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Post by crownowa on Jun 1, 2019 10:48:22 GMT -5
I don’t think I explained this very well ^^ I just meant that if someone does 1 panel, they get $10 off their badge. If someone does 3, they get $30 off. 5 panels is still a free badge. A lot of people don’t want the merch (I know I just want either the refund or nothing at all). The reason I brought up the purple papers is because no other con actually does this (at least the larger ones that I’ve run panels at). It should be common knowledge to door dragons about who is running that particular panel. I don’t think it’s very common for someone to just walk in and claim to be the panelist when they’re not since all panelists are sent an email with who is on their panel. It’s kind of like a token of good faith and about trusting the panelists. (And maybe having the door dragons supplied with the sheets before hand. My Friday panel had no door dragons at all.) When it comes to descriptions, we have very little writing space and generally, whoever signs up first determines the description (unless it’s full of typos). Usually we have to prioritize explaining the panel and even the word “presentation” can take up a lot of valuable space. Ah okay. Thank you for clarifying. I'm looking into the compensation systems of other cons. I like a good panelist mug or shirt, but I'm not interested in swag, because I tend to buy my own online. About the purple papers, I'm not worried about people joining a panel they didn't sign up for (even though we can literally add them the minute the panel has started). The issue is that some people do not show up for the panel, and we need a way to track it. I think it would be unfair to have door dragons actively track which panelists didn't attend, when we don't know every person by sight, name, nickname, and cosplay Unless that's not what you were envisioning). I would personally say that one gesture of good faith towards panelists is that we trust their applications and don't ask for matching ID, but I know you're talking more about trusting panelists will sign up for their panels if they haven't dropped out before the con starts. I will ask about the character count of descriptions. I'm sure there's an associated cost with an increased description though, and I'm not sure it makes sense to have a short description for the printed schedule and a longer description for guidebook (thoughts?). If you want to make any changes to your panel name or description, please let webmaster (the email that sends panels approvals) or me know. It is a quick and easy change, and I'm okay making these changes if it means the panel titles and descriptions are more clear.
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Post by sabrinaofsaffron on Jun 2, 2019 1:38:57 GMT -5
Just a quick 2 ideas. One was posted on FB so I’m just gonna copy it to here: It might be good to highlight (in the descriptions) if a panel is a presentation, an "expert discussion" or a "audience discussion" to help people know what to expect. Like a presentation, I want to learn something or see something cool. An expert discussion? I want to hear some super nerds have an in depth discussion about their fandom. Audience discussion? I want to chat with people and share my thoughts, with someone leading this discussion. Edit: and for presentations / expert panels ... that is where vetting should come into play My other suggestion was maybe doing away with the pink sheets and offering rewards for completing less panels? Focus on the quality over quantity. Maybe have it so people always get a certain amount off their badge that applies immediately either when they pick it up or purchase it at the con. That way people aren’t locked in to coming the next year with the free badge and it rewards the people who are only able to do 1 or 2 panels. I would love to know a bit more about the idea for "expert discussion" vs "audience discussion", since I feel like most of the time the "expert discussions" do have a level of audience participation (e.g. I was on Pokemon Biology this year and, as in past years, it was mainly audience questions with the panelists discussing theories/possible answers; we did attempt to get audience participation in the answers but the acoustics and volume of people in the room just were not greatly conducive to this unfortunately). I think it would be helpful; perhaps if there is even a "tick box" option when registering a panel rather than including it in the panel description? I also ran "Survivability of Anime Injuries" for the first time this year; it was a "hmm, this might be a fun idea" panel that I honestly had no idea how it would run. I envisioned more of an "expert discussion" format but it actually became quite similar to Pokemon Biology... I don't know how I would've classified this in the expert vs audience discussion format prior to the con since I wasn't sure what to expect, hence if the tick box is included hopefully it won't be mandatory in panel sign-ups?
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Post by sabrinaofsaffron on Jun 2, 2019 1:41:34 GMT -5
I don’t think I explained this very well ^^ I just meant that if someone does 1 panel, they get $10 off their badge. If someone does 3, they get $30 off. 5 panels is still a free badge. A lot of people don’t want the merch (I know I just want either the refund or nothing at all). The reason I brought up the purple papers is because no other con actually does this (at least the larger ones that I’ve run panels at). It should be common knowledge to door dragons about who is running that particular panel. I don’t think it’s very common for someone to just walk in and claim to be the panelist when they’re not since all panelists are sent an email with who is on their panel. It’s kind of like a token of good faith and about trusting the panelists. (And maybe having the door dragons supplied with the sheets before hand. My Friday panel had no door dragons at all.) When it comes to descriptions, we have very little writing space and generally, whoever signs up first determines the description (unless it’s full of typos). Usually we have to prioritize explaining the panel and even the word “presentation” can take up a lot of valuable space. Ah okay. Thank you for clarifying. I'm looking into the compensation systems of other cons. I like a good panelist mug or shirt, but I'm not interested in swag, because I tend to buy my own online. About the purple papers, I'm not worried about people joining a panel they didn't sign up for (even though we can literally add them the minute the panel has started). The issue is that some people do not show up for the panel, and we need a way to track it. I think it would be unfair to have door dragons actively track which panelists didn't attend, when we don't know every person by sight, name, nickname, and cosplay Unless that's not what you were envisioning). I would personally say that one gesture of good faith towards panelists is that we trust their applications and don't ask for matching ID, but I know you're talking more about trusting panelists will sign up for their panels if they haven't dropped out before the con starts. I will ask about the character count of descriptions. I'm sure there's an associated cost with an increased description though, and I'm not sure it makes sense to have a short description for the printed schedule and a longer description for guidebook (thoughts?). If you want to make any changes to your panel name or description, please let webmaster (the email that sends panels approvals) or me know. It is a quick and easy change, and I'm okay making these changes if it means the panel titles and descriptions are more clear. I had 2 panelists not show up for one of my panels and I hope they are both ok! I reported this to the panel team at the coatcheck desk thingy on Saturday and this seemed to be fine? The panelists know who their co-panelists are, which helps to keep other panelists accountable. You would probably still run into issues if NONE of the panelists show up though
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Post by sabrinaofsaffron on Jun 2, 2019 1:50:12 GMT -5
I hope this is the right place to bring this up - a few people were discussing the possibility of another subsection of Anime North dedicated to the lifestyle panels that were deemed not appropriate/not anime-related enough for Yaoi North. We were tentatively referring to it as Community North. Seeing as AN has a very large amount of attendees asking questions about things like polyamory, different sexualities and genders, and other such things, would this be something AN would consider putting into place? While I understand that these topics may not be directly related to anime, they are very prevalent and important to fandom in many ways--how we interact with other fans, how we interact with and produce fan-content, etc. Hence, I think to consider it "irrelevant" to anime would be unfair; as previously mentioned, fandoms such as "Game of Thrones" is no more relevant to an anime context, so why are panels dedicated to these less relevant fandoms more acceptable/approvable than topics that imbue so many aspects of being a fan, regardless of what fandom and what medium? Perhaps it would be worthwhile to publish the panels that were not approved and there can be a more in-depth discussion about what ultimately led to whether a certain panel was approved or not? If this isn't feasible, I understand; it is definitely a huge undertaking, as I'm sure there are many panel sign-ups yearly. I can only speak for myself, but I would definitely appreciate this kind of transparency, if it is reasonable. (Of course, we also have to understand that there are factors of avoiding overlapping content, time constraints, inadequate panelist sign-ups, etc. that would factor into a panel not being approved or not running)
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Post by sabrinaofsaffron on Jun 2, 2019 2:00:10 GMT -5
Also random thing: I know you guys have zero control over this, but what is up with the lack of reliable WiFi at the TCC and other associated buildings? Pretty much every other hotel and every other conference centre has good WiFi to be used by attendees; I'm just baffled that it simply doesn't exist.
Edit: Not asking because I think you guys need to fix it, since that is definitely not your responsibility. Just genuinely curious how this venue manages to have no good WiFi and still be competitive in having events booked there...
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Post by crownowa on Jun 2, 2019 20:06:55 GMT -5
I would love to know a bit more about the idea for "expert discussion" vs "audience discussion", since I feel like most of the time the "expert discussions" do have a level of audience participation (e.g. I was on Pokemon Biology this year and, as in past years, it was mainly audience questions with the panelists discussing theories/possible answers; we did attempt to get audience participation in the answers but the acoustics and volume of people in the room just were not greatly conducive to this unfortunately). I think it would be helpful; perhaps if there is even a "tick box" option when registering a panel rather than including it in the panel description? I also ran "Survivability of Anime Injuries" for the first time this year; it was a "hmm, this might be a fun idea" panel that I honestly had no idea how it would run. I envisioned more of an "expert discussion" format but it actually became quite similar to Pokemon Biology... I don't know how I would've classified this in the expert vs audience discussion format prior to the con since I wasn't sure what to expect, hence if the tick box is included hopefully it won't be mandatory in panel sign-ups? By expert discussion, do you mean like how we had medical professionals (and would like a martial arts master in the future) for Survivability of Anime Injuries, or like how we had the vet tech in Pokemon Biology? Experts would already need to flag how they are an export and in which field through the freeform box, right? How would you envision the "expert tickbox" working with the rest of the application as it currently is?
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Post by crownowa on Jun 2, 2019 20:13:36 GMT -5
I had 2 panelists not show up for one of my panels and I hope they are both ok! I reported this to the panel team at the coatcheck desk thingy on Saturday and this seemed to be fine? The panelists know who their co-panelists are, which helps to keep other panelists accountable. You would probably still run into issues if NONE of the panelists show up though The panel already ran (and with you there, I'm sure it went fine), so maybe they just wrote down the awol panelists. I'm sure it wasn't a burning fire, like if the A/V went down during someone's presentation. I would say that panelists do help keep each other accountable, especially if they are answering email and helping plan the panel. However, I think we deserve to know if a panelist didn't show up without warning, especially if that panel would have allowed them to get a refund. Sometimes panelists can't show up for a legit reason, but sometimes they forget, and it should be looked into.
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Post by crownowa on Jun 2, 2019 20:18:45 GMT -5
Also random thing: I know you guys have zero control over this, but what is up with the lack of reliable WiFi at the TCC and other associated buildings? Pretty much every other hotel and every other conference centre has good WiFi to be used by attendees; I'm just baffled that it simply doesn't exist. Edit: Not asking because I think you guys need to fix it, since that is definitely not your responsibility. Just genuinely curious how this venue manages to have no good WiFi and still be competitive in having events booked there... That's a good question and something that makes me curious as well. I ended up relying on data, but there are definitely some dead zones in the Delta.
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Post by crownowa on Jun 2, 2019 20:50:52 GMT -5
While I understand that these topics may not be directly related to anime, they are very prevalent and important to fandom in many ways--how we interact with other fans, how we interact with and produce fan-content, etc. Hence, I think to consider it "irrelevant" to anime would be unfair; as previously mentioned, fandoms such as "Game of Thrones" is no more relevant to an anime context, so why are panels dedicated to these less relevant fandoms more acceptable/approvable than topics that imbue so many aspects of being a fan, regardless of what fandom and what medium? Perhaps it would be worthwhile to publish the panels that were not approved and there can be a more in-depth discussion about what ultimately led to whether a certain panel was approved or not? If this isn't feasible, I understand; it is definitely a huge undertaking, as I'm sure there are many panel sign-ups yearly. I can only speak for myself, but I would definitely appreciate this kind of transparency, if it is reasonable. (Of course, we also have to understand that there are factors of avoiding overlapping content, time constraints, inadequate panelist sign-ups, etc. that would factor into a panel not being approved or not running) I understand. I personally see more value in panels like "how to maintain your sewing machine" (related to cosplay) than "Game of Thrones", and I can see how panels about social topics are also more relevant than "Game of Thrones". Then again, I am not a fan of any off-topic panels or even panels about comics / north american cartoons that you can't argue are heavily anime inspired (can you hear my bias), but I am not directly involved in these kinds of decisions. That's why I always suggest that people try to tie their topics to anime / Japan so that no one can argue its irrelevant to the con. I'm also a big fan of comparison and "issues" type panels, especially when people are able to put in the effort to tie it to anime. It would take a lot of work to find out why each unapproved panel wasn't approved - I really don't think its feasible, since I think only Fingers was reviewing and approving panels (I was just adding people to already-approved panels). However, taking a look at what wasn't approved, almost all of the panels weren't approved because there was only one application (e.g. Cardcaptor Sakura, Cosplay & Mental Health, Death Note, Devil May Cry, Gender Roles In Anime, Japanese Car Culture, Madoka Magica, Strong Female Characters In Fandom, What Lies Behind Genre?, amongst many more). Less than two dozen of the unapproved panels have more than one application, and only six of those currently have four+ applications, but I believe they all had three applications or less by the time all panel slots were full (Dororo, Fate Universe, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Steven Universe, World Building And Story Bibles, Writing A Series). I would say that generally, the main reason why a panel isn't approved is because it doesn't have enough applications, and the panel slots get filled up by other panels for that section (e.g. Gaming or Yaoi North) before these panels can get four applicants. I hope this helps clear things up a bit.
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Post by crownowa on Jun 2, 2019 20:51:15 GMT -5
Seeing as this feedback thread still exists, feel free to copy panel feedback that resonates with you from the unofficial Facebook group here.
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Post by sabrinaofsaffron on Jun 2, 2019 21:53:26 GMT -5
Seeing as this feedback thread still exists, feel free to copy panel feedback that resonates with you from the unofficial Facebook group here. ^If you wouldn't mind, could you link me to the FB group? I have actually no idea where to find it; I only follow Anime North Compass Thanks for all your responses! In terms of the lack of applications for some panels, I don't recall seeing threads here for some of those topics. Perhaps reminders for some panels could help increase interest and awareness of these panels to increase sign-ups? I didn't know some of them existed!
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Post by maxhol3 on Jun 3, 2019 0:10:31 GMT -5
Hey I would be interested in this feedback thread for sure. I ran the Hip-Hop and Anime panel and saw a strong desire from people at my panel (and the Black Folks like Anime, Too panel) to have more spaces at anime north for Hip-Hop and representation from people of colour. Someone from AN was recording our panel so they saw everyone cheering when we discussed these things. One idea we had was to host a Nujabes Dance party during the Saturday Night programming. Maybe there's a better route to discuss this, I'm open to posting wherever to get the conversation started!
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Post by crownowa on Jun 3, 2019 11:28:26 GMT -5
Seeing as this feedback thread still exists, feel free to copy panel feedback that resonates with you from the unofficial Facebook group here. ^If you wouldn't mind, could you link me to the FB group? I have actually no idea where to find it; I only follow Anime North Compass Thanks for all your responses! In terms of the lack of applications for some panels, I don't recall seeing threads here for some of those topics. Perhaps reminders for some panels could help increase interest and awareness of these panels to increase sign-ups? I didn't know some of them existed! Search for "The Unofficial Anime North Facebook Group!" in Facebook - I'm nor sure whether links get auto-removed here. I expect it to be a bit rowdy. It is not a requirement for panelists to post in Teahouse. I don't think it is our responsibility to post reminders on behalf of panelists that there are still slots open for their panel (if only one person has applied). I would personally like panelists to be able to see all ideas that have been suggested (so they can sign up using the correct panel spelling), but two arguments against thisis that panelists may rely on what has already been submitted and only apply for those ideas, and that if panel are approved based on what has four applications first, then the approvals will be skewed towards the ideas submitted first. Let me know what you think.
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Post by crownowa on Jun 3, 2019 11:32:43 GMT -5
Hey I would be interested in this feedback thread for sure. I ran the Hip-Hop and Anime panel and saw a strong desire from people at my panel (and the Black Folks like Anime, Too panel) to have more spaces at anime north for Hip-Hop and representation from people of colour. Someone from AN was recording our panel so they saw everyone cheering when we discussed these things. One idea we had was to host a Nujabes Dance party during the Saturday Night programming. Maybe there's a better route to discuss this, I'm open to posting wherever to get the conversation started! You can certainly suggest the Nujabes Dance Party (or even a Japanese / Anime Hip Hop Dance Party to the Dance programming folks. We only deal with panels / presentations / workshops here. As a side-note, I am definitely not against more panels about how non-Japanese culture intersects with Japanese culture / anime.
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Post by sabrinaofsaffron on Jun 3, 2019 16:08:54 GMT -5
^If you wouldn't mind, could you link me to the FB group? I have actually no idea where to find it; I only follow Anime North Compass Thanks for all your responses! In terms of the lack of applications for some panels, I don't recall seeing threads here for some of those topics. Perhaps reminders for some panels could help increase interest and awareness of these panels to increase sign-ups? I didn't know some of them existed! Search for "The Unofficial Anime North Facebook Group!" in Facebook - I'm nor sure whether links get auto-removed here. I expect it to be a bit rowdy. It is not a requirement for panelists to post in Teahouse. I don't think it is our responsibility to post reminders on behalf of panelists that there are still slots open for their panel (if only one person has applied). I would personally like panelists to be able to see all ideas that have been suggested (so they can sign up using the correct panel spelling), but two arguments against thisis that panelists may rely on what has already been submitted and only apply for those ideas, and that if panel are approved based on what has four applications first, then the approvals will be skewed towards the ideas submitted first. Let me know what you think. I just found the Facebook group, thanks for your help! Personally, I really don't like Facebook as a platform for these kinds of discussions, but some of the points that have been carried over from that thread are helpful to consider! I understand it is not a requirement, but it is a bit awkward to have single panelists sign up for something that is a great idea but no awareness for other potential panelists? Agree that it is not staff/volunteer responsibility to send these reminders. TBH I feel like the ANPanels.com platform is very awkward and weird that the panelists who sign up see something completely different from what the staff see--I felt it was strange that there is no way to know if you're adding yourself to an existing panel until Fingers or one of the staff emails you and says, "Yup you signed up for the right panel". What I had originally thought it would look like is that when I click "register for panel", all the panels with open slots would be "selectable" and then I would click on that to submit my application, which would then NOT require me to re-input the panel description, etc., since I would have expected that to already be input by the first panelist who signed up, and if there needed to be changes we could address that directly instead of having these strange discrepant applications? This point echoes what has been discussed in the Facebook group as well, and I'm sure it's not new feedback. Just wondering how this could be improved or if there is potentially another platform that would work better?
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