I was going to ask the same thing strangely enough. How does that process of running and signing up for a panel work?

>>5543645
Usually on the website for the con there will be a list of emails and people to contact. Or it might say something under programming (For me it literally says "Interested in running a panel? Click here) We signed up about 5 months in advance, just in case.

Please, Voldemort.
For the love of god, don't fucking suck.

Did anyone else go to that huge fucking steampunk panel at Otakon last year? I think it was sunday, but the people who ran it weren't dressed in Steampunk, they had shitty examples on their slideshow & were just lame. It was crazy boring & they clearly weren't prepared for the size of crowd they got.
It was just shit. The people dressed in steampunk who came to watch the panel were clearly more familiar with the genre & sub-genres than those conducting the panel... It would be like if I were to conduct a Homestuck panel (I've only looked it up just to see what the fuck it was, never read any of it, don't know the characters). What the fuck, you know? All of my rage...
Self sage because its not like I've ever run a panel or anything, but I've been to a few great & well-run ones.
Good luck, voldie. Be well prepared, knowledgeable & fun.

>>5543702
Well thanks! It's actually a Yugioh Abridged panel, so I don't think I could be any more knowledgeable about it! (It's a trivia game) We're trying to add video clips to our slideshow in case someone tries to argue that we're wrong (Because being honest, we're going to have whiny weebs in our crowd) and probably that should keep it interesting

>>5543639
Will your cat be there? If not, a plushie?

There was one Otakon, maybe 2009, where there was a Phoenix Wright mock trial panel that was so freakin popular it had to be moved to one of the giant ballrooms. It ended up being no more than a 'Guess Who' elimination to figure out who the culprit was. I think someone needed to check the definition of mock trial.

I think the bigger problem with your panel is people might think Little Kuriboh is there.

bump for need of knowledge

The #1 problem I see with new panelists is that they bite off more than they can chew. They either want to cover too much material, want to get really elaborate with audio/visual, etc. (For example, I'm having to tell a prospective first-time panelist who wants a cast of 30-odd cosplayers to answer questions in-character to... maybe scale things down a tad. I've had another green panelist want to have his event be seeded as an ongoing LARP event con-wide, requiring a team of dozens and a ton of extra equipment.) Shoot for an hour panel your first few times. Presentation-style, with a Q&A session afterwards.

#2 problem is not being prepared. Unless you are already experienced at giving presentations, don't try to wing it. Practice everything, from introductions to closing remarks!

Protip: video tape a dry run of the main part of your presentation -- you'll uncover a lot of bad habits to squash before panel day.

Also, preparation includes having all your tech and any handouts/other materials all together. If you need a projector, for example, make sure you know exactly what is waiting for you. Nothing sucks more than being audio/video dependent and showing up to find out you were supposed to bring your own cables (or to find out an asshole VA guest commandeered all the tech gear for his concert the next room over).

Be prepared for the attendees. Have plans if your attendance is too small, too large, too quiet, or too full of trolls. Don't sweat it if things go off track, be responsive to your audience. If your panel is 100% dependent on audience participation, you may want to wait til you have some normal panels under your belt.

My final advice is to really try to be interesting and not just have a panel that amounts to so much fan wankery. If your material is fun, engaging, and has at least a few things new to your audience, you're off to a great start.

I had a panel at Matsuricon. Totally nervous so I talked waaay faster than what I had planned out, so I ended up with a bunch of time left over. Luckily people had quite a few questions so it wasn't too awkward, but it taught me to make sure I had some backup material on hand if I need it and to slow down even if I feel nervous.

>Trivia

Missed this. Trivia panels kind of run themselves, but you gotta have these things in mind:

1) Have more questions than you think you need, or plan a non-trivia portion of the panel. Trivia can go by a LOT faster than you have planned.

2) You are correct, people will whinge on certain questions. Have a plan to deal with it.

3) Have a back-up plan for these eventualities:
* Hardly anyone shows up, or people are too shy to participate.
* Questions are too hard.
* Questions are too easy.
* The same people are dominating all the questions. (I had this happen in a trivia panel once, and on the fly, had the 2 top contestants come up on stage for a "bonus" round where anyone from the audience could try to stump them. I also had them try to stump us, the panelists.)

I've participated in a few though I've never hosted one! I wish you the best of luck!

I really want to host a Cafe Mew Mew panel though, so I guess it would more or less be a maid cafe with maybe a small skit at the end or something? Any tips or ideas for this? Would be super appreciated thanks!

>>5544755
Can you tell more about how you ran your trivia panel? Did you only ask random trivia questions or did you also quiz them on guessing animu tunes/memes/whatever? I want to host one next year, but I don't know if people should be put into groups or play individually. Also, what kind of questions did you ask and about what series? I feel like putting people into groups will make it easier to answer questions of all difficulties, but how did you judge the difficulty of your questions? I hang out on /a/ and I'm sure most people won't understand/know the answer to the questions I want to ask.

>>5544834
My trivia panel has always been centered around a certain MMO, so sorry, no anime involved.

We basically split the audience into 2 equal-sized super-teams and make them sit on either side of the room. Questions are in sets of 3, each set has a theme we announce (this helps makes questions a bit easier and lets prospective contestants know what they're getting into). Themes were everything from "Geography," to "Whose Line is It , Anyway?", to "Surprising stats," to "Every answer is 'The Barrens'".

For each set, we ask for a participant from each side to come up to the stage; we give priority over people who have not answered yet. Best 2/3 wins the set and takes a prize and earns a point for their team. Team points are just for bragging rights and we try to pump up the audience in-between rounds.

Easy questions are fill-in-the-blank. Hard questions are multiple choice. This helps off-set the difficulty. Questions that are too hard, we allow the contestants to ask for help from the audience.

As for content -- Two years ago, I asked several internet forums for help and inspiration selecting questions. I got lots of great material, plus ideas for my own questions and themes. This past year, I was rushed and used canned questions from a trivia bot. That was not as much fun, as all the flavor from the theming was lost).

Themed questions (think Jeopardy) really seem to be a hit with people and a good way to make a standard trivia panel more engaging. You can go anywhere from lore, to stuff about the creators, etc.

>>5544708
I 2nd this.

You really need to be prepared and really plan out exactly what you are going to do.

My #3 to that is: You can't control the convention. There's going to be hic-ups. You can't help if the convention isn't going to accept your panel last minute. You can at least be prepared. If it's not accepted then you'll be prepared for the next time you sign up for it.

I once critiqued a person for the panel on cos.com, I got a response saying that basically said they were not prepared because they had 3 panels and the convention wasn't doing their job in giving them enough time between them in the schedule. Also the fact they were notified they were accepted with not enough time. Yes, you can put some blame on the convention, but when you have 3 panels you can only blame yourself for being late and not set up properly. Plus on to of having a table at AA. She only had herself to blame for the over extending themselves.

I've done one panel and hopefully planning another in the future. If you are not an organized person and can take being in front of a crowd that can comment positively/negatively it may not be your cup of tea.

>>5544818
Oh gosh ♡ I would love a Cafe Mew Mew panel! That series doesn't get enough love. Maybe you could create some desserts that have the same themes as the characters? Like, a strawberry mousse for Ichigo, a mint cake for Minto, a pudding for Purin... not sure about the others, maybe some yummy drinks?

>>5544934
Oh god, yes. Even the most well-planned con is running by the skin of its teeth most the time. Especially where small events are concerned. Room moved, room canceled, wrong tech, wrong time, I've still waiting to see what new fuck-ups I can encounter.

I've been on the flip side of cons long enough where I take the chaos for granted. It can be a shocker if you're not expecting it.

>>5544946
the only problem is most of the volunteers will probably be fat acne covered 15 year old weeaboos who started reading it and decided it was the most kawaii thing ever

>>5544946
> create some desserts

If I'm reading this right, this is a great example of biting off more than you can chew. How many desserts to create? Is food even allowed in the panel room? How will you transport/store it?

Now, dessert *recipes* to share... that is easier to handle.

>>5544984
True, but don't lose faith! You could start a topic on the convention website's forum to attract other people who would think it'd be fun to do the panel and everything could go swimmingly~

>>5544956
I think people expect that cons are going to be sunshine and flowers inside and out... It's a "business". There also people that aren't trained to handle the work load, or they are trained and are over worked. People aren't considering that.

It is beneficial if you have worked on the inside as you can see what some of the inner working is like. Bottom line for me is that you can't expect to be treated like kings and queens because you are hosting a panel. You gotta work for the badge and be responsible for what you are "selling". You're there to entertain and sell yourself.

>>5544995
Hmm... that's right, recipes could work a lot better. Maybe the panel could also cover things like a normal shift at Cafe Mew Mew and tea party etiquette, as well as a skit with the characters.

I've participated in two panels so far, but I'm lined up to be in another three or four this coming year. It's going to be painful.
The one thing I'd stress to you is GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER WAY EARLY. The problem I had with both the previous panels was that the person running them was kind of secretive about some things or I just wasn't included "in the loop" very much. Made things really hard.
Also, if you think you can, try to do something interesting and unique and not just another character FAQ. I mean, they can be fun, but it would be so much cooler to do something different. Good luck.

>>5545024
Now you're thinking more like a con director!

>>5545031
>something interesting and unique

Last con I was staff for, I asked every attendee I had time to sit down and talk to (easily over 100 people) what panels were their favorites. Anything that had a hands-on or learning component was tops on the list. Runners-up were panels that had obscure/difficult to find source material. Game shows/trivia related stuff was very much tied to the charisma of the hosts.

My local con has been trying to make a maid cafe happen for a long time but there's a lot of health protocol and food merchant laws/issues that would have to be sliced through to make it happen in the first place. Let alone being able to staff it, get costumes, have enough food, keep it, sell it etc.

Fanime pulls it off every year but only becasue there's a large effort behind it with con center fridges reserved for food, plenty of volunteers and overpriced items.

>>5544928
Interesting. I need to get rid of a lot of con stuff I bought so I'm going to split groups into 10, depending on who many arrive. If there are too many people I'll need to weed some out before beginning. I attended a Guess the Anime Tunes thing and I think it's a great way to make the game go faster and make sure the teams aren't too unbalanced. I'm most worried that too many are weeded out. About how many attendees did you get for your trivia panel?

How many rounds/sets did you do? Did you have a set number or did you go until time ran out? I think I'll probably do a Jeopardy styled game with themes for each round. Since my trivia would be about animu in general, I don't think I'd be able to ask one person to come up and play a round (about 5 questions, 5 rounds...is that too much?). I'd probably get a small group (2-3 people) from each team to play a theme, and they sit down when they're done. I'm asking /a/ for some of the harder questions and bonus rounds. Of course, the audience will always be able to answer if the contestants don't get it.

I've never hosted a panel at a con before, but I've run games online and stuff...but I'm sure running an online trivia game and a real life one are two different animals. Have you encountered any problems with your trivia panel?

>>5545151
I had initially about 20-25 sets of questions, 3 questions to a set (5 qs drags on a bit long, especially if someone is having bad luck). I stupidly thought 1min/question was a good rule of thumb. No, no, no... that's WAY too much time. More like, 20 seconds or less, lol.

Seriously, have like.... double the questions you think you'll need. If it ends up being more than you need, great, you have a head-start on next year.

I had a decent-sized room the first year, iirc (think 40-some people), but only maybe 10 people consistently competing. Lots of people like the *idea* of doing trivia, but get cold feet when it's time to participate. Luckily, some of the shyer people built up the courage to come on stage as the game progressed.

That's going to be your biggest hurdle if you plan on small teams -- just having enough people to have a good rotation of competitors. You may have a greater attendance than I get due to the broader subject matter, but check your schedule grid as the con nears to see if you're being pitted against any other popular anime events. (It would suck, for example, to be up against a costume contest or AMV showing.)

If you want teams, plan for it, but have a setup for individuals as a backup.

>>5544946
>>5545024
>>5544996
Thank you so much! It's just a dream of mine more or less but I really want to make it happen someday. Yeah I was thinking more or less 'a day in the mew mew cafe'. So maybe a two hour panel where we would serve food/drinks like a maid cafe if the convention would allow us too and then maybe a skit/dance at the end or something. Would definitely have a few specialty items for each character again if the convention would allow us too. (Though I'd pick a convention that would allow us to have food/drinks)


>>5544995
Recipes is a great idea too!! Could name it take home mew mew or something. I would first clear everything with the convention staff seeing if food/drink is aloud before even submitting the panel. If it was I have a whole wack load of tupperware to transport food and get all of our mew maids to make like say a batch of cookies or bite sandwiches or something of the sort. Also get a cooler for any drinks. Then I would make say 10 of each special desert (which would correspond to each character)


>>5544984
Well if my friends would be up to it (which most seemed to be) I'd get them to help us out. I was thinking it would be the 5 maids (and if more people want to help Berry and Ringo too) and then hopefully a Shirogane, Akasaka and then the aliens for the skit at the end.

Is it possible to "advertise" for a panel at a con? A friend and I will be presenting a panel on the last day of a major con, and we're afraid that general congoers will not only be hesitant to show up because of the subject matter (it's not specifically about cosplay), but also because of the timing. However, we plan on making it a really fun, legit, entertaining panel that everyone can relate to- and we want to share it with as many people as possible. Anything we can do to maximize the turnout?

>>5545582
I think you're able to. I usually see people walking around with flyers and talking to other people about their panel.

>>5546886
bump!

Um a G*** online panel once...or twice

BUMP

I host two each year at a con and am a member of two others, it really depends on the show or series as to what to do. My biggest advice would be to have a big entrance or start the panel off with something really funny. People have the bad habit of leaving mid panel, but if you keep them inrested from the get go they will want to stay. if you want more tips I would be happy to give them.

I wish Voldie would do an armpit panel.

bumpy

bump

>>5552840
don't we all

bump

SHOW YOUR LUSCIOUS HAIRY FRENCH ARMPITS, VOLDIE!

Welp, I've only run a panel once, but it's something we're going to continue doing.

It was a fan panel, so my advice applies mostly to that type, but hey, if you learn anything, fantastic.

The number one thing to realize is the point of a panel. I go by a rule of three E's. Excite, Entertain, Educate. The people attending your panel are on vacation, so you owe it to them to make sure they have a good time. Don't let that statement scare you however, because if *you're* having a good time, odds are they'll follow suit.

Be excited about what you're presenting to them. Gush with energy, pass it on to the audience. Address the whole room, not just your laptop's screen or the first few rows.

Don't be afraid to stay with a joke if it made the room laugh, revisiting it is perfectly acceptable. Likewise, don't be afraid to bail out on a joke either.

Field too long, will continue in next post

Try to educate, while not becoming Wikipedia: The Panel. SO many fan panelists think it's okay to just spit game that they copied straight from a wiki article, and it's just not. That being said, your goal is to make it so random dave who came to the panel only because their friend wanted them to leaves the room interested in the subject. Vary the information you're giving between entry level and hardcore inside joke that only people who've lurked imageboards will understand.

Splice in bits of audience interaction all throughout. Q&A is great at the end, but if the first 3/4 of your panel is just you up front, they're going to be on their asses for a long time. Ask them questions, get them up on stage, have them stand up and stretch their legs for a "look under your chairs for a prize" moment or something.

The advice other anons have given is extremely valid. Double check to make sure your presentation runs on your laptop. Make sure VGA cables will be available. Check out the room beforehand to see what kind of space you'll be working with, and to make sure there's projectors, microphones, etc. Show up 10 minutes early, wrap up 10 minutes early.

I think that about covers it :V

I ran a damn Hetalia panel. It was one of the hardest fucking things I've done. It wasn't just straight Q&A ether, it was more like a 30 minute skit and a Q&A afterward.

Getting people to practice is a pain, if you're doing script. Doing the 'we can do improv' thing is a fucking disaster too. Least with Hetalia, I didn't have the problem of casting...which seems to be the problem with other fandoms.

A few tried to do a Homestuck panel like my Hetalia and they couldn't do it. Last I heard they're trying to get me to do it and I'm having none of it.

Honestly, the one advice I can give is to staff at the damn con you're plan on having the panel at. I've been able to talk to tech and directors due to the staffing meetings, thus was able to get the logistics done quickly.

>>5557088
>2012
>not braiding your armpit hair

I run panels at every con I go to, I've been doing so since about 2006. For me, it never gets old. I enjoy it immensely.

>>5545533
The major issue with maid cafe's has been mentioned, but it's mostly the hotel management. More often than not, most hotel-based cons already have a "catering" fee tied into them, but if the hotel sees food involved with something, they see $$$ to make.
I remember one year someone wanted to host an Ouran Tea Party, and the hotel said no unless the con was willing to pay more into the catering budget. An "informal gathering" in the lobby was held instead.

That's not to deter your dream! It just needs to be insanely planned out.

well... in relation to OP's pic-

I've held yugioh panels at the local cons I go to every year, and a few out-of-state. I avoid holding an "obvious" yugioh panel at cons with LK going since the yugioh panels I hold are basically yugioh-news based and not TAS-related.

Audience is real chill, I always end with a stupid funny random session, like quizzes, games, etc.

Your panel is up to you can be funny or serious, just what you think you will be able to present the best and what you and your audience will enjoy.

If you are good at drawing or cosplay maybe make a "how to" panel

If you really like a show, maybe hold a discussion panel about show, maybe your thoughts or plotholes you didn't understand or favorite characters why, etc.

Ahhh thanks everyone for all the tips! I've worked out a general list of things to do for/during the panel:

>2 weeks ahead of time get together and do a complete dry run, from beginning to end with no pausing to discuss. We could have a friend come over to be the audience
>Trivia panels will go by a lot faster than we'd think, so come up with a bunch of extra questions if that's the case (There are a lot online if we can't think of any)
>We need a backup plan for these situations:
* Hardly anyone shows up, or people are too shy to participate.
* Questions are too hard.
* Questions are too easy.
* The same people are dominating all the questions.
>We sort them into themes, like jeapordy (So apparently that is better than trivia)
>Easy questions are fill-in-the-blank and hard questions are multiple choice.
>For each topic there are 3 or 4 questions. 2 people come up and they answer the questions. After that topic is done, the winner stays up for the next round and faces another person until they lose
>For every right question, we will give them a straw or something and the person with the most straws at the end is the winner
>About each question will take 20 seconds so have tons!
>As for prizes, we need something that's good for the person, no matter who they are (ie, no t-shirts because they depend on sizes) Possibly buttons for 1st place and a LK poster for 2nd
>If there happens to be a tie, we can either have the two people try to stump us with questions, or have the audience ask questions
>If we run out of time, I figure we can save BBT abridged to the laptop we're bringing and play it on the big screen.
>For all the questions, have a video clip on the powerpoint with the answer in case someone tries to argue
Thoughts?

>>5557222
French braiding it is the way to go

bumping with my question

I'm in the planning stages for an intermediate wig panel. Normally I like to see other panels to see what works, but I've only seen intro to wig making.

I have an idea of what I want to do, and I've asked for suggestions as to what people would like to see. The main issue is being able to get the information out easily and in a relatively short time period.

Any tips on how to run a workshop?

I did a meguka panel last otakon. And it went....okay. We had a full house and they stated for the entire time. It could've been planned better, a little more exciting, and I felt kind of shafted because I had to share a mic with someone and the gentleman had a kung fu grip on it so I didn't get to say much.

I'd really like to do another panel, but so often I just don't feel like I know enough to be qualified to talk about it.

>>5558213
Make handouts! I used to run a Cosplay 101 panel, and so I would type up a list of FAQs and links, and then print them out on colorful paper and hand them out at the panel. I also use to list my public contact information, so people who still had questions, could easily contact me and the other panelists.

This way, you can be focused on the main points you want to hit, without being weighed down by easily-answered questions.
Also since it would be intermediate, another good thing to address at the panel is letting the attendees know it is intermediate and not beginners - that way you can skip the basics.