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[barred_owl]

Just remembered my first brush with academic celebrity (thanks for the memories, mad_doctor):

At my very first national conference, I was in a small group of conference attendees waiting to cross the street toward the conference venue.  While we're standing there, a middle-aged man accompanying a much older gentleman turns around, looks right at me, puts out his hand and says, "Hi, I'm Big-name Guy, and this is my father, Big-name Guy the Elder."  We shook hands, but I think all I could muster to say was "Pleased to meet you."  Handshakes all around in the little group, and that was that.  I thought it was a rather nice gesture on the part of Big-name Guy.

I've seen the peacocking behavior, though, too.  It's funny and sad, at the same time.

[terpsichore]

I did not feel it to be the time or place to get into esoteric arguments about sources and debates that really had little direct relevance to my paper or the conference. I wasn't going to argue with him, especially because, basically, I could not address his points without criticizing his use of sources and his reading of debates in his book. And there was no way I was going to open up that can of worms.

I prefer to call it a can o' whoop ass. And I think you should have opened it, but oh well.

I'm with larryc on this one.  Next time, consider taking the opportunity to argue back.

Then again, I'm in a field where Big Names do this on a fairly regular basis.

[lurquita]

You just never know what is going on in their minds when they are ungracious and/or bullies.

A Big Name gave one of my graduate school friends a no-anesthetic colostomy after hu read hu's first conference paper.  Hu almost started to cry as the Big Name ripped hu a new one.  What made me (and all the rest of the graduate students present) so angry was that none of the professors put a stop to it.  It was as though our professors were intimidated by Big Name Jerk too.

Luckily, the next day, after Big Name read Hu's crappy, obviously cranked-out-while-on-the-airplane paper, one of the sweetest and mildest professors in my program started asking questions--polite, mild questions that lead Big Name to a point where Hu started to show Hu's lack of preparation with the paper in question.  Our professor made Big Name look like an idiot when all was said and done.  Very politely.  It was beautiful.

That was my very first experience with a famous scholar. 

Since then, I've met a few others who have been really lovely.  Kind, gracious, generous, and decent. 

Maybe the OP's Big Name was a true jerk, but it might be that Hu lacks social skills.  I am not sure about the Big Name who ripped my friend a new one.  I've heard both explanations for this individual--some folks think that Hu is an arse-hole of the first order and others say that Hu is just clueless.

Whatever the explanation is, it does not sound like you have anything to be ashamed or embarrassed about.  As Julio Cortázar said: the dogs bark but the caravan keeps going on by...

Shake it off, and move on, basically.

:)

Lurqui

[mouseman]

The nicest behavior I've ever seen from a Big Name was at a conference many a year back.  The BN had developed an idea during his PhD, which is being used quite a bit today.  So at this conference, a grad student was presenting a talk which was basically explaining why the idea is wrong (her adviser never liked BN's idea).  Throughout the talk, the BN sat there, absolutely calmly and relaxed, never said a word nor commented.  After the session, he rushed up to the student, and said, excitedly:  "that's great!  Let me take you to lunch so you can tell me more!"

[zookers]

I was at a conference where a big name mentioned that my little ol' research was very interesting, and proceeded to talk to me for a while about it.  We are now collaborating.  I still get a kick out of it, when my phone rings and the caller ID says "Big Name".

I also attended a series of colloquia at a neighboring institution, where another big name was visiting for the semester.  Hu was extremely pleasant and jovial, listened politely to the speakers, and then spoke to them afterward.  It was always amusing to see hu shake their hands and say "Hi, I'm Big Name!"... (as if the speakers weren't humbly aware).

Lastly, I was friends with another big name in my field when we were both undergraduates... although hu wasn't a big name at the time!  Does that count?

[short4bob]

I feel so lucky with my Dr. Big Name encounter. I had just gotten into my Ph.D. program. I was giving my first presentation at my field's big annual conference and my advisor was presenting in a different session at the same time I was. I was terrified to be flying solo. So I was sitting out in the lobby going over and over my presentation when someone walked up and said, "You look nervous. Are you presenting today?" I thought I recognized the voice as someone I knew pretty well and started to dump all of my worries on him, still focused on my laptop. I looked up halfway through my rant and see that it was Dr. Big Name.

Gulp. I thought I'd just smashed my future to smithereens by not looking polished, confident, and all those things you're told to be at conferences.

Not only did he take the time to reassure me that everything would go well, he came to my presentation so I would have "someone you know" in the audience. He even lobbed me a couple of softballs when I opened the floor to questions.

Fortunately all of the big names in my field that I have met since then have been equally kind, generous, and supportive of grad students. They're great role models to a one.

It's the little names that tend to be the jerks here, but they seem to get weeded out pretty quickly. It's nice being in a small field sometimes.

[reener06]

Lemonbar, I feel for you. A few years back, while in grad school (still am, but finishing up the diss now) I co-organized a symposium in which I gave a paper. I invited Big Name to be discussant, along with second Big Name; second BN was from another region, but BN was very entrenched in this region. He introduced himself so politely to me beforehand, and talked congenially about retirement and coping with his wife's death. I thought, gee, what a nice guy; I'm so glad he agreed to do this. Then after all the papers were given--mine dealt with data he collected for his diss 35-40 years earlier, and somewhat tangentially, he started in on his comments. He graciously lauded each paper, and saved mine for last. He started out with (in a loud voice) "reener06 is WRONG!" and from there it got worse. I turned 40 shades of red, from both humiliation and anger, b/c I felt that most of his comments were not valid. BN#2 followed him, said nice things quickly about every paper, and made a point to talk to me afterwards about how much she liked my work, which I so appreciated. BN#1 ignored me the rest of the conference--I can't say I sought him out either--and continues to avoid me at conferences. My only consolation is that he's retired and doesn't publish anymore. My few discussions about it with others let me know that he wasn't as respected/revered as I had thought initially. Others suggested he felt threatened, but I don't know. I think it had to do with new retirement, and feeling as if his long-ago data, which he could have published more widely, was not being used in the manner he had wanted it. I mostly feel sorry for him--and I don't invite him to be a discussant.

Another example I think was worse--in another symposium I organized, I asked two friends who shared the same advisor to give papers in my symposium, and both did. One was less prepared than the other, but they were fine. I also asked their advisor to be a discussant. He ripped both to shreds, particularly the second one. The person didn't contribute to the subsequent edited volume b/c his ego was pretty shattered. Everyone thought it was bad form, and that it was the advisor getting anger out at the student for dragging their feet to finish. I did think long and hard about working with that advisor when I applied to grad school. He was always congenial to me, but I realized he had another side. I didn't bother to apply to that school.

I think you handled it better than I did, so congrats.

[lemonbar]

Yeah, I know about turning the 40 shades of red. Not a good feeling in front of a bunch of people.

This has happened to me before, so maybe that's why I was able to maintain some sort of composure. I work cross-disciplinarily, perhaps more frequently outside of my discipline than within it. This was true for this conference. So, I typically am pressured to make my work conform to the standards of the other discipline (i.e., "take this out" or "can you write this in a different way" -- i.e. the way we in ___ discipline would). This means I get criticized a lot, in front of people! I remember one of the first conferences I did as a graduate student, I got pretty torn up by the discussant of my panel. So, getting torn up is not new to me. However, I am not usually dealing with Mr. Big Name.

I have to admit this time around I was a bit blind sided because the thing he picked up on was something I did not think was controversial. It wasn't even a point that I thought would be critiqued. I realize now that it was the part of the paper that contradicted what he wrote in his book; but before the conference, I did not think to go through his book and look at all the ways in which my work was different from his! At any rate, I did not think to review the debate surrounding this point, or why it was I came to decide where I stood in the debate. So, I couldn't quite recall it during the actual session and had to really think about it afterwards (and then look it up when I got home). So I was unprepared to respond to some of the things he said.

These are fun stories (even the bad ones!), and make me feel better about what happened.

[buglet]

If someone wants to be a jerk, they can always find something to criticize in your paper, no matter how good it is.  Truly great scholars don't need to resort to stuff like that.  Their ideas will speak for them. Now you've seen the true side of this guy and can avoid him like the plague. 

[dismal_sci]

When I met the first of several big names in my field,  it went something like this:
Me:  I loved your book on Important Topic, especially chapter 3.
Him:  Thank you so much?  Do you have a car?
Me:  Not here, but my friend Grad Student X has one.  Why?
Him:  I need to get to Local Bar.  If you all would take me, I'll buy the first round.
So Big Name and eight grad students piled into a VW, went to Local Bar and let Big Name buy us drinks all night.
In my field, this is not terribly unusual behavior, though.

I want to be in mended drum's field.

My first brush with greatness was in a cab going back to our hotel where a Nobel prize winner doing work in my area was sitting in the front seat and my co-author and I were in the back seat.  The cab driver drove like a total maniac.  I was sure we would all die and my name wouldn't even be mentioned in the article about the Nobel prize winner's death.

[notaprof]

A famous Scottish theologian came to speak at my husband's seminary.  For some reason, my husband was asked to pick him up at the airport.  We drove a 1966 Dodge Coronet and this was the early 80s so it was a pretty beat up old car with creaky doors and towels covering the seats.  I was mortified but my husband said that the big name didn't bat an eye and even asked if my husband could be the one to take him back to the airport when he left.  I guess Scots really do appreciate thriftiness.