Well, it was fun in the end. But it was also oddly terrifying. The thing is, I’ve performed stuff in front of reasonably large audiences before and I’ve also done panels. I’ve done local radio. And I’m also very comfortable with technology. But I still found it a very weird experience, and it wasn’t until we reached the quiz at the end of the proceedings that I was beginning to feel at home with it all. I’ll probably be fine next time, if they ever let me near it again.
Anyway, the wonderful thing about the Zoom technology is that, for better or worse, it’s all captured on YouTube for posterity. So if you want to watch, do feel free to have a gander below. To be honest, I haven’t dared to look myself, as I’m pretty certain that my contributions to what was an actually very interesting panel discussion will come across as (a) minimal and (b) pretty vacuous.
Fortunately, my subsequent breakout room discussion isn’t available for public viewing. This is a good thing, because I did an excellent imitation of a rabbit caught in the headlights until Anne Corlett’s lovely agent, who’d had the misfortune to end up in there with me, eventually took control of the proceedings. I’ve now marked her down as “unlikely to view submissions sympathetically” on my list for next time I send anything out.
Oh, and if you’d like to see the other panel discussion, it’s here. Well worth a watch:
[Edited to add: Despite my efforts, it all worked remarkably well and apparently everyone who attended thought it was great.]