Imagine a young boy entering through the doors of the Salt Palace Convention Center. He’s dressed as a StormTrooper with his family while carrying a pencil and notebook rather than a fake gun to suit his character. He finds many other people of all ages and sizes dressed as various characters from movies and shows he had never seen before.
His family walked into an art panel. The boy figured he could work on his art while sitting for a while. While drawing his own depiction of his favorite superhero, Captain America, he overheard one phrase that stood out to the boy, “Graphics and art have very much to do with...”
The boy’s head snapped up, upset that he missed the last word in the phrase, he remained thoroughly engaged for the rest of the panel. The panelist talked about how to use your art to tell a story through creating comic graphics. He told himself he would learn as much as he could. Instead of continuing to draw, he flipped to a new page to take some notes.
This is simply an example of what could spark an interesting mind. Discussions of a particular topic of interest could lead people down different paths of creativity. That is what panels are for!
What to expect at a Panel:
Panels are a popular feature included at FanX to have groups of fans learn about and get to know celebrities, artists, producers, and writers by answering questions related to the panelists’ specialty. Panel topics and discussions range with hundreds of geeky topics.
The first half of the panel is conducted by an interviewer asking planned questions and having discussions with the panelist that would interest the niche audience attending the panel.
When do the panels occur?
Panels are often during the day throughout the event at various times. Panels run for approximately an hour.
Where do the panels occur? What is needed for entry?
All that is needed for entry into the panels in the Grand Ballroom and other meeting rooms is a ticket into the event itself*. Purchases of tickets for the event include panel attendance if desired. No extra purchases are required.
*Disclaimer about panels: please read about the cast experiences and panel lotteries here
Purchase tickets to the event here https://fanxsaltlake.com/tickets/
Scroll through for exclusive looks at fan-favorite panels at FanX
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Ricky Whittle Panel Fall 2019
Ricky Whittle is best known for playing characters in Austenland, The 100, and American Gods. He was raised in Oldham, England, and he explained in his panel how he grew up in the “proper ghetto.”
The panel Ricky Whittle conducted included him sharing remarks about armpits being hot, occasionally impersonating the “California valley girl”, and repeatedly laughing and ruining scenes, scenes with Ian McShane moving his sheet, and laying on the stage with his head hanging off, saying how he would be a chocolate cake.
Ricky Whittle began the panel by signing the FanX exclusive motorcycle and expressing his sad feelings about his stolen motorcycle.
He described his bike, saying, “I had a soft tail, so if you see any nice, fancy, black, Harley Davidson Breakout, 2014, customed-to-heck, lowered, widened, gossips on the side, all matte black, chrome, it was beautiful. So if you see it, it’s not theirs; it’s mine.” He then proceeded to explain how much more custom-made his bike was, including the grip and the alloys on the bike.
Some co-stars Whittle worked with include Orlando Jones and Ian McShane. Whittle joked about Orlando Jones being a vampire and thinks Ian McShane is hilarious and loves to throw Whittle under an embarrassing light when he takes the white sheet Whittle needs for the scene.
He speckled bits of advice throughout the panel, such as thinking of others before yourself is how the world is going to get better, encouraging the youth to avoid drinking alcohol, making sure to exercise, and always sharing the love.
The audience reactions throughout the panel increased in enthusiasm; Ricky Whittle had more fans exiting the convention than entering by the end of the panel. Whittle told stories in great detail with a humorous tone throughout; FanX was so lucky to have him in the Fall of 2019.
Alice Cooper Panel April 2019
Alice Cooper is a pioneer of hard rock music. He became the lead singer of the Alice Cooper band, which became popular in the ’70s. He has recently joined a band called Hollywood Vampires and released a new album in 2019 titled “Rise”.
Cooper said, “When you do an Alice Cooper show, I always tell anybody coming into the band, ‘I can guarantee three things. You’re going to get paid, you’re going to see the world, and you’re going to get stitches.’”
He proceeds to explain his reasoning when he tells a story where the show managers had decided they “had already hung Alice; we’ve already cut his head off, we’ve electrocuted him. What if we shoot him across the stage in a cannon?”
A giant cannon was then brought onto a show. The cannon would launch a dummy of Cooper (though it was staged to look like Cooper would be put into the cannon) across the entire stage into a net. Cooper would be waiting on the other side of the stage, ready to come out as if he had been launched over there, which would then excite the crowd.
Showtime arrives, and so has the big moment. The cannon launches with a booming sound across the audience, but the dummy doesn’t even exit the end of the cannon. It’s flopped there lifeless.
“Now it’s funny, it’s not dramatic at all,” said Cooper, “We used it once, we put it away. Somebody from the [Rolling] Stones saw it and sold it to the Stones. I think Mick [Jagger] used to straddle it and used it entirely differently than we used it.”
For the remaining time in the panel, Cooper continued to tell wild stories about other artists and actors he worked with in his career as a singer/songwriter. The audience continually laughed and enjoyed their time hearing stories.
Zachary Levi Panel April 2019
Zachary Levi began the panel with storming confidence while addressing the crowd. He immediately began answering questions from fans. Many questions referred to his previous roles as an actor in various geeky productions.
One fan asked what his most embarrassing moment on any set he’s filmed for has been.
He continued to describe a day on set in a show where he played Chuck Bartowski in Chuck. This particular day on set started very early in the morning, and the scene occurred in the bed in Chuck’s bedroom with his girlfriend. Levi had very little sleep from the previous day, much less needing to wake early for work.
While laying in bed, fatigue creeping over Levi more and more every minute, he fell asleep in the middle of the take, in front of the cast and crew with the cameras rolling.
Though he was asleep, he was in the stage of sleep where he was still aware of everything around him and still asleep.
After realizing what was happening, he jumped up from his half-slumber and immediately began his scripted line.
Out of confusion, the crew quietly questioned what Levi did. After he awakened, the surprise left, and the crew became positively impressed with Levi’s so-called “acting skills”. Levi and his co-star laughed about it after the scene was finished.
Throughout the panel, Levi discusses mental disorders/health, a character he voices in Disney’s Tangled as Flynn Rider, and shows the crowd how enthusiastic, energetic, and genuine he is.
FanX® Salt Lake Comic Convention is September 25-27, 2025, at the Salt Palace Convention Center
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