Opportunity can certainly bring out the ugly opportunist in people.
And the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference is all about opportunity. You could be chatting up the guy who wrote The Usual Suspects and not even know it, not until you see him moderating a panel the next day, that is. Some panels were informative, but not necessarily useful. It was bewildering to watch three people actually be that funny. It was also richly ironic because the entire time Elehwany was sort of silently stranded on the side.