Horror Story #3: A Panel of One

From an author:

I arrived at my first-ever huge, well known, but shall remain anonymous book conference. I was thrilled because:

1. my first book had come out, and
2. I was on a panel and was going to share a table with well-known authors and editors!

I arrived early at the room. It was empty, but bit by bit filled with people who had come to see the panel. When the time came for the panel to start, I was the only one sitting at the table. My panel leader hadn't shown up. None of the panel members had shown up. They never did show up, and I never got an explanation why.

I looked at the rows of expectant faces. I was alone.

Thank heavens two authors in the audience saw my plight and jumped in, one posing questions I jotted down for her, the other sitting next to me and being absolutely fun and professional.

My opinion of those two authors soared. I buy every single book they put out.

My opinion of the conference plunged. It'll be a cold day in hell before I shell out my money to go again.