Running Panels

Panel applications for Colorado Anime Fest 2024 are now closed. Notifications will go out soon!

You must be at least 18 years old to submit a panel. If you’re under 18, you’ll need a co-panelist who’s at least 18 years old to submit the panel.

Allowed Content

We run panels from morning to late night. As such, we accept a wide variety of panel types, including those targeted toward children and those targeted toward adults. Panels will be scheduled at times appropriate for their content and target audience.

After 9 PM, we allow panelists to run panels that are only appropriate for adults. We’ll card attendees at the door to ensure only those 18 years or older get in, so panels can—within reason—explore themes of violence and sexual content with an age-appropriate audience.

No bootleg content. Unless you’re talking about how to spot and avoid them, we don’t permit any bootleg content of any form at Colorado Anime Fest.

Important note: We do not accept submissions for “Q&A” or “Ask {Character}” panels where panelists simply answer questions while in character. If you want to perform a panel in-character, you must present the panel with some form of planned, structured content.

Scheduling

Once you submit your panel, it will be reviewed and considered for acceptance. We’ll notify you by e-mail whether your panel was accepted, rejected, or added to our waitlist. If your panel is accepted and scheduled, you’ll be expected to run your panel. If you can’t make it, please notify us ahead of time. Failure to notify us ahead of time may result in your future panel submissions being rejected.

Panels can be between 45 minutes and 90 minutes in length, in 15 minute increments. We schedule at least a 15 minute buffer between panels so panelists have time to set up before their panels and to tear down after their panels.

Our attendee panels will be scheduled during the following timeframes:

Because all 18+ panels are scheduled for 9 PM or later and we have a limited number of slots available, if you’re submitting an 18+ panel, please be prepared to go late. We can’t guarantee that your panel will start before 1 AM. If you specify a preference for an earlier timeslot, we’ll do our best to accommodate the request, but we can’t make any promises.

Equipment

Every panel room is equipped with a projector and a sound system. We provide HDMI and 1/8” stereo mini-jack (i.e. headphone/aux) cables for input. Every panel room will have at least two microphones for panelists to use, in addition to a microphone set up for audience questions.

Laptops will not be provided. Please bring any adapters you need to connect your equipment to the equipment listed above. If you’re unsure what you might need, please contact panels@coanimefest.com with your questions and we’ll help you out as best we can.

If you’re not sure how to use an external display with your laptop, try hooking it up via HDMI to a TV or monitor before the convention. Connecting to our projectors will require the same process as connecting to a TV or monitor, so by testing it out beforehand, you’ll be able to figure out how to make it work at your leisure, rather than struggling while a roomful of attendees is waiting for you to start your panel.

Rewards

If you run one panel, you get a badge for one day of Colorado Anime Fest. Running two panels will get you a full weekend badge. Already pre-registered? You can use the badge for next year or give the badge to someone else this year. Want to give two friends badges for one day each instead of taking one weekend badge? Fine by us. You choose how to redeem your badges.

Up to three badges may be claimed per panel, one for each listed panelist. If there are more than three panelists in a given panel, they must decide among them how to distribute the three badges.