Has anyone else ever said or done things at an anime convention that they afterwards felt really embarrassed or awkward about?
Even though I intend to be mature and well-behaved, I tend to get hyper when I'm at conventions and have had a library of moments where I said and did things I felt so awkward over with some that I'm still trying to live down a little. And even though I've worked hard on being careful about things I say, I've still had some recent ones.
Is it common to have your share of moments like this at cons?
If so, what are some that you've had?
Some of mine are:
At guest receptions, I've had some uncomfortable moments talking to guests where I got stuck for words and sounded really r-----ed trying to find the right thing to say.
At a Travis Willingham panel at Sac Anime, I responded to a couple of things he said that were intended to be clever, but came out really bad and for a couple of minutes, I wished in the worst way that I could dig a hole in the ground and hide.
When I had less experience doing panels, I said some really awkward things that you don't normally hear from panelists. I got stuck for words a lot and tended to repeat words too much and as a result, some of my panels have felt like a train wreck.
At Kumoricon '09, I did several panels where I wasn't thinking straight. Even though I had been a panelist for two years at the time and had gotten better with my work, for some reason I just wasn't myself. I was acting immature, repeating words too much and saying awkward things that you just don't hear at convention panels. Afterwards, I was kicking myself wondering why I was acting that way because it just wasn't like me. And what really made it bad was, after the first panel or two, it'd seem like I'd be more focused on the next two, but I was just as bad at them as I was with the first two.
At other conventions, I like to get guest involvement with the panels I do. With each con that I go to, I print out lists of my panels to give to guests, giving detailed information and telling them how to contact me if they're interested.
But before that, I'd talk to them about it in person. It doesn't seem bad, but I could only do it at autograph sessions or after panels and would have to rush it. I understand that in order to achieve, you often have to be persistent, but I felt like I made a bad impression that way because it can sound pretty immature when you're trying to invite guests to come to your panels. That's why I give them lists now, but if I had thought to do that at the time, I would have.
