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 Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:13 am
This year I decided to run my own fan panel at a convention, "An introduction to Hellsing and the other works of Kouta Hirano."
This did not go well.
I've started this thread to help myself and others learn from the horrors of what can go horribly wrong when planning your own informational panel, and also to help people not to make the same mistakes i did if they ever want to try it for themselves.
feel free to post suggestions and questions.
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CO-Panelists
One person on stage talking about your fandom is okay, but backup makes it look less like you're a scary otaku ranting about your fandom to a room full of people who probably already know at least half of what you're talking about, and some who have no clue what's what because they just stopped in out of curiosity.
also make sure that those people on stage with you actually know what they're talking about, and aren't going to start off on a tangent about pip and seras fanfic love child that became a sailor scout and saved mars from the evil nazi zeppelin-gundams in space during a discussion about iscariot.
Also make sure that they're going to actually SHOW UP, because nothing is more fun than planning ahead for 3 people and a projection screen for powerpoint and videos, and the only one who shows up is you. Also bad if one of the ones who dosen't show up just happens to have the computer with your powerpoint on it.... X_X
which brings us to...
Powerpoint is your best friend AND worst enemy.
Live Events/Tech staff are a panelist's friends, but they can be like the friend with ADD who forgets your birthday even though the present he got for you is right on the kitchen table for three months. If you're planning a big shiny high-tech presentation, make sure they remembered to set up the equipment you need BEFORE the panel starts.
Powerpoint should not be read like a script, it's a visual aid for what you're talking about. people can obviously read the slide themselves if they've managed to read the schedule to find out where the panel is.
I had a 2 gig flash drive filled with images, video, music, and fanart for the panel. I also had five completed pages of a powerpoint in a 23 page presentation because i copied the wrong file.
computer plugs are a good thing, no matter how good you think your laptop's batteries are. Plugs=compy not dying in the middle of discussing Coyote to people who'd never even heard of it.
also....
If you're doing a panel about HELLSING, remember that there are still people who only know OA13 or OVA, not always both, and might need to be reminded that there's a difference.
If you're including other hirano works... make it an 18+ panel. I did this, and it worked out well. Some conventions will require a panel about any anime with blood, violence, threats of rape, and gory vicious deaths to be 18+ and check id's at the door. Hellsing is all those things, especially the OVAs, and both of ohayocon's hellsing panels were required to be marked and checked.
mine doubly so, because i was showing his other works and the hellsing hentai he drew. sweatdrop
there's a lot of pros and cons to holding a convention fan panel, i just happened to hit most of the bad ones with it being my first year doing it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:24 am
to sum up how MY panel went, and what to avoid:
first off, they spelled hirano's name wrong in the schedule, this should have been my warning it was all about to go bad.
my copanelists all bailed, including the one who was on staff with me, and had the computer i needed to run the powerpoint. apparently she fell asleep under a table in the staff rooms or something, and no one could find her because her headset was off.
i did not find this out until after ten minutes of frantic panicking from department to department asking if anyone had seen her. by this time, the panel was already supposed to be starting. Finally i borrowed a computer, got it hooked up, and started everything late. i ended up drafting someone fromt he audience as a copanelisit because she had better knowlede of the OA13 than i did, and then came the low battery warning on the compy...
-_-
we tried to get through what i could before the batteries died since there was no plug, but it crapped out right in the middle of the coyote section, thankfully after the legend of the vampire hunter part.
it became a discussion panel with people slowly tricking out of the room after that until the 5 minute warning from staff, then i kind of slunk off the stage in shame, returned the computer, and planned to go hide somewhere for a while.
instead, i ended up with someone saying "well, at least once you got to the porn it was interesting." and my impromptu copanelists and i decided to try again after figuring out a gameplan for another con. We'll have to wait and see how that one goes with the horrible lesson i've learned from this time.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:22 pm
Oh, I'm so sorry Michi! That sounds so awful! crying I hope that you at least got to enjoy some of the other things at the con. I can't believe your friends flaked out on you like that! That's just bad form if you ask me! Unless you've got important family business, a funeral, or some other form of life altering event, YOU DON'T FLAKE OUT ON FRIENDS! evil
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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:58 pm
michigami apparently she fell asleep under a table in the staff rooms or something, and no one could find her because her headset was off
If this was a well deserved crash, both you and your staffer friend have my sympathy. That's called your friend taking on far too much for one con.
A staffer friend of mine last Fall was nearly in tears by the end of the masquerade, which she was managing. Pure stress. Soon as we could we hauled her off site to Perkins for a late night dinner with friends.
Way to go for getting through a series of tough spots, Michi! I do wish you better luck next time. Report to us how the next shot goes when it happens?
A different friend and I are thinking about running a panel at a con either this Fall or next Spring. It's not Hellsing related, but I'll keep you in mind for hints and advice, alright.
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Sir_Catherine Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:07 am
What exactly was the purpose of your panel? To introduce people to Hirano's works? What kinds of discussions took place? And why do you think you had so much trouble keeping your audience's attention? Was it simply because of technical difficulties? Or was there something more?
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:42 pm
NoLifeKing66 What exactly was the purpose of your panel? To introduce people to Hirano's works? What kinds of discussions took place? And why do you think you had so much trouble keeping your audience's attention? Was it simply because of technical difficulties? Or was there something more? the purpose of the panel was a brief intro to hellsing, followed by samples and discussion of hirano's other works. for the most part the technical difficulties seemed to kill things, because most of it was visual presentation of manga pages and prototype artwork. also, a fat otaku in a rainbow crochet coat with a cane was running it. people seem to get creeped out when a woman starts discussing hirano's quirky love of nazi rape hentai, and catgirls and hitler. it was an informational panel, but since the compy died mid-coyote, it's kind of hard to describe gunmania and the rest without pictures.
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