India 2. In Conversation

It’s been one week since the Brisbane Writers Festival, and my brain is still processing all of the conversations. It was my first year as a volunteer and although it meant that I had to hand in two assessments one week before they were due, it was worth it. I assisted at the artist liaison desk, which welcomed all of the artists to the festival. We provided them with their run sheet, lanyard, and assisted them on where they needed to go. The bonus of working on this desk with so many people spare meant I had spare time to slip into some of the shows.

I got to see three panel discussions, which were so insightful that I couldn’t type the notes into my iPhone fast enough. What I suppose is a really important question for our group at this stage, is one that Emily explored in her last blog post, “The Art of Questioning”. One of these panels didn’t seem to be fuelled as much by the moderator as it was by the panel itself and their interactions between responses. This created a natural conversation, comparing observations on how they approach or view particular issues. Another panel relied completely on the “trust your reader” method and read segments from a written work. Of course this would only attract a public that was interested in reading their work or had already done so. There wasn’t anything to learn or take away other than the utter enjoyment of discovering something new or simply relishing in a topic you love.

The most informative was moderated and prepared with a series of succinct questions. As any journalist knows, a good interview is in the art of asking a good question. Because ‘a good question’ is something quiet mystifying, I have spent the morning researching tips on how to be a good moderator. I thought this might be useful for our interview questions, as most moderators are skilled in the art of conversation. The art of good conversation is what I believe to be the catalyst for great answers in an interview. On the Harvard Business Review Blog Network, I found an article called “How to Moderate a Panel Like a Pro”. They mention that the panel discussion was invented by someone who liked to sit three feet above his audience, talk with five of his closest friends for an hour, and barely acknowledge that there are 100 other people in the room, usually sitting in uncomfortable chairs.

Thankfully, I have never sat in an uncomfortable chair while been ignored by the moderator or panel themselves. However, this article does provide a few good guidelines that suggest stirring a pot of questions about the latest industry controversies and hot issues. We might want to consider what approach we take with our questions, like the topic of mythology in their work. Or, we might want to discuss the future of the book and if the overall project has changed the way they think about writing and how it’s become digitalized. Is it ready, available, instant, and a craft that appears to have no sleep? With so many questions to ask, what do you think we should include?