We have a cutoff for the con guide printing, but all approved panels will display on the website in their designated room and time slot, and all approved panels that are scheduled by the cutoff date will be included in the printed convention guidebook.

All panels are one (1) hour in length minimum on paper. However, we ask that you be ready to only run 50 minutes in order to give that last 10 minutes for room changeover.

Panels are typically limited to this one (1) hour time limit, to incorporate variety in our panel schedule. Certain panels may get an exception to this rule. Please do not plan on running the same panel multiple times throughout the weekend – the schedule gets packed, and other people have panels they want to run as well.

Whoa there partner! While we’re glad for your enthusiasm, we hate to inform you that the Special Events Ballroom is not available for panel placement. Only regular panel rooms will be on the option list when submitting and only METROCON Staff can place a panel/event into certain other rooms, such as the Special Events Ballroom, Guest Track, Video Rooms, and Main Events. Also, only certain events with specific criteria will be considered for the Special Events Ballroom. If you think your group or panel deserves to be in the Special Events or Main Events room, we’re certainly willing to hear you out and you should contact us, but we want to preface that the schedules for those rooms are usually very full of content we provide and our in-house shows.

When submitting your panel information, you’ll be prompted to submit a category and a preferred day/time. Our panel staff will do their best to place your panel on the schedule at your preferred time (Friday Afternoon, Saturday Late Night, Thursday Evening, etc. – they’re generalized) and in the tracked room that corresponds to the category of your panel.

You will receive a confirmation email stating that your panel has been approved. Please check your junk mail, because sometimes spam filters like to eat panel e-mails since we send out a very high volume of them.

Your panel will join a list of panels that our Panel Staff will go through and approve on a case-by-case basis. If our staff has any questions or concerns, they will contact you directly to work with you on getting your panel approved. Please be patient as it can take our staff a couple of weeks to get through all of the panels.

If you’re asking if it costs anything to rent the room for the panel, then no. METROCON does not charge to host a panel. In fact, host enough panels, and you can get your badge cost reimbursed! If you host 4 (FOUR) hours of unique panel content, make sure to get a panel sign-off sheet from the staff to take to registration to get reimbursed! Have questions about panels or reimbursement? Reach out to metroconpanels@gmail.com for more information!

If you would like to host your own panel, it’s real easy! Under the “Register” tab, there is a link to “Host a Panel”. There, you can submit the title, description, requested time slots and all of your information, and you’ll receive a notice on whether it is approved or denied by our Panel Staff.

Anyone! While we have panels hosted by our Special Guests, METROCON also sports tons of panels hosted by volunteers and regular con-goers – like you! – every year. Visiting guest groups have also hosted panels on special topics.