the submission is sent to us.
If you think that something may have gone wrong with your submission, feel free to e-mail panels to ask about it.
-Rena
Guess I shoulda just re-submitted... I sent an email and got an email back saying I need to confirm my email but I never got the email to confirm my email @_@
Fingers crossed for mine; gotta admit I'm getting antsy about my fanfic workshop. I just hate having plans still up in the air! :P Can't just take a day and drive up for Fanime like we can for Anime Conji this coming weekend! :D
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 22, 2011, 07:39:24 PM
Quote from: Kava on March 20, 2011, 12:59:07 PM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 19, 2011, 11:58:43 PM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 17, 2011, 11:54:44 PM
How long do you expect email confirmation for yay or nay to go out?
I'm extra antsy because it's mid March and Fanime is soooo close D:
I think I should have been more specific too...
Will we get a confirmation that the request was received?
I'm kinda worried I didn't send it right D:
My staff and I don't have the time these days to reply to every submission, unfortunately. When you submit a panel request, you receive an e-mail asking you to verify your e-mail address (this prevents spam submissions from getting through), and after you verify your e-mail address, the submission is sent to us.
If you think that something may have gone wrong with your submission, feel free to e-mail panels to ask about it.
-Rena
Guess I shoulda just re-submitted... I sent an email and got an email back saying I need to confirm my email but I never got the email to confirm my email @_@
Yeah, you should probably re-submit then. When you submit a form, it tells you that it's going to send you a verification e-mail. It sends you an e-mail with a link you need to click to prove you're not a spam bot. You should get it shortly after submitting the form, so if you don't see it in your inbox, check your junk mail folder perhaps?
-Rena
This new system is very nerve racking :'(
You would think that registering early shows dedication and effort. Can't complain if it's being done for the sake of quality control though.
Also gundam is misspelled :'(
Quote from: Kava on March 23, 2011, 05:07:17 PM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on March 22, 2011, 07:39:24 PM
Guess I shoulda just re-submitted... I sent an email and got an email back saying I need to confirm my email but I never got the email to confirm my email @_@
Yeah, you should probably re-submit then. When you submit a form, it tells you that it's going to send you a verification e-mail. It sends you an e-mail with a link you need to click to prove you're not a spam bot. You should get it shortly after submitting the form, so if you don't see it in your inbox, check your junk mail folder perhaps?
-Rena
no go Rena.... It's ok though I resubmitted.... I can only hope for the best in ways of timeslots @_@
Quote from: Meever on March 23, 2011, 10:26:21 PM
This new system is very nerve racking :'(
You would think that registering early shows dedication and effort. Can't complain if it's being done for the sake of quality control though.
Also gundam is misspelled :'(
Sorry about that. It's new, and still needs fine-tuning. We're still trying to create a database to help us make selections, but we've had several snafus in getting the database created, so at the moment we're still doing things mostly manually. If you noticed a misspelling on the web listings on the website, please do drop an e-mail to the panels e-mail. We'll try to get it fixed.
I know the new system is.. well.. new, and we're still working out the details of it, and a lot of panelists are finding it confusing, so I really apologize for that!
We're trying to move to a system that allows us to accept late entries if they add more variety and/or high quality to our schedule. That, of necessity, requires us to not completely fill up the schedule as soon as we have enough submissions to do so, so we've been forced to pick and choose. Our selection process is by no means perfect, nor are we always able to tell from the submissions what will actually be a totally awesome panel and what won't, but we're certainly doing our best.
I really do appreciate y'all hanging with us this year through the growing pains. We'll try to make it less confusing for next year.
Small update, for those waiting with bated breath:
We are working on getting the panels schedule filled up, and completed. We haven't finished this process yet. It's looking like it'll take us a couple more days. The last of the schedule is always more tricky to fill, as most time slots are already full, and we have to start juggling panels around to fit available times for the new panels we're trying to schedule.
This is definitely where being flexible in your times comes in handy - pretty soon our approval process will get down to: who can fill THIS time slot?
I'm not going to give you any panel titles yet - you'll have to wait a couple more days for that, but I wanted to leave a note here and let you know we haven't forgotten - we ARE working on it, it's just going to take us a few days to sort out this schedule. :)
-Rena
When you announce the final panels, will you also reveal the tentative schedule? Or will that be at a later date?
How will the panels that get approved after the april 1st program guide cut off date be promoted? esp since i'm pretty sure most of us still waiting submitted way before april 1st...
I think they would still be in the program slifer.
To answer the question that was was asked: The April 1st deadline is only for the program guide, not for the printed schedule. The schedule deadline is later. All panels approved prior to April 15th will be listed on the schedule. Panels approved after that (due to cancelations), may not be listed on the printed schedule. Any changes in programming to the printed schedule will be advertised via twitter, stage zero, all 4 info-desks at con, and possibly the website, as well as the printed daily schedules outside of the panel rooms.
Wait, does that mean that people who get their panels approved after April 1st, will NOT get their panel descriptions in the program guide, and only have the name of their panel on the schedule?
And... here is the new list of approved panels. Before I paste the list though, a note: All acceptable panels that are not listed here were e-mailed tonight. So if you're not in this list: Please check your e-mail! There are a few time slots still open on the schedule, and the first to reply claiming them will get them.
Here's the current list of newly approved panels (pro-tip: use ctrl+f to search):
Hetalia Q&A
Yugioh Fanpanel
Anime Let's Make a Deal
Creating Your Graphic Novels
Anime Name that Tune!
Binding for Self-Publishers
J-Pop K-Pop Nation
WoW For The Non-WoWed
Intro to Samurai Senshi
Convention Survival Tips
Reporting Anime Conventions
Weird Manga
Working Together: Photoshoots
STG 101: Intro to Shoot-Em-Ups
Staying in Character
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DXAL
Cosplay Photography
Cosplay 101
Lolita Fashion Show Panel
Selecting The Perfect Fabric
The History of Lolis
Undressing Sherlock
University Anime Club
Deviant Art Meet-Up
Girls Like Boys Who Punch Boys
Your Body, Your Cosplay
Vocaloid: The Fan Phenomenon
Character Creation
Teaching Manga Class
An insider's view on Webcomics
How to make a webcomic in 1 hr
An Anime Look at you
Shira Oka: Second Chances
Character Creation
Girl's Guide to Gundam
Create That Anime!
Create That Hentai! (18+)
VIZ Media Panel
There are a few panel submissions that are not suitable for a panel room and are not currently approved, but might be approved, if details regarding their requirements can be worked out for other spaces available. These panelists should be hearing from us in the near future:
Rock Out Harujuku! (Pending - Karaoke room stage)
Shinkendo (Pending - Bushido Room)
Amtgard: A fantasy combat LARP (Pending - Bushido Room)
Yukie's Vocaloid LIVE (Pending - Stage Zero)
Mario Bro's Variety Show (Pending - Stage Zero)
Quote from: Kiara on April 06, 2011, 09:20:16 PM
Wait, does that mean that people who get their panels approved after April 1st, will NOT get their panel descriptions in the program guide, and only have the name of their panel on the schedule?
The schedule will be full before the list of panels is sent to the program guide. Any panels approved after that, due to cancelations, will not appear in the program guide.
The current approval round is considered the round for the April 1st deadline. We simply can't send out word of everything ON the 1st, because it takes times to sort through the submissions and try to fit them into the schedule.
I hope that makes sense.
-Rena
Quote from: slifertheskydragon on April 06, 2011, 05:16:39 PM
How will the panels that get approved after the april 1st program guide cut off date be promoted? esp since i'm pretty sure most of us still waiting submitted way before april 1st...
Fancy meeting you here, Slifer! ;) And I hear ya on the submission times; I think One and I put ours in way back in early February! 8)
Appended list of approvals - because panelists are up late and replied super fast to that e-mail sent.
Still 1 two hour time slot left on the schedule.
For now, the following have been added:
Character Makeup
Pattern Alteration for Fit and Form
Con Survival - Cosplayer Style
Henshin! TokuSentai
Digital Makeover: Cosplay Edition
Manga Club
Guilty Pleasures
CosmicBreak Moe Mecha MMO
How Edward Elric Made His Own Boots
(I'm going to bed! More updates tomorrow!)
When will the official panel schedule be released? Or at least when will the panel leaders know how many hours are being allotted to them and when?
Quote from: *Sesshie's* Nina on April 14, 2011, 10:19:41 AM
When will the official panel schedule be released? Or at least when will the panel leaders know how many hours are being allotted to them and when?
I just sent out the schedule a few minutes ago. :)
Any word on when the website will be updated with the finished list? ???
Judging from the panel email, I feel pretty good about this year.
Question though: When can we start advertising the times of our panels?
Quote from: Firefury Amahira on April 15, 2011, 02:49:37 PM
Any word on when the website will be updated with the finished list? ???
I can only go as fast as people get back to me to confirm their times. In an effort to speed this up, I just spent most of the last 3 hours on the phone calling people - but there are still a few people I was not able to get hold of. Hoping to get out the finalized schedule by Monday, but it depends on people getting back to me and me having time to get it out. :)
Quote from: Glitch on April 15, 2011, 07:04:24 PM
Judging from the panel email, I feel pretty good about this year.
Question though: When can we start advertising the times of our panels?
See above response to the other question. *chuckles* I think most things are locked down now. Just waiting on a few more confirmations.
@Kava - So in your conformation e-mail, I know you said not to mention anything about discounts and that the information would be forthcoming in another email. I've registered, but haven't paid my registration fee. Who do I need to contact about that so I can get my registrations squared away. It's almost the 30 day mark, and I'm just afraid that I won't be able to pay the pre-registration rate if it doesn't get taken care of soon.
Thanks for all your hard work with the new system and dealing with all us nervous nerds. ^^
Question about the Hetalia Q & A panel that was supposed to be on Monday. Our original time was supposed to be a two hour panel from 12pm - 2pm, but our time slot got pushed to a one hour panel from 2pm -3pm. Is there any way we can get our 2 hour slot back?
Quote from: *Sesshie's* Nina on April 25, 2011, 06:12:12 PM
@Kava - So in your conformation e-mail, I know you said not to mention anything about discounts and that the information would be forthcoming in another email. I've registered, but haven't paid my registration fee. Who do I need to contact about that so I can get my registrations squared away. It's almost the 30 day mark, and I'm just afraid that I won't be able to pay the pre-registration rate if it doesn't get taken care of soon.
Thanks for all your hard work with the new system and dealing with all us nervous nerds. ^^
Hello!
I obviously need to re-write what's on the website, because a lot of people ask me questions like this.
Discounts for panelists are only offered on full-priced badges purchased AT the convention center. I cannot give discounts on pre-reg or even early-registration badges. I cannot give refunds on badges that have already been purchased.
We haven't yet worked out a way for panelists to be able to get their badges squared away pre-convention. It's something that comes up a lot, but we haven't figured out a way to make it work yet. Sorry for any confusion!
-Rena
Quote from: Anicofe on April 26, 2011, 05:00:28 PM
Question about the Hetalia Q & A panel that was supposed to be on Monday. Our original time was supposed to be a two hour panel from 12pm - 2pm, but our time slot got pushed to a one hour panel from 2pm -3pm. Is there any way we can get our 2 hour slot back?
I have communicated with the individual in charge of this panel separately via e-mail.
Quote from: Kava on April 30, 2011, 11:24:32 AM
Quote from: Anicofe on April 26, 2011, 05:00:28 PM
Question about the Hetalia Q & A panel that was supposed to be on Monday. Our original time was supposed to be a two hour panel from 12pm - 2pm, but our time slot got pushed to a one hour panel from 2pm -3pm. Is there any way we can get our 2 hour slot back?
I have communicated with the individual in charge of this panel separately via e-mail.
I talked to her and she relayed your reply to the rest of us. Thank you!