As suggested by Eben, do not autohide the frame and show

it for 10 seconds at startup.

shell/panel/PanelManager.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import gtk
+import gobject
 
 from panel.VerbsPanel import VerbsPanel
 from panel.FriendsPanel import FriendsPanel
@@ -27,6 +28,14 @@ class PanelManager:
 		self._left_panel.move(0, size)
 		self._left_panel.resize(size, gtk.gdk.screen_height() - size * 2)
 
+	def __hide_timeout_cb(self):
+		self.hide()
+		return False
+
+	def show_and_hide(self, seconds):
+		self.show()
+		gobject.timeout_add(seconds * 1000, self.__hide_timeout_cb)
+
 	def show(self):
 		self._verbs_panel.show()
 		self._friends_panel.show()

shell/panel/VerbsPanel.py

@@ -72,4 +72,3 @@ class VerbsPanel(Panel):
 
 	def __activity_button_press_cb(self, view, target, event, activity_id):
 		self._shell.start_activity(activity_id)
-		self._shell.get_panel_manager().hide()