Otakon 2013 is coming up, and with it, Otakon’s 20th anniversary, my third convention this season, and the odd sense of debuting a major panel at Otakon yet again.
More people do panels now, especially academic or historical ones, than before. But when I talk to people at conventions, I get one of two responses: “That’s cool! I could never be a panelist!” or “But I saw a fan panel a few years ago and don’t want to do those… they seem so stupid.” Which sounds like to me that being a panelist is viewed at best as this secret club – or, at its worst, a sort of fannish circle-jerk, of fans congratulating each other that obviously Series X is the best out there.
It’s not. Or rather, doesn’t have to be.
I first started doing panel work at Otakon 2004 – but I started with public speaking and working at conventions earlier than that. I think it was Otakon 2001, even, with my work writing for a little club magazine that the University of Maryland anime club had at the time. I wrote for it, and helped staff the magazine table at Artists’ Alley. Thanks to the experience of working with that club, I met Matt and Ian (of Mac Hall / Three Panel Soul), got wonderful advice for writing, got my first press pass, kinda talked to Dom (and found out what Megatokyo was about), herded cats/other fans, identified with the darkly cute, and generally had more and more experience messing up and having fun working at conventions. I learned that maybe, my opinions might be worth something. Maybe people wanted to listen to them, if I presented well, if I showed them WHY I believe Series X is a good example or HOW Buddhist priests get portrayed maybe they would listen. Or at least, make up their own minds.
I still ‘work’ at conventions. This year, I’m generally a panelist. Sometimes, I manage press passes. I know more people now, from journalists to anthropologists to feminists studying anime/manga messages.
The Magician card from the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Public domain.
I do this because I’m good at it. Because I read, and learn, and want to do something with that knowledge. I became interested in Japanese culture, and sacred cultures worldwide, partially through looking at anime and manga as media forms. I wanted to find out more about history, and why we bowed in the martial arts studio, and that book-learning can be useful in everyday life too. Knowledge can hinder and help; but knowledge is also what helps people understand each other better. (Perhaps that is the difference between ‘knowledge’ and ‘wisdom’, for those roleplaying and linguistic fans out there, but either way, it needs to be practiced.
I want to be able to show you that you can. That if you like my panels, or my writing, you can learn to do the same.
Panels at conventions are submitted by people. Work out an idea you want to do. Ask for advice. Make up your own mind. But the most important part?
Even if you know, in your head, how you’ll do a panel – or staff a table – or have ten thousand citations stored in your head, you still have to translate it into action.
To borrow a phrase from an ancient sage: “The rest is commentary: go and study.”
Go, and take action, for what you want.