Serving on Panels, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly
I've been on and observed lots of panels at mystery conferences over the years and I've seen some great ones and some that had real problems. Just for fun I'll tell you about the bad and ugly. Recently, I saw one of the panelists and the moderator chit chatting while other panelists were trying to give their view on a question. It happened more than one. I was once on a panel where once each of the panelists introduced ourselves, the moderator did all the rest of the talking--we never had a chance to speak again. Another time I was on a panel with two superstars (famous mystery writers, at least far more famous than I am) and the moderator never even turned in my direction. The two superstars spoke back and forth between each other. I tried to inject a funny comment now and then. Once the moderator, a rather pompous man, asked questions using such big words and long sentences, I had no idea what he was asking--neither did the other panelists. When it was my turn, I just sai...