Panelicious!

As promised, I present to you: the Panelicious script! I hope you enjoyed my panel if you were there. But don't be sad if you werent, because now you can read the whole panel yourself and make your panel dreams come true together with me after all. Feel free to give it a comment if you feel like it and share your experience or eye-opening revelation during my panel or after reading this script. I hope to see you again next time!

Panelicious
Panel for UK PonyCon 2018
Sunday 14 October 2018

Panelicious!
Greetings everyone and welcome to the one and only panel about panels: Panelicious! I’m really proud, excited, and ready to shine here in Nottingham England, and turn you all from common visitors into battle-ready panelists. So who am I exactly? Let me take a few seconds to introduce myself, so that I’m not some random guy telling you what to do and what not to do. My name is…

Ikea

Nokia

Elkia!
Ah splendid. There we go. My name is Elkia Deerling, a huge My Little Pony fan, just like you all. In my spare time I like to write fanfictions about the show which I post on FIMFiction. I’ve written three books (two of which are on FIMFiction), two writing guides on Equestria Daily, and a couple of short stories. Some of them are happy, some of them are sad, and some of them are too weird and wacky to talk about.

My other big hobby is creating panels at My Little Pony conventions. I’ve done three panels so far, and this will be my fourth. My first panel, Elkia’s Creative Writing Panel, was a kind of ‘writing 101’ course I gave at Galacon 2017 in Germany. Get it Write! at UK PonyCon 2017 was about creating a plot for your story. I first wanted to call it ‘Power Up Your Plot,’ but I decided to change the title, for obvious reasons… Get in Character!, my third panel, covered the subject of characters in a story. I did that panel at Hearth’s Warming Con 2018 in the Netherlands.

What’s on?
So as you can see, I have some experience creating panels. And I finally found out what I should do with that experience. Just as with my stories, I’m going to share it with the world. Or, well… at least the ponies in this room. At Panelicious! I will give you the knowledge you need to get your ideas and inspiration and craft them into panels, which you might even be able to present at MLP conventions. You’ll learn what a panel is, what it means to give a panel, what giving a panel does to you, and how to create a panel using my exclusive, one of a kind, patented three-phase-workflow.

Now bear in mind that this is the way I create panels. This is the way it works for me, and I present this workflow because it might work for you too. But maybe you have a whole different train of thought and want to create a panel in a whole different way. That’s great! I say go for it! Always feel free to experiment and innovate, because no rule is written in stone.

Just a few more things before we get started. Yes, you can take photos and/or videos of me. I’d love you to adorn your bedroom door with a life-sized poster of me. As for questions, I’ve created a small Q&A session at the end of the panel, so if you have a question either save it in your memory or write it down, so you can ask it at the end. Is there one more thing I forgot? Oh, yes.

No refunds!

What is a panel?
So the first thing you should know when you want to create a panel is of course: what is a panel? This question might seem hard to answer and maybe as difficult as the age-old question: what is the meaning of life, or: what is love? But actually, there’s a really simple answer to this question. A panel is an easy way to…

Get rich

Get famous

Get the girls/guys

Not really
No. Let me shatter your hopes and dreams by telling you that is definitely not what a panel is about. You won’t get rich, because you do a panel for free. I have yet to encounter the convention which will pay you for doing a panel. Of course you can get small perks like a reduction on the ticket price or maybe even a free lunch. But you won’t be able to buy that dream car you’ve always wanted, even if you do a million panels.

Strange as it might sound, you won’t even get famous for doing a panel. I personally have no idea how fame works, but I do know that even if you inject a large dose of shameless self-promotion into your panel, you won’t get a million views on your Youtube channel or a million likes on your Facebook or a million followers on your FIMFiction page. You might feel famous when you’re doing your panel (which is a great feeling and nothing to be ashamed of), but feeling famous and being famous are two entirely different things. I mean, how many ponies here have heard of me before?

(Crowd raises hands.)

Ouch, that hurts! But I think I’ve made my point here.

And as for getting the girls, well… That’s an entirely different story. If someone in the audience here is going to give a panel about getting girls, I would be the first to attend. Yes, I am that desperate.

So what is a panel really about, then? Let me give you three other words which will give you a more serious answer to that question. I believe that a panel is an opportunity to…

Teach!

Inspire!

Entertain!

A real panel
Of course a panel is about teaching. You are there to share your knowledgeand experiences with the audience and teach the fans a new skill, or let them know something that they’ve never known before. It’s all about giving. You know something new and amazing and are ready to share this with the audience, so they can use this new knowledge in their lives and improve on things. In this case, making panels. And don’t forget that you’re helping too. Maybe someone always wanted to do a panel, but that someone has doubts and fears. I as a panelist can banish these fears and clear away the doubt, so that someone can be the pony he or she wants to be. Perhaps I can do that in a simple Q&A session. It doesn’t take much to help others.

From teaching comes inspiring. Wouldn’t it be great if you would all do a panel in the future, and if someone asks you: ‘Where did you learn all this?’ you would answer: ‘I learned that from Elkia Deerling, the coolest, most amazing and inspiring elk I’ve ever listened to.’ Okay, I might be exaggerating now, but you get my drift, don’t you? It would be awesome if I would inspire you all to make a panel of your own. If that would happen, then I know I did my job right, and I can sleep peacefully tonight.

And don’t forget entertaining. A panel shouldn’t only be about teaching and inspiring, because that wouldn’t be a panel—that would be a lecture. I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard enough lectures at university to last me a lifetime and beyond. In your panel you will create not just a flow of information, but an experience the audience will remember for a long time. You will come up with some way to interact with the audience; a new, fresh, and unique idea that will truly make your panel an experience. And that, my dear panelists, is something you will hunt for time and again. It’s not my job to think up these ideas for you, because that is something you must do yourself.

A real panel 2
When doing a panel, you will probably feel enormously satisfied and maybe a bit proud of yourselves too. Let me say that there’s nothing wrong with being proud of yourselves. As long as you’re not feeding your Rainbow Dash-sized ego, it’s okay to be proud. You have created a panel all by yourself, complete with script, PowerPoint, and acting it out on the big stage. You’ve taught, inspired, and entertained others. You would be mad if you would not feel a hint of satisfaction or pride. You’ve just achieved something big, you know?

There are two more things that come with doing a panel. Firstly, the con staff will love you. It is thanks to the panelists and musicians and community guests that the con will be popular and attract such a huge number of fans. Think about that for a second. Partly thanks to you, the con will be successful. Partly thanks to you, the visitors will have a great time that they will remember forever. You are adding to the big picture, making it complete.

Secondly, your panel might even spark a friendship. I have made quite a few friends thanks to my panels. It only takes one person who will take a moment to talk to you after the panel, saying thanks or just sparking casual conversation. Thanks to Facebook and the internet, I am able to keep in touch with everyone. Friendship is Magic, people, and you might just make a new friend with your panel. Is there a bigger reward than that?

So, with everything you’ve heard from me so far, do you think you’re ready to take your first steps on the path to becoming panelists? Do you think you have what it takes to shine onstage? Do you want to live the panelist lifestyle?

(Audience reacts.)

Good. Then we’re ready to unveil the secret of my three-phase-workflow. There we go!

The ‘sparkle’ phase
The ‘sparkle’ phase is all about ideas, and how that one special idea might spark into your mind. You can get an idea for a panel in the craziest places. For me, I get my great ideas when I’m taking a shower, because then I’m relaxed and I can think clearly. But maybe you will get an idea at school, at a rave, on the toilet, in your dreams, or on top of the mountain you just climbed. When getting ideas, it’s all about uniqueness. It’s best to come up with an idea no one has ever thought of before for a panel no one has ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, because a common idea can be great too, for example a panel about writing or drawing. But with common ideas you must be prepared for competition. Someone else might be planning to give a panel about writing or drawing too. If that’s the case, you might want to think of approaching your topic of interest from a different angle, specify your idea, or think of something completely different. With specifying I mean that Instead of giving a writing panel, you’re going to give a panel about characters, for example. Or instead of a panel about drawing, you’re going to give a panel about portraits.

So how are you going to get this amazing idea for a panel? Look at what you’re good at and what you like to do. Maybe you’re good at painting or playing the piano. Or maybe you like to play roleplaying games or ride horses all day long. If you look closely at yourself, your positive qualities, and your knowledge about things you love, it’s easy to get an idea which you can use to make a panel. But bear in mind that a panel is more than just being good at something. It’s great that you’re a master artist, featured on Equestria Daily every day, but if you can’t explain how you do what you do to others, then making a panel is going to be really hard for you. Remember the three keywords I gave you at the beginning of the panel? You need to be able to teach others about your special talent. They’re not going to get better at drawing just by looking at you or your art.

The ’sparkle’ phase 2
If you have doubts about your unique, one of a kind, and maybe even queer idea, then it is time to contact the staff. Send them an e-mail, explain what you want to do as clearly as you can, and wait for their response. Maybe your idea is a bit too weird or controversial to be used as a panel at the convention. But on the other hoof, maybe your idea really is great, and maybe you were worrying about nothing at all. The staff might appreciate your idea and tell you to go for it. There is nothing more motivational than that, fillies and gentlecolts.

What do we have now? We have an idea and we’ve got the green light from the staff. The next step is to organize your ideas. One idea will be followed up by another one, and another one, and another one, and soon you have so many ideas you will drown in them. My advice is to write everything down, and start categorizing your ideas into different parts or chapters. Write down as many things as you can, because you never know what might be useful and important later on. You will end up with a giant list of ideas and keywords, but that’s good. Perhaps you won’t even use all the things you wrote down, so you can choose the most important ones. I myself carry a notebook and a pen with me wherever I go, and I write down every panel or story idea that comes to mind. You have no idea how many insane ideas are in this book. If a stranger held this book and read in it, his or her mind would boggle, stumble, and fall into a living volcano to be consumed by the fires of madness.

The ‘Applejack’ phase
I called this one the ‘Applejack’ phase because this is the phase where you will work—hard! In the Applejack phase you will take your ideas and plans and shape them into a legendary panel.

First things first: the title. It’s important that your panel has a catchy title which is both original and tells the visitor (and your future fan) what the panel is about. Call a drawing panel The Penstroke Panel. Or call a writing panel about worldbuilding Wonders of Worldbuilding. Call a humorous panel Pinkie’s Fun Factory (not to be confused with the rainbow factory), or a panel about music Twilight Twinkle Tones. Or what about a panel about theater? Act it Out! is a good name, or, looking at season eight, Celestia’s School for Desperate Actors. As you can see, you will need some creativity thinking up a name, but I’m sure you’ll do fine with that. And if you really can’t find a proper name, then pick a name which would sound good in a TV commercial.

Nameless commercial slide
Panelicious! Become the panel hero you’ve always dreamed of!

The ‘Applejack’ phase 2
After you’ve picked your catchy title, it’s time to get to the core of a successful panel: the panel script. In a panel script you will write down what you’re going to say and what you’re going to do. Later on, when you’re starting on the slideshow, you will write the titles of the different slides in it as well, so you know what to say at which slide.

Write down keywords in bold. Keywords are words which are important and which kind of summarize the paragraph or chapter. The keywords are triggers for your memory to recall what you are going to say. You will use these keywords in your PowerPoint presentation, about which I will talk later.

You should begin your panel script with an introduction. Tell the audience who you are, what you have done and what you’re going to do. Make yourself sound like the most interesting guy or girl in the world, and give the audience a little hint of what is to come, so they will stay curious and engaged—so that they want to know more.

And then what? How do you write your panel script? Well, by using your knowledge, of course. You take your ideas you’ve gathered at the ‘sparkle’ phase and write them down. Then you use your knowledge to elaborate on the different subjects. You’re explaining to the audience your keywords and ideas, so that they understand the how and why. If, for example, you wrote ‘types of pencils’ down during the ‘sparkle’ phase, then you’re now going to write down everything you know about different types of pencils. And if you run out of information to write, then look some stuff up on the internet. You never know what fun facts you will discover in the wide, wide world of the internet.

But knowledge isn’t everything. Remember the three keywords? No, not ‘get rich,’ ‘get famous,’ and ‘get the girls.’ You know which ones I mean. You use your knowledge to teach, but you use humor to entertain. Try to sprinkle some humor—preferably dry English humor—throughout your panel. Don’t take things too seriously, and, above all, don’t take yourself too seriously. Everypony loves a little self-mocking, and it will make you look more human, as you highlight your flaws. One of my flaws is that I talk too much, as you can hear for yourselves here. See? Humor isn’t hard!

And when everything else fails…

All da memez
Then just throw in a pony meme or two. Everyone loves memes.

The ‘Applejack’ phase 3
Time for some practical tips. The number of pages of your panel script determines how long the panel will be. Elkia’s Creative Writing Panel was 15 pages long, Get it Write was 13 pages long, and Get in Character was 12 pages long. All three panels took around an hour to do, so we can conclude that an hour-long panel will be between 12 and 15 pages long. Perhaps you want to do a shorter panel, as you’re just starting out. Following these guidelines, a half-hour-long panel will be between 6 and 8 pages long. It’s not rocket science!

When looking at the length of your panel script and your panel, let me say one thing: it’s better to make it too short than too long. If it’s too long you won’t be able to present your whole panel in time, and that sucks. It’s like watching a movie but skipping the end. It will also give you more stress and make you talk too fast. It’s better to have a lot of time to spare with a panel that’s too short, because you can always fill the remaining minutes with a long Q&A session. Believe me, everyone loves Q&A sessions, including me. I love answering questions and solving problems the audience might have. You can truly learn a lot from Q&A sessions, and I think a good panel should always end with one.

Your panel script might even be more important than you think. Sometimes the con staff will actually ask you to send them your panel script. I’ve had that before at Hearth’s Warming Con. Nothing wrong with that. The con staff will read it, see if it’s good, and maybe even give you some constructive criticism. Just one last check before your panel plane will lift off.

So now we see that our panel is actually taking shape. We have ideas, and we have a panel script, so the panelist knows exactly what to do. ‘Are we done now, Mister Deerling?’ No, not yet. Now we travel from the oral preparations to the visual preparations. In other words, it’s time to make a PowerPoint. A PowerPoint is super useful to have, as it will help both you and the audience a lot. On the slides of your PowerPoint you will write down your keywords. Remember how I said keywords are triggers for your memory? Thanks to the keywords, you will not get lost in your jungle of text. You will know what comes after what so you can keep everything orderly and talk about the ideas one after another. The audience too, will notice the keywords, and will get a nice overview of what has been said, what the panelist is talking about now, and a little sneak peek into the future about what will be said later on. And of course there’s always this one nerd who takes this panel way too seriously and writes everything down. Do we have such nerds in the audience? Yes, I am one. It’s never a bad thing to take notes, fillies and gentlecolts. They are a nice souvenir of the con—knowledge is always a nice souvenir. And trust me, one day, your notes will save your life.

Another good idea is to write text down on your slides. If you’re going to make a quote or read a fragment of a book or an example aloud, the audience can read along on the slides. Using this technique you can make your examples much clearer, as the audience can both see and hear what you’re saying, and they will remember everything much better. And if your name happens to be Starlight Glimmer, you will find that you can brainwash them even better too. But watch out to not put too much text on one slide, or else the font size will be too small for the audience to read along. Rather smear the text out over two or three or four slides.

A PowerPoint is not only used for teaching and entertaining purposes. You can also use it to make visual jokes and pump some humor into your panel. And of course, it has to look nice as well. Even if you’re like me and you’re not a PowerPoint guru, just a simple colored background and a picture from the show makes everything look much less stiff. I myself like to go to the image gallery of an episode on the MLP Wiki. You can find it at the bottom of the page and it’s like the complete episode captured in pictures. Just scroll through them and try to find something appropriate.

Huh?!
Discord alicorn princess.

Wait a minute!
Discord cleaner.

Not you again?!
Discord shower curtain.

The ‘Applejack’ phase 4
Of course you can also choose not to make a PowerPoint, but why should you? Yes, it takes a little bit of time, but it is fun to create a slideshow all by yourself and it is easy too. Plus, the audience has something to look at. You’re not going to torture them by letting them look at your ugly talking mug all the time, are you?

Like this!
Elkia picture of me.

The ‘Applejack’ phase 5
Another thing you can do is make flash cards. On those cards you can again write down your keywords, so you know where you are in your story, and you can write down the text or example or quote or book fragment which you will read aloud. It may seem a little double to have both cards and your PowerPoint, but it really isn’t. The cards enable you to look at your keywords or your text without turning around to your PowerPoint. Without cards you’ll constantly have your eyes aimed at your screen or maybe you’ll even have your back turned to the audience. In theater, as well as in panels, you must never, ever, turn your back to your audience.

Plus, with the cards in your hand you’ll look more like a quizmaster, and who doesn’t secretly dream of being a quizmaster?

The next important thing is hardware. This is a Dell laptop. It has four USB inputs, a CD drive, a LAN input, an HDMI input, and a 3,5 mm jack input. It’s important to take a moment and look at what your laptop can and can’t do. With the HDMI connection I’m able to hook up my laptop to beamer screens with an HDMI cable, thus enabling me to have both digital audio and digital video. In other words, my PowerPoint and my music. But sometimes a beamer uses an older VGA connection. Uh-oh what do I do now? I only have an HDMI input. The answer is simple: I buy an adaptor. Of course I’ll still need an audio cable for sound, but at least I have video, so my PowerPoint is saved.

It’s always useful to ask for a tech volunteer to be present at your panel, so when something doesn’t work, you have someone who can help you save your panel. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen that a panelist wasn’t able to use her PowerPoint at her panel. Such a shame.

Now that your panel is ready and you may or may not be ready, it’s time to contact the staff. Write them an e-mail or get Spike to send them a dragon mail. First you should introduce yourself. Tell them who you are and what your history is. Do you have experience organizing things? Have you done any panels before? Are you an expert on something? Take some time to let the staff know who you are, and always remember to be polite.

Then, it’s time to bring in the big guns. Explain your wonderful panel to the staff. Give them a global overview of your ideas and how you plan on giving your panel to an audience. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself a bit. Don’t exaggerate, of course, but try to make your panel sound like the best idea in the world of Equestria and beyond. I always pretend to be applying for a job. In job applications it’s also important to show who you are and what you can do. But of course, this is much cooler than a job application.

When you have told them what you can give, it’s time to let them know what you need from them. This is the practical part of applying for a panel. Here you can ask for a beamer screen—including the right connection (HDMI or VGA)—some microphones, a bottle of water, a table and/or chairs, what kind of room you need, materials, light and sound, and a technician. Every panel needs different things. Make a list of the things you might need and send it to them. You never know how they can help you.

It is also possible, of course, to apply for the panel before you’re finished with it. I did that with this panel, by the way. I had my ideas written down and arranged into multiple chapters, so I knew what I wanted to do. Maybe I was just looking for confirmation that my idea—a panel about panels—was something useful and worth pursuing. Maybe I wanted to know if it was a good idea before I turned it into a complete panel. Imagine if the staff said no. Then I would be left with some silly panel I totally wasted my time on. Or maybe I was just looking for some motivation—someone telling me that I should do this, and that it is worth my time. Sometimes we all need that, motivation. The days it takes to get an answer back are indescribably scary and maybe even frustrating, but believe me when I say that when you finally get the yes from the staff, you’ll feel hyped and pumped up with inspiration and motivation. Nothing will stop you now!

So yes, you can apply before you’ve completely constructed your panel, but make sure you already have some ideas on how you want your panel to be. You can’t come to the proverbial table and bring nothing with you.

The ‘Applejack’ phase 6
We’ve come to the end of the ‘Applejack’ phase. Now we have a panel complete with ideas arranged in chapters. We’ve got a script so we know what to say. We have a fancy PowerPoint slideshow to keep the audience happy. We have flash cards to keep us, the panelists, happy. We know our hardware and what we need. We’ve contacted the staff and received the green light. What is left to do? Well, practice, of course! Read your panel script over and over until you memorize it completely. The better you memorize it, the better you know what to say and avoid those weird moments of (insert an actual silence here) silence. Once you are familiar with your panel script, it’s time to get serious and rehearse. Step in front of the mirror, turn on your PowerPoint slideshow on your laptop and pretend to give the panel to an audience. Or even better, ask your parents and brothers and sisters to be an audience. But don’t do that if they don’t like MLP, otherwise you’ll torture them to death. And also don’t do that if you’re a secret brony like me, otherwise you’ll torture yourself to death and make things really awkward.

The ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase
You promised yourself to act normal. You tried your best to just enjoy the con, gasp at the merchandise, get inspired at other panels, and gaze at the wonderful cosplayers.

But it didn’t work.

Your thoughts constantly gathered at one focal point, like grains of sand in an hourglass. An hourglass, a fine simile to describe the time you had left, the time before your panel. No matter how fun the con was, the grains of sand inevitably trickled away the seconds. One by one they fell, making the hourglass heavier at the bottom, and pressing upon your shoulders like the responsibility you have to bear.

The ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase 2
And now, with only ten minutes left, you stand in front of the door to the panel room. Is it the right room? You check your notebook, even though you know perfectly well where you have to be. Yes, it is the right room. You reach out with a trembling hand, open the door, and step inside. A sigh of relief escapes your mouth. The room is empty. No, that’s not true. The tech volunteer is already there. You try to make a bit of small talk with him, but your nerves make all words and sounds sound like squeaks of a dog toy. No matter. You put your laptop down, plug in the cable, and hold your breath.

The ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase 3
Thank Celestia it works! Your slideshow appears on the screen, and not a moment to soon. When you turn around, you almost petrify and jump in fright and bump your head against the ceiling and fall to the ground in a thousand pebbles. The audience gathers. One by one they trickle in. They sit down and look at the first slide, and of course, at you. What are you going to say? What are you going to do? But at the same time you know the answer to those questions perfectly well. It’s time for your panel… You take a deep breath, a last, feeble attempt to get the fear and worry and nervousness out of your system, and begin.

The ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase 4
This is my literary interpretation on how theminutes before your panel feel. Yes, I know I might have exaggerated a bit, but then again, I am a writer so I couldn’t help myself. Looking at the title of this phase, the ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase, you can guess what this phase will be all about. This might be the most difficult and nerve-wrecking phase of them all, because at this phase you will do no more rehearsals, no more writing, no more creating a PowerPoint, no more applying. At this phase, it’s time to do the actual panel.

The protagonist of my second person narrative is suffering from PPPP (Pre-Panel Petrifying Panic). The feeling you get from the last moments before your panel is different for everyone, and not everyone will suffer from Pre-Panel Petrifying Panic. Some ponies will actually feel sharper, as the boost of adrenaline heightens their senses and makes them almost superhuman. Some ponies will feel no nervousness at all, and go into the room level-headed and totally calm. To be honest, I feel PPPP every time I’m doing a panel, and I don’t think I’ll get rid of it no matter how many panels I do. But Celestia may skewer me with her horn if I’m going to let you all deal with the fears of PPPP alone. I can’t take away all the nervousness and fear and anxiety and maybe even dread and horror you might experience, but I can give you some tips to deal with it all.

My first tip is an easy one: get some music going. Your beamer installation probably has some speakers too. Music is a great way to calm yourself down and create a good ambiance for the audience. The music might even draw in more ponies, as you’re basically shouting: ‘Here’s where the fun is!’ through the music. Pick something that is cheerful and positive like house, chillstep, classical music, pop music, or rock. Think about what you would like to hear if you’re stepping into the panel room. But of course, be careful with your own preferences when you’re a metalhead.

My second tip is to just be brave. I know it sounds easy to just ‘be brave,’ but there’s a whole reasoning behind it. You have prepared your panel from an idea in your head to a live performance complete with PowerPoint and cards and music and jokes and text. You have prepared this whole panel from start to finish. This is your very own creation. You know what is going to happen. You are the director of this movie, the captain of this ship, the engineer of this train, etc. You are ready to do this, even if you perhaps don’t feel like you are. Don’t worry. You can do this. You will succeed in doing your panel just as you succeeded preparing it. Trust me.

Another thing you can do is pretend it’s just another rehearsal. You have done a lot of rehearsals already. Nothing has changed. It is still you on the stage, accompanied by your PowerPoint, giving a panel about the things you love to do. The only difference is that there’s a crowd of flesh and blood now. But the awesome thing about that is that they know nothing. The audience doesn’t know it if you accidentally skip a subject. The audience doesn’t know it if you forget to say something. The audience doesn’t know it if your panel is way too short. The ponies in the crowd are not there to criticize you. They are there to listen and learn and get inspired and laugh. The audience won’t eat you or throw something at you or roast you with their dragon fire. Trust me when I say that audiences are surprisingly forgiving, especially at My Little Pony conventions where the entire event is about being friendly to one another.

The ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase 5
And as you’re pretending it’s just another rehearsal, you’re just one step away from my next tip: be an actor. Of course it’s important to always be yourself, but, just as we see in the episode Fake It Til You Make It, sometimes being someone else is even better, for example your OC. Right now I am not Johan van Hameren the store assistant and super nerdy student; right now I am Elkia Deerling, professional panelist and international superstar! As you can see, the second creature sounds much more interesting than the first. Especially be an actor when executing (visual) jokes. Try and be more silly and ridiculous in the funny parts of your panel, and the crowd will laugh a lot more. Don’t be ashamed or afraid that you’ll look weird. I mean, you are a brony—you are already weird.

Perhaps you already know what nervousness does to your body. You’re sweating, your hands are shaking, you feel hot, you bite your lip, your stomach flutters, you want to find a corner to cry in. But all those things can be dealt with, and don’t really affect your performance much. Yet, when the nervousness starts affecting your voice, when you talk softer and a lot faster, that is something to watch out for. No matter how dreadfully nervous you feel, make sure to keep your voice in control. Always talk slowly and clearly, so everypony knows what you’re saying, and also loudly so that even the ones in the back row can enjoy your panel. This is a matter of practice. Do a lot of rehearsals for your friends and family. Let them sit at the other end of the room to practice talking louder and clearer. That’s what friends are for!

This tip is about something even I find difficult to do. Whenever I see a hoof in the air, my first response is to pause my panel, give this pony the time to ask his or her question, answer it as good as I can, and then continue with my panel. But, however rude it may sound, it is actually better to ignore this pony and continue with your panel as if you didn’t see a thing. In other words: let no one distract you. Not only is it annoying for the audience to pause your panel, it is annoying for you too. It’s very hard to pick up where you left off after you answered the question. Chances are that you thought so hard to give an appropriate answer, you have completely lost your cadence now. And don’t worry about the pony with the question, because in your introduction you’ve said that questions will be answered at the end of the panel (Q&A), so no matter what happens, this annoying question pony will have his or her chance again. No harm done.

Earth, fire, air, and… water! You wouldn’t think so, but water is super important to have at your panel, and here’s why. First, the obvious reason. You’re talking for a whole hour, which is a tough thing to do. In order to lubricate your throat and prevent your voice from becoming hoarse (pardon the pun), you use some water. Nothing is sweeter than water when you’re really thirsty, and after traveling through the desert, Elkia knows that better than anyone.

Here’s a reason you probably haven’t thought about. Drinking water means you can pause your panel. Why is that important? During that few-second-long pause, you are able to think about what you’re going to say a lot longer than when you would, for example, take a breath or just be silent for a few seconds. Being silent for a few seconds is always awkward, as the audience watches you and knows that you don’t know what to say, yet when you drink water, they see a legitimate reason for you briefly stopping. And if you screw back the cap, put your bottle down, and glance at your PowerPoint, you’re buying yourself even more seconds to think and get your story back on track. This water-drinking-trick is something I use all the time, as you have seen. Elks always like to live near water, to drink and to bathe. And now that I have given away the secret of the water, you know how often I forget what to say.

Here’s a tip for the non-native English speakers, like me. When you do your panel, and you’re talking in English, choose an accent and stick with it. Maybe it’s a small thing, but I find it important. It’s really weird to talk like an American at first and as an Englishman a second later. Your audience will get used to your pronunciation of the words, and when you mix that up, they might become confused. There’s a whole variety of English accents to choose from, for example…

The ’English gentleman’

The ‘adventurous American’

The ‘spunky Australian’

The ‘bloodthirsty Scotsman’

My accent? The ‘silly Scandinavian’
I like to think of my accent as the ‘silly Scandinavian.' “I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee…”

Wrapping up (the panel, not winter)
And with the tips and tricks in the ‘sweet-holy-Celestia-I’m-actually-doing-a-panel’ phase, we’ve come to the end of my panel. Phew! That was it. It’s all over now. How does that make me feel? It makes me feel good, and when you will finish your own panels, it will make you all feel good as well. It feels as if you’ve just climbed a mountain with an arrow to the knee. It feels like you’ve just run a marathon with Big McIntosh on your back. It feels like you’ve just rescued all of Goldie Delicious’s cute little kitties from a tree. The post-panel relief is, in my opinion, the best feeling in the world, together with finishing a three-hundred-page book.

But after the post-panel relief comes the post-panel existential crisis. What are you going to do now with your life? The answer is simple. After your panel it’s time to think of your next panel idea, and make preparations. You have had a taste of what a panelist’s life is all about, and now you hunger for more. After your first panel you’ll be super motivated to make another one. And don’t worry if you can’t come up with a new idea right away; you have a whole year to figure that out.

Where to find me
No, no, no! This is not some piece of shameless self-promotion. I know I always do those at my panels, but this might actually be useful for you. If you want to get in touch with me, you can send me a message on FIMFiction or send me an e-mail at [e-mail]. I use FIMFiction a lot, as I post my fanfiction stories there. But not only that… I also post the complete panel scripts of the panels I have done (including this one). So if you want to take it all in a second time, or if you’re curious about my panels on the art of writing, you can find everything in the blog post section of FIMFiction.

Calamity!
Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no! What have I done?! I made a mistake, a really, really big mistake. Forget about my panel, forget about everything I’ve just shown you. Just rewind and remove it all from your memory. Don’t remember a thing of what I said. Forget about the tips and tricks, don’t follow my advice, and don’t do as I told you. What? What’s wrong you ask? Well, thanks to my panel, I’ve created a room full of competition! How could I have been so stupid? I will be out of a job soon with all these new panelists and all these new, upcoming panels. Next year, UK PonyCon will be flooded with panels, each one more original and amazing than the last. I’ll never be able to swim myself a way through this sea of panels!

But not really :P
No, that is not at all how I think about it. I am happy that I helped you on your way to achieve your dreams and become panelists yourselves through my panel, Panelicious! In the end, that is what it is all about—about you. I really hope I did a good job, you had a good time, and that you learned something from me, something useful that you can use yourselves in your own panel projects. I want to thank all of you for being here with me and putting your faith and trust in me. I think it has been a magical time and I hope you feel the same.

Questions?
Do you have any questions perhaps? Maybe questions about doing a panel? Maybe a revolutionary panel idea you want to share with me right here, right now? Or do you have a personal question you want to ask me about me, my paneling life, or my writing life? Remember that no question is too weird or awkward. What happens in the panel room, stays in the panel room—except for everything I taught you, of course, you can take that out of the panel room. How else are you going to use it in your own panels?

Thank you and goodbye!
Once again, thank you all so much for being here to laugh, learn, and create together with me. I’ve given you the knowledge you need to make your own panels, drawn directly from my own experience, trials, and errors. The only things you need now are a stage and an audience. I hope to see you all next time at your very own panels. Make me proud, everyone!