Eminent Interview Reflection:

Sadly I wasn’t able to get an interview with anyone during this Eminent Project.  I had the opportunity to send an upmost of around 20 messages to 20 different people, but I wasn’t very consistent in sending messages every 2 days, so I only ended up messaging around 5 people, with none of them responding. The people I was focused and keen on interviewing we’re Mike Shinoda and his bandmates from Linkin Park, more specifically Joe Hahn, Rob Bourdon, and Brad Delson. My process of thinking was I believed these were the best people to interview as they’ve been working with Mike Shinoda for over 20 years and definitely know him very well. They would also be great people to ask about his eminence and how Mike himself contributed to Linkin Park’s success as they’re primary sources. Trying to message and interview Mike Shinoda himself well… The reasons are self-explanatory. While reflecting on my process of choosing people to contact, I probably should’ve picked people that were a bit less known and more likely to respond to messages sent by me, as this would’ve increased my chances of getting an interview by a lot.

I’m using the word “messaging” because the people that I wanted to interview happened to be famous enough that I couldn’t access their emails, unless I was an agent that wanted to book them for a show or something. So, instead of giving up on interviewing the people closest to Mike and Mike himself, I decided to reach out to them through 3 areas where they’re active in social media. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I gave all the people I wanted to interview a message through each of the 3 platforms.  I verified that each message had all the necessary information including who I was, where I was from, why I was reaching out to them, what I wanted from them, and when I wanted to meet with them. Additionally I included that I would preferably meet with them preferably through a zoom or skype call. I also mentioned that if that was not possible I could try for a voice call or even just sending them text questions which they could answer in text. I made sure to do this at least once a week, I was setting a goal of doing it at least 2-3 days but to be completely honest, sometimes I forgot or thought that I could put it off until tomorrow. Reflecting on the process of sending messages, I believe that I improvised quite well when I decided to message (on 3 different platforms too) each person when I couldn’t email them, and I did a good job of sending in-depth, productive messages. However I definitely should’ve sent way more potential emails/messages during this assignment, contacting 5 people was not enough.

Even without the interview, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about my Eminent person through other resources, however I am disappointed that I couldn’t get an interview this year, it would’ve been a great addition to my speech and Learning Centre. Reflecting on this entire process, I will make sure to be more diligent in the future. Thank you!