Panel Registration Guidelines

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Photo by John Frey Photography

PANEL REGISTRATION FOR 2025 IS OPEN!
PLEASE READ BELOW.

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PANEL REGISTRATION CUT-OFF DAY

Anime St. Louis will accept panel registration through January 5th, 2025 or until we are full (due to the structure of our registration process.) No late forms will be accepted.

PANEL REGISTRATION PROCESS

We want our panelists to know they are accepted as early as possible so they can have plenty of time to prepare, so we have a process in place to make that possible. By the first Monday of every month, you will know if your panel was accepted, on hold or denied. (Keep in mind, you may find out earlier). Scheduling is First Come First Serve + Current Interest. Due to this, it is imperative that you submit your panel as early as possible! High demand topics and Character Interaction panels fill up within the first month, so don’t wait!  In the email, you will be given one of the following statuses:

ACCEPTED – Congratulations, your panel was accepted!

WAITING LIST – For a stated reason, your panel will be on a waiting list until the reason is cleared within a time limit. This could possibly be a guest wanting to do the same panel topic or something needing to be changed.

DENIED – Your panel was denied.

**Anime St. Louis reserves the right to deny a panel for any reason due to the high demand of our panel slots.**

Please note, you will not find out your day or time slot until late March. If you do not receive a message by the first Monday of the following month, please feel free to follow up with us. Often we receive incorrect emails, so you are welcome to check up with us if you have not heard from us!

PANEL REGISTRATION INFO & BASIC GUIDELINES

  • LEAD PANELIST – There may only be ONE lead panelist. The lead panelist will be in charge of all communication on behalf of the entire panel with the Programming Chair prior to the convention.  They are also responsible for their teams behavior, remarks and information given during the panel.
  • SECONDARY PANELIST – The maximum amount of secondary panelists is 8. This is to help with space issues and the ability for everyone on the panel to have a chance to equally participate. While they are more than welcome to communicate at con with the panel runners staff & at the programming ops, they may not change anything on the panel (description, time requests, name requests, ect) pre-convention. If anything arises and concerns needs to be brought to the staff attention, please feel free to contact programming@animestl.net. Convention staff cannot give the lead position to a secondary panelist without the leads permission.
  • ADDITIONAL PANELISTS — If you have a panel that goes beyond 9 total panelists (1 Lead, 8 Secondary) please list them in the “additional panelists” section. Keep in mind, additional panelists qualify for early check in but will NOT qualify for reimbursement.
  • UNLISTED PARTICIPANTS – Those who are not listed on your submission may not participate as panelists. If an unlisted participant acts as a panelist (such as, the lead panelist invites them to be panelists during or prior to the panel) and breaks any rules of Anime St. Louis or partakes in anything inappropriate during your panel, it will still be held against the lead panelist. This may result in the lead panelist to not be asked to return in future events.  What happens during the panel is the lead panelist’s responsibility.
  • Lead Panelists cannot be under the age of 16.
  • Panels are by default rated PG-13.
  • Adult Panels — Keep in mind that all mature panels (hentai panels, yaoi and yuri panels, etc.) will be available from 8:00 pm to close on Friday and Saturday.  Only those 18 and over are allowed to attend and run such panels.  If an underage attendee manages to sneak past our staff members to go to your mature panel, it is your responsibility to ask that person to leave.
    • Swearing: Please do not mark your panel as 18+ just for swearing as it limits what time slots are available to you. All slots are PG-13 so swearing is fine in moderation but please avoid the F-bomb.
    • Nudity: Please keep in mind it is against policy to show bare breasts or genitals, animated or not. You CAN show them if censored. This applies to 18+ panels and if caught showing them uncensored the panel will be shut down immediately and no reimbursement will be given to the panelists.
  • Food, Candy & Drinks  are not allowed to be handed out nor sampled. Displaying purposes will be on a case by case basis.
  • Contact E-mail — Please check your e-mail and add programming@animestl.net to your contacts to prevent us from being directed to junk mail.
  • You MUST provide your surname that is on your state-issued ID. We will not share these names on a public forum. This is to keep track of panelists in our records for reimbursement & avoid fraud.  We do not require your legal first names.
  • It is the responsibility of the panelists to inform upon registration if you are planning to or already have applied for another panel. Many panels come through our system, especially with duplicate names. If you go from a LEAD to a SECONDARY on a panel or vice versa, we won’t easily be able to tell if you are on multiple panels. We will try to accommodate if panels get scheduled too close, but without a warning that a panelist is on another panel, we cannot guarantee they will be scheduled with adequate in between time.
  • The subject of the panel must match the content being discussed during the panel. False submission of a topic to promote or discuss an entirely different, unrelated subject to the topic is grounds for revoking of reimbursement. For example, do not submit for Pokemon and discuss Evangelion instead because that topic had already been filled.
  • Time slots: All panels are, by default, 1 hour long time slot (including set-up and tear down). Your panel contents should be 50 minutes long, and leave 5 minutes at the beginning for setup, and 5 minutes at the end to clean up. Too many panelists have been running over their time, causing an inconvenience for the panelists & panel runners following up.
    • Example: if your panel is at 4:00PM, you should arrive by 4:00PM, and give yourself 5 minutes to set up and begin your panel at 4:05PM. Your panel should be wrapped up by 4:55 PM and to exit by 5:00 PM.
    • ★★We are offering RETURNING LEAD PANELISTS to apply for 2-hour slots. If you are not a returning panelist, the option will not show up on the form. Due to layout changes this year, we can't guarantee the 2-hour request will be granted however. ★★
  • If you are more than 10 minutes late without any notice to your panel, it will be canceled.
  • Your topic should fall under our mission statement of programming topics: Anime, Manga, Comics, Video Games, Cosplay, Convention Culture, Japanese Fashion, Japanese Culture, Art (relating to these topics) and Cartoons.

EQUIPMENT

Each Panel room has preset equipment. This is to ensure equipment is tested prior to the beginning of each day. Below is the list of said equipment. We are unable to accommodate beyond 2 microphones due to setup and sound tests between each panel.

  • -(2) Microphones
  • -(1) Projector & Projector Screen. Remote not included.
  • -(4) Chairs (You may pull more chairs from the audience)
  • -(1) 7′ table
  • House Sound Hookup, must be compatible with a 3.55 mm AUX cord (typical for most laptops, not MAC) We will try to accommodate by request, but please prepare to bring your own adapter if unsure.

Please be aware of the hookup for a projector prior to applying. If it changes from what you applied with, you must email programming@animestl.net with an updated hookup. If we do not receive notification prior to the convention, we can not guarantee the equipment will be readily available.

We will not be able to provide anything not listed above. We can not provide more tables nor microphones under any circumstances.

While public wi-fi is available during the convention, please do not rely on it for your presentation as its performance can fluctuate based on the number of users in the building.  WE DO NOT PROVIDE A SEPARATE NETWORK FOR PANELISTS!  For the best efficiency, your presentation should be something you can do offline.

PROHIBITED PANELS

  • Speed Dating panels will not be accepted. AnimeSTL provides a Speed Dating-esque event already.
  • Host Clubs, Maid and/or Butler Cafés, Parties or Cafés of any sort are prohibited.  AnimeSTL provides Honey Tea Café as entertainment with food and beverage.
  • Idol group concerts are prohibited. We recommend idol performances to the Onkai Idol Stage event. **Idol specific series and genre panels are still allowed, but generally, fill up quickly so we recommend applying ASAP.**

LIMITED PANEL TOPICS

  • Variety — We only accept one panel per topic/generalized genre/series. The exception is if the panel has to do with a very specific topic on a series that would not cross the “generalized” series panel, this includes “ask the character” panels. These are handled on a case-by-case basis.  Due to space, we only accept ONE additional panel on a topic/generalized genre/series, so the sooner you submit the better your chances are! (“Ask” panels are defined as a panel that is an entire hour of asking a cast of cosplayers who are in character. You may include “ask me” sessions in normal panels, but please limit these to only 25% of your panel for it to not qualify as an “ask” panel.)
    • Further clarification Example - A “Pokemon Panel” and an “All about the lore behind ghost Pokemon!” panel would be considered two separate topics as the second would focus on unique, specific aspects of Pokemon while the first is a generalized panel on Pokemon. We love to see what our attendees come up with that are unique aspects of the series we all love!
  • Character Interaction Panels— This covers Q&A panels, Ask The Character panels, ad-lib panels, skit oriented panels, In-Character Improve and any panel where the main point is interacting with a panel of panelists in character or acting. You may host a panel with a SMALL (25%) portion of the panel being character interaction without it being classified as character interaction. This is specifically for the lecture and discussion panels loophole.
    • Please remember though, they are highly competitive spots to fill.
    • Character Interaction Panels, due to their high demand and turnover, are not first come first serve per monthly review. You must have a detailed description of the general plan for your panel in the breakdown to show us you are prepared. You do not need to provide a script, we just want to make sure you have a general plan and are organized.
  • Game Shows are accepted on a case-by-case basis. We recommend Game Shows be catered to specific shows to not clash with FANDOM POWERED GAMES game shows by Brent Rolland.
  • Physical Activity panels are accepted on a case-by-case basis. Trained professionals are highly encouraged for these panels due to liability issues. Sanitation is also a concern.
  • Unique Floor Plan Group Activities - Werewolf, Dancing, Chess, etc...This will be approved on a case-by-case basis due to the nature of the open floor plan activity. This is due to the limited availability of the rooms to do this, and because of sanitary reasons.

PANELIST PERKS & REIMBURSEMENT

CHECK IN — Please go to the Show Office at the St. Charles Convention Center upstairs to check in to pick up your pre-registered badge or purchase a badge to skip the lines so you may prepare and have plenty of time before their panel! This also helps us keep track of what panelists are ‘checked in.’

You will also receive a handy help guide to being a panelist at AnimeSTL.

You must present your name, ID (if you are doing an 18+ or pre-registered), and the name of the panel you are a part of. All of the same rules still apply to this as it would in registration, like the cosplay discount. You may only pick up or purchase your own badge.  You may not pick up or purchase your other panelists’ badges, or for non-panelists!

REIMBURSEMENT - The Reimbursement program is an opportunity to reimburse our hardworking panelists for all of their time and effort to provide programming.

  • Each panelist is tracked separately by their legal surname name on their state issued ID.
  • You must be present to claim your reimbursement. You do not have to claim your reimbursement with your fellow panelists.
  • Please inform us if someone drops from your panel, it helps keep the reimbursement program going by not giving out freebies!
  • To claim your reimbursement, you must “check out” meaning you no longer can earn any more money back for the rest of the con (aka you can’t get money back directly after each panel throughout the weekend.) If complications arise, PROGRAMMING OPS to settle it immediately.
  • We are open until the last panel ends each day. If you are a late night panel and will not be attending the next day/rest of the weekend, you can request reimbursement prior to your panel within reason or pick it up right after your panel. We will work immediately to accommodate you right after your panel. If you are aware that you will not be attending certain days prior to the con, please make note in the special requests on the form.

REIMBURSEMENT RATES

  • LEAD PANELIST – $40 Back Per Panel
  • SECONDARY PANELIST – $30 Back Per Panel
  • REIMBURSEMENTS ARE NON-TRANSFERABLE ONCE ACHIEVED.
  • SUNDAY PERK – If your panel is on Sunday, you will receive an additional $5 per panelist. (Lead Panelist $45, Secondary $35)

If one’s reimbursement amount exceeds the total of the order, the first instance will be considered your limit cut-off.  For instance, if the badge order was $60 and reimbursement becomes $80; the limit will have been reached for further reimbursement but we will not cut it short to be $60 to match the order.  It will be $80.

 

If you have any questions, please contact programming@animestl.net. Thank you for your interest in being a panelist at Anime St. Louis and we look forward to seeing your submission!

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A PANEL FORM!