Incredibly, panelists are hardly ever considered on the basis of fitness for participation. Years ago on the musksite I wrote up a bunch of things I heard from panelists over the years. Let's see how many I remember.
Reposted from
Foz Meadows
but when I was a baby writer, new to the scene, I wrote mini essays about my fitness to be a panel participant for everything I signed up for, because *there was less for anyone to google*. I *needed* to sell myself on the forms, because my track record otherwise wasn't very impressive.
Comments
No clue whatsoever.
(After this panel, it was explained to me that if you did three panels at Worldcon, you'd often have your membership refunded, and Casper was Gardner Dozois's wife.)
"Excuse me, I have to take this, it's the BBC calling. Slobodan Milošević just died and they need a statement"
which was a hard act to follow for the rest of the panelists 😅
However, he DID actually excuse himself, bc he's not terrible 😂
WHAT ABOUT US?
Wishing you a lovely day.
I happen to be a historian; I also have a few years of musical education.
I did my homework.
Panel went fine, but neither of these were things I’d pitched or put in my bio.
They're called missing stairs because they're not on the map.
You need relationships built on trust and a willingness to listen to people in order to find the real problems.
One year ago, this search prompt would've found nothing wrong with Neil Gaiman, outside some whisper networks.
https://theonion.com/just-shoot-me-writer-assumes-everyone-he-meets-watches-1819566211/
I took over as moderator and made him speak just for sanity because I had little to add.