PAX Pokemon League

Some of the PPL AUS leaders and I had a bit of a discussion post podcast about this. We were trying to think of ways to get the word out in AUS since they are just starting out and are quite small (PPL and the convention as a whole) so I presented this idea. It would basically be the ultimate leader swarm that everyone should attend. We can make a quick presentation (like 10 min) with slides and videos about who we are, why we do this, etc. and then fill the rest of the time battling the attendees. I figured I'd throw this out there since we were able to secure a booth in the diversity lounge in Prime 2015 and the panel submission are up for East 2016.

Great idea! I would be more than happy to be a panelist, as I have panel experience and can give a quick Q & A on cosplay if you guys think that would help attract people.

I think this has been covered before. Since we are a machine that produces its own fuel, raising the money for a panel isn't easy. Not everyone can be expected to pay a large sum (remember: we have had leaders as young as 14 before), and no one should have to pay out a whole bunch of money for such a thing.

Meanwhile: it's good that plenty of people would want to volunteer to help work on and setting up a panel, but it's a VERY large commitment, and should anything happen to a (or multiple) volunteer(s) for this task, it could cause the whole thing to become a flop.

Lastly, and quite possibly the most important thing: Nintendo has held multiple opinions of us. To my knowledge, they range from, "We love what you do! It's cute and fun!" to "Just keep having fun but don't step on our toes." ... In so many words or less. It's been my understanding that we try to keep a friendly disposition where they understand we are a bunch of fun people who bring a fun community together. A panel might give them the wrong impression, or it might get the kind of attention we DONT want... Or it might open them up a little more! A finicial risk that may not be worth it.

Maybe a panel might be fun and might be something we can do in the future. Still on the table. But I believe these were some of the road blocks we came to.

Oh, I see. That sucks...

We could at least make some enquiries

I agree mainly with the second point (+ the others valid), and I worry sometimes that too many things result in less people overall getting involved (but I'm a worry wart).

I've got two ideas to reduce the concerns: first would be to "embed" ourselves in some way to an existing panel/group. might be interesting to get the feelers out to Diversity Lounge staff and see what we need to do to get on their stage and have a Live Podcast / Q&A.

The second idea would be to reach out to say, the Cookie Brigade, Buttoneers and/or Long Time Enforcer Friends and we could help run the "Volunteering to take PAX to the Next Level" panel?