Panels

1. Panels are registered under ONE PERSON. This means that they are the head panelist. Any other panel members are ineligible for any compensation that the head panelist may receive.
2. All panels are FREE to attendees. If you wish to charge for materials, please email events@animecrossroads.com for approval.
3. Panelist reimbursement:
   1. This year we are offering panelist reimbursement. In order to be eligible you must:
      1. Run 4 hours of panels over the course of the weekend
      2. Have pre-registered by the time the form is closed
      3. Staff panelists and panels are ineligible for reimbursement
   2. Head panelists get their full badge reimbursed
   3. Reimbursement is after the convention.
4. All panelists are responsible for:
   1. Checking in
   2. Starting your panel on time
   3. Ending your panel on time
   4. Setting up and tearing down your panel
      1. If you need to move chairs around in the panel rooms, you must take that out of your panel time. You are required to set the room back to the way it was when you entered it. Failure to do so could result in panel being denied the following year
   5. Ensuring that the proper age requirements are in place
   6. Keeping the audience engaged and under control
   7. Ensuring their panel can run without internet access, as that is not something that is guaranteed.
5. All 18+ panels must:
   1. ID checks are REQUIRED. Our safety team will be checking attendees and panelists
   2. All 18+ panels must be run by someone that is at least 18 years of age
   3. Attendees are not required to participate in panels. If they are, the panel will be canceled
6. All ages panels must:
   1. These are family friendly and contain no adult or mature humor or content
      1. Moving forward, foul language is permitted so long as it matches the character and is not explicit
      2. All ages panels may contain mature themes such as death for shows that contain that theme. For example, something like Danganronpa has a ton of deaths in it. Therefore they may be referenced in an all ages panel
7. Equipment rules:
   1. Panelist are prohibited from touching the technology in any and all panel rooms. This includes the projector, the speakers, and the lights. If there is an issue, let the person sitting outside the door checking badges contact our Con-Ops staff. We will quickly come to assist you. For this year, there is no exception to this rule.
   2. Do not assume that we have all of the necessary adapters for your equipment. You need to be prepared to bring your own adapters.
   3. You are expected to have your own laptop for the event. Anime Crossroads will not provide one for you. In addition, please note that internet is not provided. All panelists should have panels that do not require internet access, or bring their own internet solution.
8. Times
   1. The time that we put your panel down on the final schedule is set. Unless there is an emergency, we will not change the schedule. Plenty of communication will be in place to ensure that your panel is at a time for that works great for you. If you do not put in time restrictions or requests on the panel submission form, we may not be able to honor them.
9. Panelist Party sizes:
   1. If you are hosting an Ask panel or a Q&A, a maximum of six people are allowed to be at the panelist table at the front of the room. This is set in place to not only protect equipment, but to also help with fire code and the safety of your panelists. If you have more than that participating, please consider making the size of your ‘cast’ smaller, or reserving space in the front row for them.
10. Q&As and Truth or Dare panels:
    1. Sexual content is prohibited. You cannot ask two people to participate in lewd acts of any nature. Stripping is also prohibited.
    2. Any act that may break or damage any property is prohibited.
    3. The consumption of food or alcohol is prohibited.
11. The Convention Chairs, Director of Programming, Assistant Director of Programming, and Head of Panels have final say in all disputes and can cancel an event if any of the above rules (including the 2023 changes) are not followed.

For 2025, panelist check-in will take place at the Info Table outside of the panel rooms.

You are REQUIRED to come to panelist check-in. Failure to check-in could result in the cancellation of your panel and other serious consequences. The reason we have panelist check-in is to give us time to replace a panel that doesn’t show up. We WILL assume that if you are more than 15 minutes late to your panel that you are not attending.

You are to report to panelist check-in 30 minutes to an hour BEFORE your panel begins. You may check in earlier than that (provided the information booth is open. It will be open one hour before all programming events). If you are running more than one panel, you may check-in all of them at one. You are required to have your badge and if running an 18+ event, a picture, government issued ID.

If you are more than 15 minutes late to your panel, and you have not contacted us via email, your panel will be canceled.

For 18+ Panelists: Your panels must be checked-in no later than 10PM.

We encourage you to pre-register to expedite your at-con badge pick up process. Being caught in the registration line will not be an acceptable excuse. You MUST give yourself time to get your badge. If you think this is a problem, please email us and let us know WHY it will be a problem and we will do our best to work with you.

Only the person that is listed as a head panelist may check in the panel.

NOTE* If your panel is one of the first on Friday, 10am or 11am on Saturday, or 10am or 11am on Sunday, you do have the option of having your pre-registered badge sent to the information booth so that way you are not late to your panel.