hi, my name's ellen. i'm not the programming director, and i'm not the panel coordinator, but i noticed that you had posted some valid questions, and i wanted to be sure you felt heard. i'm going to be coordinating some panels myself, so i've thought about the same questions.
i will send little notes to brenda and gina for you on ym alerting them to your thread.
good luck...what are your panels? mine are related to fanfiction and fan art, plus some fan improvizational theatre games.