Image by Scuola di Atene via FlickrYou're finished!
Buzzwordy managed to catch up with the stranger in front of him but he was literally out of breath by the time he blurted out the person's name.
"Xavia, hey Xavia, I was not expecting you at all. Did Bif ask you to come and check me out? Guess what? I just bumped into Petro, the infamous magazine editor over there!" said the perspired Buzzwordy.
"Oh Buzzwordy, good that you are here early. Bif asked me to tell you that he is expecting a massive turnout for your panel this morning since you always have interesting things to say at conferences like this." replied Xavia.
"Understood Xavia. As usual, I will do my best. Since I still have another hour to burn, if you don't mind, I would really like to have some more discussions with you regarding the different smart grid technologies!" requested Buzzwordy.
"Buzzwordy, this is really your show and I definitely don't want to steal your thunder! If you need my help, I will see what I can do but smart grid is not my gig!" sneered Xavia.
Buzzwordy was disappointed with his boss's reply but respected his straight-through-the-heart answer.
"OK Xavia, unless you have something that we should discuss now, please excuse me since I must get ready for the panel." nodded Buzzwordy as he began to back away from his boss.
It was approximately 10 minutes before the start of Buzzwordy's "How smart can a grid be?" panel and he did not see any of his panelists outside of the conference room. His palms were sweating profusely and he couldn't stop checking his watch every 10 seconds.
"Darn, there is no one here and what the heck am I going to do?" complained Buzzwordy.
It was exactly 11AM and a show coordinator approached Buzzwordy with a serious look on her face.
"Hi, you must be Buzzwordy. I'm Serena. It is very nice to meet you finally. You and I did speak on the phone a couple of times before. By the way, the session before yours is running late and I'm afraid that you and your panelists won't be able to start on time. I'll keep you posted on the progress!" apologized the savvy looking show coordinator.
"Thanks for the heads up Serena. It is my pleasure to meet you as well. I think I will just wait out here since none of my panelists have arrived yet." responded Buzzwordy with a reluctant grin.
By 11:15AM, half of the panelists showed up and Buzzwordy just learned that the other half couldn't make it due to some last minute travel problems. He was feeling really upset and started to worry about how his panel would turn out with only half of the panelists present.
Then he saw Serena walking towards him steadfastly.
"Well Buzzwordy, I guess it is showtime for you and your panelists. The conference room will be opening up in just a few seconds. You and your guests should get ready to go inside." suggested Serena.
"Thanks very much Serena. Hey everyone, listen up, we should all go inside now!" gestured Buzzwordy as he led the way towards the conference room.
Once Buzzwordy situated himself atop a podium inside the giant conference room, a silver-haired man wearing a huge head phone walked towards him.
"Hi, you must be the panel moderator for this gig. Great! I just want to let you know that the speaker system is not working too well so you and your guests will all need to speak up during your presentation. Good luck!" chuckled the silver-haired man.
"Thanks for telling me. As you can see, this is a huge conference room and how do you expect all of us to talk at the top of our lungs for the next 50 minutes?" bickered Buzzwordy.
The silver-haired man shrugged his shoulder gently as he backed away from the podium.
Buzzwordy glanced over to where his panelists were and saw everyone's facial displeasure. His subconscious mind kept telling him that this panel was going to be a disaster.
"Good morning everyone. First of all, I must apologize ..." exclaimed Buzzwordy.
"We can't hear you in the back, you need to speak up!" yelled someone in the back of the conference room.
"OK, thanks for letting me know. Once again, good morning everyone. Can all of you hear me in the back?" yelled Buzzwordy.
"Hey, we still can't hear you in the back, you have to really speak up!" yelled someone else in the back of the conference room.
Buzzwordy felt awful and wasn't sure how to move forward with the show. He turned his head over to the far left corner of the room and saw Xavia shaking his head violently.
"You're finished!" whispered a voice from within Buzzwordy.
Lets see if Buzzwordy can survive on Day Twenty Two.
Buzzwordy
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