Educational vs. Ask Panels?

[foreverfinn]

I don't remember who, but someone on the forums mentioned that from now on, Anime Boston will only accept educational panels, and no ask panels. Is this true?

[tehscribbles]

Every year, Anime Boston receives hundreds of panel submissions. Some of these are inevitably of the format of "fans ask characters in Cosplay questions." While these panels can have a place in some contexts, generally Anime Boston is not one of those.

If you're interested in panels that allow you to discuss certain aspects of anime, generally academic seminar type discussions would be preferred.

[Aurabolt]

I always presumed that to mean panelists taking questions in character as the characters they're cosplaying as.

With all the panels I've done, I prefer to keep things informative and factual like being in a classroom. I get many panelists want to give the audience a good time but there is such a thing as being too over the top. I saw that with two panels I attended last year in particular.