Panel Submission Rules and Policy

All panelists must be at least 15 years old or older. Panelists for 18+ panels must be at least 18. Exceptions may be made for panels geared toward children, but the panel must still be supervised by someone 15+.
For every panel that is accepted, the lead panelist and up to 2 co-panelists will receive $10 off their badge price. You will receive a code for your badge discount when your panel has been accepted and your time slot given. Please note that we cannot refund any discounts for badges already purchased.
Our goal is to offer as much panel variety as we can. With that being said, we will be accepting a maximum of 3 panels per fandom. So make sure you clearly outline your panel. In character Q&As are fine… just make sure you know your series! We want to give everyone and every fandom a chance to shine.
Scheduling. Please note that while we cannot promise any given time slot, we will do our best to accommodate you. Please specify all times that you and any applicable co-panelists are available on the submission form. This includes any panelists that are involved in other obligations during the con. For example, artist alley, cosplay contest, etc. Give us as much to work with as possible.
Panelists must specify any requested equipment at the time of your application submission. We will let you know what we can provide if/when your panel is approved. We may not be able to guarantee any extra tables, but please notify us ahead of time if this is a need. All panel rooms will be equipped with a projector and projection screen, an HDMI output for the projector, 2 mics, and an external 1/8th inch audio jack. We cannot guarantee that we will have the correct adaptor or equipment available for your device, so please keep that in mind.
You must notify us beforehand if you plan to hand anything out during your panel. Please note that due to convention center rules, we cannot provide nor sell any food or drink items during a panel.
All panelists MUST have a badge.
Panelists are expected to plan for setup and tear-down time in their panel application. Staff will enforce that you end in time for the next panelist to get started. If you arrive and start late, you will not be granted extra time to make up for your own lateness. Please arrive at your panel in a timely fashion. We will have a tech table set up near the panel rooms that you can go to at any point during the convention to check your laptop, ask any questions, and to make sure that your equipment will work with what we have provided. NOTE: If you are more than 15 minutes late, your panel will be canceled.
Panelists and co panelists may NOT drink alcohol just before or while conducting a panel.
Please note that the majority of panels are expected to be G, PG, or PG-13/TV-14. Only Adult (18+) category panels may cross into R-rated territory, which includes excessive swearing during the panel discussion. We understand that some source material may have curse words in it. As long as you warn the audience about the language in the source up front, you should be fine. However, the panel discussion itself should NOT have excessive swearing. As the panelist, you are expected to control the crowd and keep the discussion from devolving into excessive swearing.
**NEW FOR 2025** For those who want to apply for music related panels/events, we ask that you please sign up HERE. We have a dedicated panel room this year solely for all your singing and dancing events. Due to overwhelming response the last few years, we have separated this from the regular panel sign ups. You can apply for both, but please note we will move your submission between the two if we deem it to fit one more than the other.

Important Dates:

May 4th- Panel submission form closes

May 11th- Response emails will begin to be released

May 18th- Panelists must confirm acceptance

Thank you for your interest in conducting a panel at Akaicon 2025. We look forward to seeing your submissions! Any questions may be referred to akaiconpanels@gmail.com.