Condundrum
I find myself with -
I interrupt your regularly scheduled post for a special announcement:
I'm sick of writing about Arisia. I'm sick of writing ANYTHING, right this minute. None of it seems good enough. All of it sucks.
This moment of angst brought to you by Me. Ask for me by name.
And now, back to the show.
I took fairly extensive notes during my eight panels. The problem is, there are some comments that I want to make that are pretty negative, and I'm worried that some of the people involved might read them.
Now, let me say up front that none of the negative comments are about anyone on my friends list. Mostly, I want to bitch about one or two panel moderators who, in my opinion, sucked. But with my luck, they'll probably end up reading my comments. And then we'll be assigned to the same panels next year, and it could be...awkward.
That's what I'm afraid of. Did I ever tell the story of the girl in my high school fiction class with the dead grandfather? Probably. Suffice it to say that I've learned that whenever I say something negative about anyone, a magic channel opens up to that person and I get screwed.
But I really wanted to bitch about this a bit. So...I'll say what I want to, and just not identify the particular panel(s) in question.
But I'll also say that I'm not talking about rosefox. And that I'm positively green with envy over the moderating skills of woodwardiocom.
A moderator needs to be strong, to keep a panel moving. They need to make sure that every panelist gets to speak in some semblance of proportion. They need to be able to get audience members to speed up their questions when necessary, and to shut down rogue members - panelists or audience members - who simply will not shut up.
What they should NOT do is do 90% of the talking. On one of my panels I sat there, honestly wondering if I would get to speak at all - and finally shouting out my points when I couldn't take it any more. Other panelists did the same, or suffered in silence.
There are few things more annoying than spending 55 minutes sitting in front of an audience and not being able to get in a word.
The moderator spoke very loudly and at length on his opinions. The moment he was done he went forcefully to those audience members who had their hands raised. Panelists had to practically force their way into the conversation.
I spent most of my time being frustrated, and was glad to leave a few minutes early.
Some people should not be moderators.
I interrupt your regularly scheduled post for a special announcement:
I'm sick of writing about Arisia. I'm sick of writing ANYTHING, right this minute. None of it seems good enough. All of it sucks.
This moment of angst brought to you by Me. Ask for me by name.
And now, back to the show.
I took fairly extensive notes during my eight panels. The problem is, there are some comments that I want to make that are pretty negative, and I'm worried that some of the people involved might read them.
Now, let me say up front that none of the negative comments are about anyone on my friends list. Mostly, I want to bitch about one or two panel moderators who, in my opinion, sucked. But with my luck, they'll probably end up reading my comments. And then we'll be assigned to the same panels next year, and it could be...awkward.
That's what I'm afraid of. Did I ever tell the story of the girl in my high school fiction class with the dead grandfather? Probably. Suffice it to say that I've learned that whenever I say something negative about anyone, a magic channel opens up to that person and I get screwed.
But I really wanted to bitch about this a bit. So...I'll say what I want to, and just not identify the particular panel(s) in question.
But I'll also say that I'm not talking about rosefox. And that I'm positively green with envy over the moderating skills of woodwardiocom.
A moderator needs to be strong, to keep a panel moving. They need to make sure that every panelist gets to speak in some semblance of proportion. They need to be able to get audience members to speed up their questions when necessary, and to shut down rogue members - panelists or audience members - who simply will not shut up.
What they should NOT do is do 90% of the talking. On one of my panels I sat there, honestly wondering if I would get to speak at all - and finally shouting out my points when I couldn't take it any more. Other panelists did the same, or suffered in silence.
There are few things more annoying than spending 55 minutes sitting in front of an audience and not being able to get in a word.
The moderator spoke very loudly and at length on his opinions. The moment he was done he went forcefully to those audience members who had their hands raised. Panelists had to practically force their way into the conversation.
I spent most of my time being frustrated, and was glad to leave a few minutes early.
Some people should not be moderators.