Post by Administration on Jan 1, 2018 3:27:50 GMT -5
Note: We are working on an updated version, until it's ready, here is the existing guidelines list for panelists:
Greets...
Hey, why not.
1)Definitions:
Panels and workshops is where fans and various experts come and share their knowledge, experience and skills with the congoing population.
We subdivide as follows:
Panel: 4 peeps (or so). NO AV. NO MESS. Roundtable discussion.
Presentation: 1 to 3 people, Possible AV, NO MESS. Scripted presentation or demonstration
Workshop: 1 to 4 people making a mess. Or the audience gets to try something. (Usually by invite)
ANYTHING ELSE IS NOT A PANEL AND IS NOT HANDLED BY THIS DEPARTMENT.
We will be happy to clarify and redirect you if you're not sure. But please check first.
2) You do not have to register to *attend* a panel , or ask questions. There is no requirement or extra costs [1] to attend aside from a valid membership in Anime North. The sole exceptions are that a few events are age-limited due to content (mostly Yaoi North stuff, oddly enough) and workshops * can* put a limit on the number of participants but that should be obvious from the descriptions. (that basically means, only as many peeps can attend as we can fit in the room, or that we have supplies for.
[1] Once in a while we get a workshop idea that could require money. When different, it will be *clearly* indicated.
3) You have to register with our database to host one of those events, It is entirely separate from anything AN related, or forum based. www.anpanels.com
3a) Your registration form has a box labelled UNAVAILABLE: That is for times where you're absolutely unavailable. You are deemed available at ANY other time panels run. Putting any request to that effect anywhere else (especially in descriptions) will fail miserably. This is the only convention actually offering to try this and we have an excellent record of accommodating reasonable requests. .It does makes it harder to actually schedule the panels, and ridiculous requests with not be honored. Most likely by removing you from the panel, or cancelling it altogether.
3b) You don't register, You don't exist. If you don't exist, those project you might wish to be on won't exist either.
4)Later in the process you will receive an email with the emails of the other people with you on the panel. It's pretty dumb (and rude) not to get in touch and prepare before the convention.
4a) You are responsible for the description of your panel. The pocket program/Survival Handbook will be compiled from the descriptions you get a chance to fix at this stage. If you want to sell your project, use the NOTES field. Only a program book description should go in the description field.
5) You get swag commensurate to the number of events you participate in. This goes from token items for a single panel up to a free pass for next year or a refund. There also tends to be T-shirts and other AN merchandize available. The specific will be announced in the process, but it's usually 5 for a refund/pre-reg, 4 for a T-Shirt, varies for 1-2-3 (basically the best Swag we can find)
6) Some weird little events that don't technically fit within the scope of panels/workshops WERE also handled here.
I will try to guide such inquiries, but am no longer taking oddballs projects on.
6a) We don't accept 'Ask A Character' panel suggestions anymore. Too many people looking for panelist credit for what is really just an unrehearsed cosplay skit with no purpose. If there is a group that wants to run a contest or games in costume or perform a scripted, rehearsed play, they can write up a detailed proposal and it will be considered for an Event timeslot.
7) You do not need a long experience to join the team. You do have to convince me to let you on tho
8 ) Yaoi-North, Doll-North and whatever-North are still run ultimately by the same department. But when a group of events gets big enough to get the -North name there is an actual team in charge of such a specialised Chibi-Con So you should be aware of it and contact them directly. In case of need (like, not being sure where to ask) ask the top directly (ie, Me. If it has to go higher, I'll pass it on
9) Question usually get a reply within 42 hours by policy. If after twice that period you're still out of an answer, try again differently; Your first message quite possibly got lost.
We reserve the right that the answer be "I'll get back to you later" "Still working on it" or variations thereof.
10) We don't have to answer questions posed on *any* forum that's not run by Anime North ie the Teahouse of the Maple Moon. We're just too busy to hang out on the site of your local anime club, so if you have to ask something, do it *here*. (Yes, I had someone wonder why I wasn't replying to their post on a website I never heard of. That person is still waiting for an answer. )
11) In the later stages of the process you will receive emails from our database the programming team, or me. READ THEM. And reply when it asks for a reply. Most will be clarification that are needed about 2 minutes before we send the email. Among other things they'll be sending in the prototype schedules and moving anything once the schedule is created is a pain and a half. We'll fix mistakes if we find out about them in time, but checking your own schedule is part of your responsibility. Don't put your life on hold for it, but do check. Again, it's part of the job.
12) the Purple Sheet(tm) You'll get with your badge a copy of the schedule you've committed to be on. This should be signed by the other people on the panel/workshop to get your swag, or stamped by our Door Dragons when possible. And turned in to collect (As a backup we try to email the same data to you a little in advance). This now doubles as your pass to get in the room. Show it to the Door Dragons to get in to your panels. (It will not work for panels you are not on.)
13) If something goes belly up, at the Con or before, Tell Us . AN even pays for me to have a local cellphone *during AN* for exactly that reason. The number will be on your schedule, and basically should be the same as last year (tm) By the way, texting works better, AN is a *noisy* place
14) When you fill up your application, pick a name and email and stick to it for the rest of the process [1][2]. I have had people email from 3 different names/emails combinations. With AN, we do not have the time to guess who's writing. There's about 200 people on the schedule, and we can't keep track of all your emails, nicks and forum handles.
Besides, that's just common sense; how else can people recognize it's you ?
[1] That's also why the registration asks for it, so we can sort out who's who.
[2] Starting this year, if we can't find who's trying to say something, the answer "Who the [censored] are you" will be authorized.
15) Our AV room will have a laptop hooked into a projector. It's equipped to play pictures, videos, current versions of Open Office and Microsoft Office (Powerpoint '97 viewer, Powerpoint 2007 complete) and all. If your presentation has an AV component you will have to send it in *in advance* so it can be approved and tested. The deadline is now 24 hoursda after submitting the presentation idea. You will be allowed to update the files after approval under some restrictions. See "AV requests, rules, and so forth"
.
15b) File submission will be done via the free service Dropbox. It is free, works on everything (even blackberries) is dead simple to use, you can fall back on an upload via a website if you can't manage to install it (Very difficult to mess up), it's free, does not require supervision, automagically copies the files on all the machines we use, and it's free. Use the code below to sign up. It's easier, gets you right there, associates the accounts and you gets you a bonus 250Megs of capacity (and so do we). Just drop mechamomiji@live.com (cc me) an email when you've created your account and installed the program. You should create a folder by the name of the suggested presentation and share it with mechamomiji@live.com. Help will be available if necessary.
Magic Code to open the account and get free extra space: db.tt/qUK45tE
15c) Here is a minimalist tutorial on sharing a folder in dropbox for AV stuff.
goo.gl/cf5ex1
goo.gl/Zi6ju2. (New Version 2018)
15d) The Nevisa Rule (i)
Dropbox shares will be A NEW FOLDER AND under the form" Panel Name YEAROFTHECONVENTION"".
This is because old folders get nuked between years, and cannot easily be retrieved. The new format will make it easier to keep track. (The folders will be deleted between July and December)
Exemples:
Narutosucks2014,
Naruto Sucketh 14,
Naruto socks 2014
(I like teasing Naruto fen)
(I) in honour of poor Nevisa who did everything right and it wasn't quite working
16) That laptop (known as Nabiki) does *not* have internet access. It's not reliable in panel rooms. It won't work, so send in your files. Too bad.
The main login screen will have an obvious account for you. Your files should be on the desktop there, or you will see a link to them. Usually "Dropbox" or "Your files are here:"
CD-roms, DVD-Roms, are no longer supported. *but* you should have sent the final form earlier, so you shouldn't need them,.
16a) Gamine (Nabiki's gaijin cousin, and our backup unit) does not have an optical drive, so we don`t allow bringing stuff on disc at the last minute anymore.
We cannot promise which of the machines will be there.
16b) Installation of software, drivers or any tampering with the integrity of the data on the AN machines or unplugging of accessories is now formally forbidden. Any maintenance will be performed by AN dispatched technician.
16c) We're using 16x9 55 inch screens.
Font recommended is Comic sans 24pts. (Boring, but easy to read. you want people to be able to read this, don't you ?)
17) As we only rig one room for AV, we can only have so many things needing it. therefore, only events that convinces us *need* AV will get to play with it.
18 ) We don't have a Mac.The MechaMomiji Sisters have handled everything thrown at them so far, so not to worry.
19) Panels are defined as starting On the hour, and ending at 10 to.There are clocks with AN Standard Time on them. Use Them! Them's are expensive pieces of modern technology! Your responsibility is to *end* on time. If for any reason whatsoever you have to start late, you *still* have to stop on time (okay, you could stretch it to 5 to then) but your panel starts late, it's your problem to end on time. We will have staffers on hand to inforce this.
20) At 10 past **if** the panelists outnumber the audience, a vote can be taken to move the whole shebang to the nearest bar[1][2]. This is not mandatory. In such cases you are considered having fulfilled your obligation.
[1] As a tie-breaker, the audience gets to pitch in
[2] This assumes that 5 audience or more rate as "enough" even if your panel had 20 panelists.
21) If your panel is cancelled at the last minute (ie, *we* tell you it's canned anytime after we send the draft schedules) you are considered having fulfilled your commitment and can grab the relevant swag.
22) Punishment is simple. Either a good talking to for correctable issues, or a banned list. Which will then be passed along to all conventions I know the organizers of. That's right now Anime North, G-Anime, Otakuthon,Cape & Kimono and most of the SF conventions in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. If you notice problems with other panelists, bring it to our attention. It will be fixed.
(Very few people made it to the banned list. You have to go out of your way to take advantage of us and prove an amazing bad faith to get there.)
23) Outside of the minimum number of emails necessary (at the discretion of our staff) to arrange the schedule, you will not receive further communications except for:
i) An invitation to come back in the next years (if appropriate.)
ii) Invitations by reputable colleagues (your email is not given to them, I forward the message.) to other Conventions. This is usually less than 3 messages a year and can either be deleted if you don't care, or result in you getting a free pass at a Cool Event(tm)
24) Merging. Projects will be merged according to typos and to get things working. This is done on the assumption that we thought all the projects we merged actually meant to be about the same thing. *If* your thing gets merged with something it has nothing to do with and you weren't told about it. TELL US. It's called an accident and it can be fixed.
25) due to the new system, projects can now be killed APPARENTLY later than usual. Basically we normally recruited, debated, approved and THEN contacted people about it. We now have someone in charge of getting peeps in touch as soon as you get enough people for it to be considered. So, from now on, a project should not be considered accepted until it gets on the GO list. (Altho you getting the email adresses of the other panelists is effectively a 95% chance of it taking place)
26) Due to the dubious legalities involved, discussing where to pick up fansubs, scanlations, or other bootleg material is right out. Discussing the actual items is fine. Discussing the relevant technologies is fine. But not where to get them. That's over the line. What you do in the corridors *outside* the panel room is not really of our concern... But not in our rooms.
27) This also applies to FanFic. Actually, there is no such thing as "non-copyrighted" stuff. If it's written down, filmed, photographed, or otherwise recorded, someone has the copyrights to it. They can give copies away, chose not to enforce it under specific conditions (typically the case with fanfic, most authors just say okay, which is *their* right) , but the copyrights still exist.
If it's not copyrighted by someone else, it's original, and if it's original, it's not FanFic.
28) You are encouraged to find your own people, however, we will also match the people who have expressed similar interests. ie, if 3 people wanna talk Kampfer, we will get the point across, and eventually send them a group email so they can scheme about the panel in advance. Furthermore, you are encourage to open a topic in this forum looking for other people to join you on a panel.
How to do so: Figure out how to register here.
Then simply create a new topic along the lines of "I have this cool idea, anybody wants on ?" oh, it would be smart to actually put in a sentence like:
" If you want on, Sign up for "BoogahWoogagh and friends" " otherwise we could get like the Sailor moon panel where I got:
Sailor Moon
15 years of Sailor Moon
The Sailor Moon Panal
Guess what, none of those had enough people to get clearance. And it means that I have to boot off some people because obviously the total was above the number of panelists we can have on one.
29) I don't add people from a forum casual "I'd like to help" mention.
I need an actual commitment, part of the whole policy of making sure people don't end up on things they didn't want to be on.
(Any specific "Fingers: Please add me to this" will get a response, either I'll do it after I've done my emails (hint hint) or it will get a response explaining why it was not done. Check the response. It's important. It's very likely "Who are you". Half the people didn't register their Teahouse Username, and I can't keep 400 sets of names straight with absolute certainty. Unless you really want to be on "Why Batman should be considered Anime" because Someone using Treask asked for it in the forum and your handle is Traesk.
(Hell, I have a Mariya and a Mariyam, and they look alike. Don't get me started on the 2 adams, 3 alexes, 3 amandas, 4 matt's 4 nichola-ish 9 Steve's and 3 Tara's... Or the sets of twins... )
29a) Okay, honestly I almost never confuse the twins, but I'm making a point here.
30) If there isn't a response after 24 hours, guess what ? I didn't see it. Try again, maybe differently. Don't use the Proboard PM unless *nothing else* works. I *hate* the damn thing. email, forums posts and IM are the way to go.
31) For Panelist Badges, Go directly to the Registration Lines. Purple Sheet and Panelist Ribbons at the floating desk.(Location TBA)
32) Fingers can be found either at The Floating Desk upstairs, or at the York office. Schedule will be posted. Or email/IM, Text, call... (Specific Locations TBA)
33) Split topics: In case of split topic ex: My Little Pony: The Show vs The Fandom, How to get a Con BF/GF, or similar: People can sign up for ONE of the two, unless they have special permission. Otherwise they`ll be removed from one at random, possibly from both. As usual, Guests can do whatever they want.
33a) Re-merged topics: No more University/HS/whatever anime club. It's overall the same, so we take only one. (The original split is part of the reason I've been meaning to put 33) in practice for a while)
34) There will not be [insert show]: Ask a [Character/Ghod/Animal/Ninja/Student/Robot/whatever]. NOTE: Something called Ask-a-Nation may take place, isn't run by the panels department, and has nothing to do with us anymore.
35) panelists wanting to be on an 18+ project will be carded when picking up their schedule.
35a) 18+ panels must have "18+" in their name.
36) The Forum No-Bumping rule.
There shall be no bumping of threads, except by me.
37). NO CALL/NO SHOW: The action of not showing up to a panel one committed to, WITHOUT warning us at the earliest opportunity applicable to the reason of this absence.
Penalty: Suspension from the panel team for one year per incident. (Any number needing a full hand or more will be translated to "Many" and be permanent.)
Said warning can be made via email, SMS, phone call,(the number is on your schedule) in person (at our office) or any other method allowing for a record and acknowledgement.
Justified absences will have no further repercussion than a lesser panelist reward. We reserve the right of leniency in the interest of the convention.
This does not apply to 2014, but will be applied in 2015.
38) Only invited guests/panelists/presenters may apply for time slots longer than 1 hour. -Iczser eh
39) Spoiler Policy
Spoilers are plot and character information that is not available to the general public yet. Because Anime and Manga are produced in another country and released around the world at different times in different languages, sorting out what should be widely known to the Canadian fans and what is still a spoiler can be tricky and frustrating, so here is some general info to keep in mind:
Assume there is a chance that spoilers may be mentioned at any panel or talk unless the title and/or description contain “Spoiler Free”. Consider the entire convention to have a Spoiler Warning
It’s not the panelists’ job to figure out how much each audience member has seen or read or to hold back to protect a few who don’t want to know spoilers. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want to attend a panel where spoilers may be discussed.
Our definition of spoilers:
Unreleased shows, untranslated series and manga, scanlated manga, fansubbed shows – all info is considered spoilers and should be shared carefully by panelists, especially major plot twists and cliff-hangers.
Ongoing series and manga currently being commercially released in Canada – everything up to the episode or issue before the most recent is considered public. Episodes or chapters that are released less than 48 hours before the con starts are probably spoilers to much of the audience and should only be shared with a spoiler warning first. The same applies to films that are currently in theatrical distribution.
Completed anime and manga that have been commercially released in Canada for at least one month before the con – there are no spoilers, there is only stuff you don’t know yet.
Historical people and events are not spoilers even if there is an anime or manga based on them.
Additional guidelines for the panelist package:
39b) Panelists who intend to spend a significant amount of time discussing spoilers should begin their panel with a general spoiler warning and give those who don’t want to hear time to leave before beginning. If it feels necessary, repeat this later in the panel.
39c) Panelists shouldn't bait the audience with spoilers they refuse to share. Those that do will not be welcome as a panelist in future.
40) The franchise thing: (Wording to be finalized)
1 panel per franchise + 1 per current series of the franchise, max. Current taken as airing since last AN. If no current show, no extra.
Exception may apply for explorations of specific aspects.
66) Abuse
In extension of Anime North harassment policy this department now enforces a zero tolerance policy on abuse directed to our staff.
If warranted, repeated expressions will be escalated to the formal harassment policy.
Read more: teahousemaplemoon.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=panels&action=display&thread=146#ixzz2LjcOgmHw
OPTIONAL SECTION:
Suggested QR Codes readers: Iphone: Qrafter, Beetagg Android (2.2 Froyo): Barcode Scanner by ZXing Team, QR Droid by DroidLa
42) You can follow me on twitter for last moments updates, and offers for time slots and such. @panelguru
AN Manga Library V2 by PanelGuru, on Flickr
Greets...
Hey, why not.
1)Definitions:
Panels and workshops is where fans and various experts come and share their knowledge, experience and skills with the congoing population.
We subdivide as follows:
Panel: 4 peeps (or so). NO AV. NO MESS. Roundtable discussion.
Presentation: 1 to 3 people, Possible AV, NO MESS. Scripted presentation or demonstration
Workshop: 1 to 4 people making a mess. Or the audience gets to try something. (Usually by invite)
ANYTHING ELSE IS NOT A PANEL AND IS NOT HANDLED BY THIS DEPARTMENT.
We will be happy to clarify and redirect you if you're not sure. But please check first.
2) You do not have to register to *attend* a panel , or ask questions. There is no requirement or extra costs [1] to attend aside from a valid membership in Anime North. The sole exceptions are that a few events are age-limited due to content (mostly Yaoi North stuff, oddly enough) and workshops * can* put a limit on the number of participants but that should be obvious from the descriptions. (that basically means, only as many peeps can attend as we can fit in the room, or that we have supplies for.
[1] Once in a while we get a workshop idea that could require money. When different, it will be *clearly* indicated.
3) You have to register with our database to host one of those events, It is entirely separate from anything AN related, or forum based. www.anpanels.com
3a) Your registration form has a box labelled UNAVAILABLE: That is for times where you're absolutely unavailable. You are deemed available at ANY other time panels run. Putting any request to that effect anywhere else (especially in descriptions) will fail miserably. This is the only convention actually offering to try this and we have an excellent record of accommodating reasonable requests. .It does makes it harder to actually schedule the panels, and ridiculous requests with not be honored. Most likely by removing you from the panel, or cancelling it altogether.
3b) You don't register, You don't exist. If you don't exist, those project you might wish to be on won't exist either.
4)Later in the process you will receive an email with the emails of the other people with you on the panel. It's pretty dumb (and rude) not to get in touch and prepare before the convention.
4a) You are responsible for the description of your panel. The pocket program/Survival Handbook will be compiled from the descriptions you get a chance to fix at this stage. If you want to sell your project, use the NOTES field. Only a program book description should go in the description field.
5) You get swag commensurate to the number of events you participate in. This goes from token items for a single panel up to a free pass for next year or a refund. There also tends to be T-shirts and other AN merchandize available. The specific will be announced in the process, but it's usually 5 for a refund/pre-reg, 4 for a T-Shirt, varies for 1-2-3 (basically the best Swag we can find)
6) Some weird little events that don't technically fit within the scope of panels/workshops WERE also handled here.
I will try to guide such inquiries, but am no longer taking oddballs projects on.
6a) We don't accept 'Ask A Character' panel suggestions anymore. Too many people looking for panelist credit for what is really just an unrehearsed cosplay skit with no purpose. If there is a group that wants to run a contest or games in costume or perform a scripted, rehearsed play, they can write up a detailed proposal and it will be considered for an Event timeslot.
7) You do not need a long experience to join the team. You do have to convince me to let you on tho
8 ) Yaoi-North, Doll-North and whatever-North are still run ultimately by the same department. But when a group of events gets big enough to get the -North name there is an actual team in charge of such a specialised Chibi-Con So you should be aware of it and contact them directly. In case of need (like, not being sure where to ask) ask the top directly (ie, Me. If it has to go higher, I'll pass it on
9) Question usually get a reply within 42 hours by policy. If after twice that period you're still out of an answer, try again differently; Your first message quite possibly got lost.
We reserve the right that the answer be "I'll get back to you later" "Still working on it" or variations thereof.
10) We don't have to answer questions posed on *any* forum that's not run by Anime North ie the Teahouse of the Maple Moon. We're just too busy to hang out on the site of your local anime club, so if you have to ask something, do it *here*. (Yes, I had someone wonder why I wasn't replying to their post on a website I never heard of. That person is still waiting for an answer. )
11) In the later stages of the process you will receive emails from our database the programming team, or me. READ THEM. And reply when it asks for a reply. Most will be clarification that are needed about 2 minutes before we send the email. Among other things they'll be sending in the prototype schedules and moving anything once the schedule is created is a pain and a half. We'll fix mistakes if we find out about them in time, but checking your own schedule is part of your responsibility. Don't put your life on hold for it, but do check. Again, it's part of the job.
12) the Purple Sheet(tm) You'll get with your badge a copy of the schedule you've committed to be on. This should be signed by the other people on the panel/workshop to get your swag, or stamped by our Door Dragons when possible. And turned in to collect (As a backup we try to email the same data to you a little in advance). This now doubles as your pass to get in the room. Show it to the Door Dragons to get in to your panels. (It will not work for panels you are not on.)
13) If something goes belly up, at the Con or before, Tell Us . AN even pays for me to have a local cellphone *during AN* for exactly that reason. The number will be on your schedule, and basically should be the same as last year (tm) By the way, texting works better, AN is a *noisy* place
14) When you fill up your application, pick a name and email and stick to it for the rest of the process [1][2]. I have had people email from 3 different names/emails combinations. With AN, we do not have the time to guess who's writing. There's about 200 people on the schedule, and we can't keep track of all your emails, nicks and forum handles.
Besides, that's just common sense; how else can people recognize it's you ?
[1] That's also why the registration asks for it, so we can sort out who's who.
[2] Starting this year, if we can't find who's trying to say something, the answer "Who the [censored] are you" will be authorized.
15) Our AV room will have a laptop hooked into a projector. It's equipped to play pictures, videos, current versions of Open Office and Microsoft Office (Powerpoint '97 viewer, Powerpoint 2007 complete) and all. If your presentation has an AV component you will have to send it in *in advance* so it can be approved and tested. The deadline is now 24 hoursda after submitting the presentation idea. You will be allowed to update the files after approval under some restrictions. See "AV requests, rules, and so forth"
.
15b) File submission will be done via the free service Dropbox. It is free, works on everything (even blackberries) is dead simple to use, you can fall back on an upload via a website if you can't manage to install it (Very difficult to mess up), it's free, does not require supervision, automagically copies the files on all the machines we use, and it's free. Use the code below to sign up. It's easier, gets you right there, associates the accounts and you gets you a bonus 250Megs of capacity (and so do we). Just drop mechamomiji@live.com (cc me) an email when you've created your account and installed the program. You should create a folder by the name of the suggested presentation and share it with mechamomiji@live.com. Help will be available if necessary.
Magic Code to open the account and get free extra space: db.tt/qUK45tE
15c) Here is a minimalist tutorial on sharing a folder in dropbox for AV stuff.
goo.gl/cf5ex1
goo.gl/Zi6ju2. (New Version 2018)
15d) The Nevisa Rule (i)
Dropbox shares will be A NEW FOLDER AND under the form" Panel Name YEAROFTHECONVENTION"".
This is because old folders get nuked between years, and cannot easily be retrieved. The new format will make it easier to keep track. (The folders will be deleted between July and December)
Exemples:
Narutosucks2014,
Naruto Sucketh 14,
Naruto socks 2014
(I like teasing Naruto fen)
(I) in honour of poor Nevisa who did everything right and it wasn't quite working
16) That laptop (known as Nabiki) does *not* have internet access. It's not reliable in panel rooms. It won't work, so send in your files. Too bad.
The main login screen will have an obvious account for you. Your files should be on the desktop there, or you will see a link to them. Usually "Dropbox" or "Your files are here:"
CD-roms, DVD-Roms, are no longer supported. *but* you should have sent the final form earlier, so you shouldn't need them,.
16a) Gamine (Nabiki's gaijin cousin, and our backup unit) does not have an optical drive, so we don`t allow bringing stuff on disc at the last minute anymore.
We cannot promise which of the machines will be there.
16b) Installation of software, drivers or any tampering with the integrity of the data on the AN machines or unplugging of accessories is now formally forbidden. Any maintenance will be performed by AN dispatched technician.
16c) We're using 16x9 55 inch screens.
Font recommended is Comic sans 24pts. (Boring, but easy to read. you want people to be able to read this, don't you ?)
17) As we only rig one room for AV, we can only have so many things needing it. therefore, only events that convinces us *need* AV will get to play with it.
18 ) We don't have a Mac.The MechaMomiji Sisters have handled everything thrown at them so far, so not to worry.
19) Panels are defined as starting On the hour, and ending at 10 to.There are clocks with AN Standard Time on them. Use Them! Them's are expensive pieces of modern technology! Your responsibility is to *end* on time. If for any reason whatsoever you have to start late, you *still* have to stop on time (okay, you could stretch it to 5 to then) but your panel starts late, it's your problem to end on time. We will have staffers on hand to inforce this.
20) At 10 past **if** the panelists outnumber the audience, a vote can be taken to move the whole shebang to the nearest bar[1][2]. This is not mandatory. In such cases you are considered having fulfilled your obligation.
[1] As a tie-breaker, the audience gets to pitch in
[2] This assumes that 5 audience or more rate as "enough" even if your panel had 20 panelists.
21) If your panel is cancelled at the last minute (ie, *we* tell you it's canned anytime after we send the draft schedules) you are considered having fulfilled your commitment and can grab the relevant swag.
22) Punishment is simple. Either a good talking to for correctable issues, or a banned list. Which will then be passed along to all conventions I know the organizers of. That's right now Anime North, G-Anime, Otakuthon,Cape & Kimono and most of the SF conventions in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. If you notice problems with other panelists, bring it to our attention. It will be fixed.
(Very few people made it to the banned list. You have to go out of your way to take advantage of us and prove an amazing bad faith to get there.)
23) Outside of the minimum number of emails necessary (at the discretion of our staff) to arrange the schedule, you will not receive further communications except for:
i) An invitation to come back in the next years (if appropriate.)
ii) Invitations by reputable colleagues (your email is not given to them, I forward the message.) to other Conventions. This is usually less than 3 messages a year and can either be deleted if you don't care, or result in you getting a free pass at a Cool Event(tm)
24) Merging. Projects will be merged according to typos and to get things working. This is done on the assumption that we thought all the projects we merged actually meant to be about the same thing. *If* your thing gets merged with something it has nothing to do with and you weren't told about it. TELL US. It's called an accident and it can be fixed.
25) due to the new system, projects can now be killed APPARENTLY later than usual. Basically we normally recruited, debated, approved and THEN contacted people about it. We now have someone in charge of getting peeps in touch as soon as you get enough people for it to be considered. So, from now on, a project should not be considered accepted until it gets on the GO list. (Altho you getting the email adresses of the other panelists is effectively a 95% chance of it taking place)
26) Due to the dubious legalities involved, discussing where to pick up fansubs, scanlations, or other bootleg material is right out. Discussing the actual items is fine. Discussing the relevant technologies is fine. But not where to get them. That's over the line. What you do in the corridors *outside* the panel room is not really of our concern... But not in our rooms.
27) This also applies to FanFic. Actually, there is no such thing as "non-copyrighted" stuff. If it's written down, filmed, photographed, or otherwise recorded, someone has the copyrights to it. They can give copies away, chose not to enforce it under specific conditions (typically the case with fanfic, most authors just say okay, which is *their* right) , but the copyrights still exist.
If it's not copyrighted by someone else, it's original, and if it's original, it's not FanFic.
28) You are encouraged to find your own people, however, we will also match the people who have expressed similar interests. ie, if 3 people wanna talk Kampfer, we will get the point across, and eventually send them a group email so they can scheme about the panel in advance. Furthermore, you are encourage to open a topic in this forum looking for other people to join you on a panel.
How to do so: Figure out how to register here.
Then simply create a new topic along the lines of "I have this cool idea, anybody wants on ?" oh, it would be smart to actually put in a sentence like:
" If you want on, Sign up for "BoogahWoogagh and friends" " otherwise we could get like the Sailor moon panel where I got:
Sailor Moon
15 years of Sailor Moon
The Sailor Moon Panal
Guess what, none of those had enough people to get clearance. And it means that I have to boot off some people because obviously the total was above the number of panelists we can have on one.
29) I don't add people from a forum casual "I'd like to help" mention.
I need an actual commitment, part of the whole policy of making sure people don't end up on things they didn't want to be on.
(Any specific "Fingers: Please add me to this" will get a response, either I'll do it after I've done my emails (hint hint) or it will get a response explaining why it was not done. Check the response. It's important. It's very likely "Who are you". Half the people didn't register their Teahouse Username, and I can't keep 400 sets of names straight with absolute certainty. Unless you really want to be on "Why Batman should be considered Anime" because Someone using Treask asked for it in the forum and your handle is Traesk.
(Hell, I have a Mariya and a Mariyam, and they look alike. Don't get me started on the 2 adams, 3 alexes, 3 amandas, 4 matt's 4 nichola-ish 9 Steve's and 3 Tara's... Or the sets of twins... )
29a) Okay, honestly I almost never confuse the twins, but I'm making a point here.
30) If there isn't a response after 24 hours, guess what ? I didn't see it. Try again, maybe differently. Don't use the Proboard PM unless *nothing else* works. I *hate* the damn thing. email, forums posts and IM are the way to go.
31) For Panelist Badges, Go directly to the Registration Lines. Purple Sheet and Panelist Ribbons at the floating desk.(Location TBA)
32) Fingers can be found either at The Floating Desk upstairs, or at the York office. Schedule will be posted. Or email/IM, Text, call... (Specific Locations TBA)
33) Split topics: In case of split topic ex: My Little Pony: The Show vs The Fandom, How to get a Con BF/GF, or similar: People can sign up for ONE of the two, unless they have special permission. Otherwise they`ll be removed from one at random, possibly from both. As usual, Guests can do whatever they want.
33a) Re-merged topics: No more University/HS/whatever anime club. It's overall the same, so we take only one. (The original split is part of the reason I've been meaning to put 33) in practice for a while)
34) There will not be [insert show]: Ask a [Character/Ghod/Animal/Ninja/Student/Robot/whatever]. NOTE: Something called Ask-a-Nation may take place, isn't run by the panels department, and has nothing to do with us anymore.
35) panelists wanting to be on an 18+ project will be carded when picking up their schedule.
35a) 18+ panels must have "18+" in their name.
36) The Forum No-Bumping rule.
There shall be no bumping of threads, except by me.
37). NO CALL/NO SHOW: The action of not showing up to a panel one committed to, WITHOUT warning us at the earliest opportunity applicable to the reason of this absence.
Penalty: Suspension from the panel team for one year per incident. (Any number needing a full hand or more will be translated to "Many" and be permanent.)
Said warning can be made via email, SMS, phone call,(the number is on your schedule) in person (at our office) or any other method allowing for a record and acknowledgement.
Justified absences will have no further repercussion than a lesser panelist reward. We reserve the right of leniency in the interest of the convention.
This does not apply to 2014, but will be applied in 2015.
38) Only invited guests/panelists/presenters may apply for time slots longer than 1 hour. -Iczser eh
39) Spoiler Policy
Spoilers are plot and character information that is not available to the general public yet. Because Anime and Manga are produced in another country and released around the world at different times in different languages, sorting out what should be widely known to the Canadian fans and what is still a spoiler can be tricky and frustrating, so here is some general info to keep in mind:
Assume there is a chance that spoilers may be mentioned at any panel or talk unless the title and/or description contain “Spoiler Free”. Consider the entire convention to have a Spoiler Warning
It’s not the panelists’ job to figure out how much each audience member has seen or read or to hold back to protect a few who don’t want to know spoilers. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want to attend a panel where spoilers may be discussed.
Our definition of spoilers:
Unreleased shows, untranslated series and manga, scanlated manga, fansubbed shows – all info is considered spoilers and should be shared carefully by panelists, especially major plot twists and cliff-hangers.
Ongoing series and manga currently being commercially released in Canada – everything up to the episode or issue before the most recent is considered public. Episodes or chapters that are released less than 48 hours before the con starts are probably spoilers to much of the audience and should only be shared with a spoiler warning first. The same applies to films that are currently in theatrical distribution.
Completed anime and manga that have been commercially released in Canada for at least one month before the con – there are no spoilers, there is only stuff you don’t know yet.
Historical people and events are not spoilers even if there is an anime or manga based on them.
Additional guidelines for the panelist package:
39b) Panelists who intend to spend a significant amount of time discussing spoilers should begin their panel with a general spoiler warning and give those who don’t want to hear time to leave before beginning. If it feels necessary, repeat this later in the panel.
39c) Panelists shouldn't bait the audience with spoilers they refuse to share. Those that do will not be welcome as a panelist in future.
40) The franchise thing: (Wording to be finalized)
1 panel per franchise + 1 per current series of the franchise, max. Current taken as airing since last AN. If no current show, no extra.
Exception may apply for explorations of specific aspects.
66) Abuse
In extension of Anime North harassment policy this department now enforces a zero tolerance policy on abuse directed to our staff.
If warranted, repeated expressions will be escalated to the formal harassment policy.
Read more: teahousemaplemoon.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=panels&action=display&thread=146#ixzz2LjcOgmHw
OPTIONAL SECTION:
Suggested QR Codes readers: Iphone: Qrafter, Beetagg Android (2.2 Froyo): Barcode Scanner by ZXing Team, QR Droid by DroidLa
42) You can follow me on twitter for last moments updates, and offers for time slots and such. @panelguru
AN Manga Library V2 by PanelGuru, on Flickr