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Margaret Atwood OSU Interview Teaches Interviewers: Platform Your Subject
Don’t try to be the subject
I was excited. This past week Margaret Atwood was planning to speak at a local university. Hear her in person and get a few first editions signed.
But nope. A few hours before the event, OSU moved it online. Sigh.
Appreciated hearing/seeing the interview, but I found myself getting irritated. At the interviewer. We don’t need to know about her childhood? That information is in biographies and profiles.
Do we need to review her college years? Not unless she brings it up.
Importantly, when Atwood’s speaking, why not shut the fuck up and let her talk? The interview is about Atwood. It’s about her ideas. People want to hear Atwood, not the interviewer. Maybe if this was a show like Joe Rogan where the interviewer is as famous as the subject, then… maybe keep talking. But we were left with an interviewer who kept interrupting Atwood.
It was super frustrating. Atwood would get going on an interesting topic and then, reliably, the interviewer would veer into the conversation. Often she stopped Atwood’s flow.
