Wondering if colleague did this on purpose

But that doesn't explain why the people simply went away without making an attempt to contact the person they know they had a meeting with, something seems to be missing in the timeline

If she turned them away because she genuinely thought you weren't there, that's on you for not making her aware that you were in, that they were expected and she should let you know when they arrived.

Isn't there a receptionist?

If the meeting was at 12 you need to be there at 12.

It's question of piss off the senior consultant or miss the meeting.

In most businesses you'd need to go down and collect your clients. Is the colleague a receptionist?

She should have called you if she couldn't find you. Definitely an attitude problem.

That's a written warning I should think.

Not sure I understand this business arrangement.
Two parties take months to secure a date to discuss things that are presumably beneficial to both?
And then they trot off after 5 minutes because a junior 'can't find them'.
Not in any world I've worked in.
Unless they really didn't need or want to be there at all.

Then you get up and go. Sorry but set in his ways or not you look unprofessional here.

i work in an investment bank with Ds and MDs who have egos that are enormous but if I need to leave then I need to leave and I excuse myself

You could have rung them to call them back as they can't have got far in that time. You needed to be available at 12 if not beforehand , not rely on others to find you.

Yep there is more to do this story..it makes little sense. If the meeting was so important surely you had no choice but to point out the time. Or alternatively make sure someone knew where the clients were to wait and that they were expected ?

You should have been ready in your office meeting room, at 12pm for your meeting with clients.
Something similar happened to me as a client a few years ago when I turned up on time for a meeting.
They had to look for the person that I was to meet. I was left waiting nearly 15mins until the person turned up.
I had an hour scheduled for the meeting and at 1 hour passed the original start time, I thanked them for their time and said I needed to go. They asked me to stay on,as they weren't finished giving me all the information.

I said sorry, that I can't be late for my next appointment.
It's really annoying that I was able to factor in the journey time, to meet them on time at their office. While they couldn't even ensure they to be ready in their own office meeting room.

I'm surprised they walked out only 10 minutes past time.

Surely you can't think the senior consultant would have minded if, at 12 , you'd have said "right let's go and get our attendees".

Is it part of this junior colleague's job description to help guide people to the meeting room or is she constantly interrupted from her actual work because of where she happens to sit?

If your team were on point why didn't one of them go to meet your guests?

It's odd all round.

You all work for the same company and depend on that company to be busy and profitable to pay wages. So the person who has first contact with a client/visitor has a responsibility to get the client/visitor to the right person/place.

You had a responsibility to either be ready to greet in person or ensure that the receptionist or whoever knew where you were.

But also I would have expected a client/visitor to have waited longer than 10 minutes. It's annoying, but delays happen.

No-one comes out of it very well.

It's perfectly normal In my office and clients I visit to have visitors brought to you. It would also be totally inappropriate to wait in Reception.

A meeting that important, but they didn't even wait ten minutes? Something is fishy. You need to ask them exactly what was said to them.

But you also need to say "Sorry, i have to go to that important meeting". You said the senior consultant knew about it and rescheduled his day around it, so he knew it was important.

Just do the meeting on teams

You’ve been organising a meeting since July and you didn’t think to say to the senior consultant at 12 noon “I need to see where they are?”

sorry but you need to start being more forthright and assertive.

i would take up what your colleague has done as a separate issue with her boss.

It sounds like she did this on purpose so you need to get to the bottom of what happened - have you spoken to your guests?

However, a meeting that important I wouldn’t be relying on non team members who have form for being difficult. I’d have told the senior consultant at 11.55 that I was going to make sure I welcomed my guests as they arrived. Then you ensure they are welcomed properly and professionally.

I'd definitely make a big deal of this tbh. She needs reining in.

Why did the people go away without trying to contact you to find out where you were? Seems odd that they just left after 10 minutes when they knew there was a meeting

Did you contact the guests and is their story the same?