Looks like there may be a number of empty panel slots on the AB schedule this year. People keep cancelling...
Any FRC types want to help Lou out? Last-minute panels was one of the things that forced Scott and I to get good in a hurry, after all. ^_~
Any help would be appreciated... I've got some AB staff also helping out too... gonna try to clean things up at home tonight... But yeah, I think there's going to be 3-4 empty slots on the schedule at this point (although one is at like 1 AM, so it's no huge loss).
Looks like there may be a number of empty panel slots on the AB schedule this year. People keep cancelling...
Any FRC types want to help Lou out? Last-minute panels was one of the things that forced Scott and I to get good in a hurry, after all. ^_~
Any help would be appreciated... I've got some AB staff also helping out too... gonna try to clean things up at home tonight... But yeah, I think there's going to be 3-4 empty slots on the schedule at this point (although one is at like 1 AM, so it's no huge loss).
What time are the slots? I may be able to improvise some "beta" panels there.
Looks like there may be a number of empty panel slots on the AB schedule this year. People keep cancelling...
Any FRC types want to help Lou out? Last-minute panels was one of the things that forced Scott and I to get good in a hurry, after all. ^_~
Any help would be appreciated... I've got some AB staff also helping out too... gonna try to clean things up at home tonight... But yeah, I think there's going to be 3-4 empty slots on the schedule at this point (although one is at like 1 AM, so it's no huge loss).
I can't promise for Will, but if you can get me in sans badge, I could do a short (1 hr) version of Mecha Moments again. Gimme time to talk to Will and maybe we can do our Combination Attack or some panel we've done in the past.
Looks like there may be a number of empty panel slots on the AB schedule this year. People keep cancelling...
Any FRC types want to help Lou out? Last-minute panels was one of the things that forced Scott and I to get good in a hurry, after all. ^_~
Any help would be appreciated... I've got some AB staff also helping out too... gonna try to clean things up at home tonight... But yeah, I think there's going to be 3-4 empty slots on the schedule at this point (although one is at like 1 AM, so it's no huge loss).
What time are the slots? I may be able to improvise some "beta" panels there.
May I suggest a spontaneous anime style Action Castle! :P
Looks like there may be a number of empty panel slots on the AB schedule this year. People keep cancelling...
Any FRC types want to help Lou out? Last-minute panels was one of the things that forced Scott and I to get good in a hurry, after all. ^_~
Any help would be appreciated... I've got some AB staff also helping out too... gonna try to clean things up at home tonight... But yeah, I think there's going to be 3-4 empty slots on the schedule at this point (although one is at like 1 AM, so it's no huge loss).
What time are the slots? I may be able to improvise some "beta" panels there.
May I suggest a spontaneous anime style Action Castle! :P
The time slots are 10 AM on Saturday and 1:15 AM on Saturday/Sunday. Actually, these aren't too bad as they aren't peak time slots, but it would be nice to have something in them.
I actually got a lot of less than stellar panel applications this year, combined with quite a few that actually look pretty good but either had to cancel at the last minute or have such strict scheduling requirements (I can't be during the masquerade, or any cosplay events, or on Sunday, or on Friday, or on...) that it's been harder than usual to fill the schedule. This is even with inserting gaps between panels! If I actually packed them in tight as I have in years past, there'd be no way to fill the schedule. As it is, the late night panels programming isn't running as late as it could due to a lack of programming for those slots.
I know that we affected your schedule because of PAX. I'm curious if the other people were also because of PAX, or if it's just coincidence?
Daryl and I were trying to figure that out. I know many people didn't submit or cut back, but I doubt it was because of PAX.
PAX has very few "amateur" presentations, and there isn't actually much overlap between typical anime con panelists and PAX speakers. The PAX schedule was also mostly final some time ago, so the last-minute cancellations don't make a lot of sense either.
There's no "industry" overlap to any significant degree, as there's no "dealer's room" at PAX like AB has: it's primarily an expo, so no huge overlap there. Sakura-con is the same weekend, but I HIGHLY doubt a significant number of panels were taken away for that (except Daryl).
Maybe the people who tend to be panelists at AB are going to PAX as straight-up attendees and thus didn't submit. However, that doesn't explain the cancellations either, unless those people just got badges or hotels at the last minute.
One idea is that many panelists are attending PAX and AB, and didn't realize until recently that they can't actually get between the two venues very quickly and decided to bail on their panels. This is my best guess regarding the straight-up bails.
If need be I can take that 10 AM slot on Saturday and fill it with an Action Castle, a gaming gripe discussion, how to win at college, travel tips for the budget minded, or if you want me to do something on a particular topic I can whip something up.
If need be I can take that 10 AM slot on Saturday and fill it with an Action Castle, a gaming gripe discussion, how to win at college, travel tips for the budget minded, or if you want me to do something on a particular topic I can whip something up.
The 10 AM slot is on Friday, not Saturday. My mistake, sorry.
Anyway, I don't think PAX really had much to do with it this year. Most of the regulars are coming back and we even have a fair bit of video game related content (more than most years, actually), despite PAX going on across town. There is actually one industry-related panel that will be going on at both and that's the Dragon Age Premiere, since it's a Bioware/Funimation co-production thing.
Some of the cancellations are due to late notice, changes in travel plans, etc., which can happen any year but seemed to be happening more often this year than other years. One had a case of cancelling because his laptop died and he will not have access to another one to do his presentation with at con.
The overall number of submissions this year was actually about the same as most years. It was just that the quality just wasn't there, there were multiple people who submitted the same panel idea (a LOT of Hetalia panels, for example), off-topic panel submissions (Homestuck was popular, though oddly enough no Pony panel submissions), and so on.
I gave a guest my laptop for an event in an emergency once. That was about it.
I have a Chromebook that anyone can use if they want.
Also, even if the con doesn't have a spare, a person should be able to find a friend or something given that much time. Unless it's a person with no friends.
I'm not going to loan any random stranger my laptop. :P Besides, I think part of his problem is that he didn't even have a laptop to prepare the panel on. It's one thing if I loan him a laptop at-con (I can even be in the room and supervise his usage of my laptop) -- but if he doesn't even have one to prepare his panel on, well, there's nothing I can do.
Shit, my panel is 10:30 on Friday...if you manage to move it into my room I could do an AC before my panel proper and merge them together.
I'll look at my records when I get home and see what I can do. Given the time slots of these two cancellations, I'm not super concerned about them. I just was a bit extra frustrated with all the recent cancellations and junk I had gotten.
Well, the 4:30 Friday Vocaloid panel just bailed...
Good god.
I'd offer the videos we already have of good panels, but none of them are anime-related. (The anime ones I have are old and I wouldn't have time to render them by tomorrow morning...).
The worst thing is, if PAX didn't overlap, we'd be able to jump into some of these. -_-
Well, Gerald from AWO said he was willing to help bail me out of some of these situations... so that helps... I'm not sure if I'd want to do American Tezukas though due to already mentioning wanting to limit things to anime/Japan stuff in the AB forums...
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Gimme time to talk to Will and maybe we can do our Combination Attack or some panel we've done in the past.
I actually got a lot of less than stellar panel applications this year, combined with quite a few that actually look pretty good but either had to cancel at the last minute or have such strict scheduling requirements (I can't be during the masquerade, or any cosplay events, or on Sunday, or on Friday, or on...) that it's been harder than usual to fill the schedule. This is even with inserting gaps between panels! If I actually packed them in tight as I have in years past, there'd be no way to fill the schedule. As it is, the late night panels programming isn't running as late as it could due to a lack of programming for those slots.
PAX has very few "amateur" presentations, and there isn't actually much overlap between typical anime con panelists and PAX speakers. The PAX schedule was also mostly final some time ago, so the last-minute cancellations don't make a lot of sense either.
There's no "industry" overlap to any significant degree, as there's no "dealer's room" at PAX like AB has: it's primarily an expo, so no huge overlap there. Sakura-con is the same weekend, but I HIGHLY doubt a significant number of panels were taken away for that (except Daryl).
Maybe the people who tend to be panelists at AB are going to PAX as straight-up attendees and thus didn't submit. However, that doesn't explain the cancellations either, unless those people just got badges or hotels at the last minute.
One idea is that many panelists are attending PAX and AB, and didn't realize until recently that they can't actually get between the two venues very quickly and decided to bail on their panels. This is my best guess regarding the straight-up bails.
Anyway, I don't think PAX really had much to do with it this year. Most of the regulars are coming back and we even have a fair bit of video game related content (more than most years, actually), despite PAX going on across town. There is actually one industry-related panel that will be going on at both and that's the Dragon Age Premiere, since it's a Bioware/Funimation co-production thing.
Some of the cancellations are due to late notice, changes in travel plans, etc., which can happen any year but seemed to be happening more often this year than other years. One had a case of cancelling because his laptop died and he will not have access to another one to do his presentation with at con.
The overall number of submissions this year was actually about the same as most years. It was just that the quality just wasn't there, there were multiple people who submitted the same panel idea (a LOT of Hetalia panels, for example), off-topic panel submissions (Homestuck was popular, though oddly enough no Pony panel submissions), and so on.
But come on. You can't get the guy a laptop?
I gave a guest my laptop for an event in an emergency once. That was about it.
Also, even if the con doesn't have a spare, a person should be able to find a friend or something given that much time. Unless it's a person with no friends.
I'd offer the videos we already have of good panels, but none of them are anime-related. (The anime ones I have are old and I wouldn't have time to render them by tomorrow morning...).
The worst thing is, if PAX didn't overlap, we'd be able to jump into some of these. -_-