As part of my final assignment for the Eminent Project this year, I was asked to conduct an interview with an expert or someone knowledgeable on the history of my eminent person. However, I couldn’t secure an interview in the end, with no response from any of those I reached out to. In this blog post, I will reflect on the steps I took to get an interview, why I couldn’t get one, and what I could’ve done differently in the future to secure one. So, the first step I took to get an interview was to do some research on who I could reach out to for my interview. The first obvious choices that came to mind were Frank Lloyd Wright’s foundations and committees, specifically the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the Fallingwater Advisory Committee. I got to work creating email drafts to send to both of them, making sure to personalize each email to its recipient. After finalizing and sending the emails, I patiently waited for a few weeks, with the lack of response growing more worrisome by the day. At some point, I realized that I couldn’t wait for their response any longer and decided to find another expert regarding Frank Lloyd Wright I could contact. This time, I decided to go onto the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture website’s faculty page, where I did some research on the professors. I eventually found a few professors that are very knowledgeable on the history of architecture, with a few possessing expertise in specifically the history of American architecture. I chose the one that I thought would suit the nature of my interview the best, and went through the process of drafting, finalizing, and sending an email to the professor. However, the professor also ended up not responding to my interview request as well, which is unfortunate because the professor’s expertise on Frank Lloyd Wright would’ve made for such a great interview. By the time I realized that the professor wouldn’t be responding to me as well, it was a bit late to send out another request. With this, I decided to give up in my attempts to conduct an interview.

 

As hindsight is 20/20, looking back, what could I have done differently to up my chances of securing an interview? For starters, I could’ve perhaps chosen people that were more likely to have time to participate in an interview, instead of someone like a professor that is most likely already very busy with their job. Someone like a YouTuber or blogger that had knowledge of Wright would probably have more time and flexibility to participate in my interview. Another way I could’ve gotten an interview is by choosing an eminent person that was world-famous so that I would have a wider array of people that I could request for an interview with.

 

Thank you for reading,

Dylan