Invited talk: etiquette for canceling A day before I am supposed to give an invited talk at a conference, I find myself battling an awful flu. Can someone help me figure out the right etiquette here? Do I tough it out and travel to the conference to give the talk anyway (and risk infecting dozens of people), or pull out of it citing bad health?
If you're seriously ill and risk either your health or the health of the audience, the correct course of action is to cancel. Just remember to add many apologies to the email/phone call.

It's up to the organizers of the conference to manage risks -- including cancellations, and if they did a poor job at risk management, they'll know better next time.

Edit: By 'many apologies' I mean 2-3. One at the beginning of the message/call, one at the end.