AUCKLAND WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL 2009Chairmanship skills - about which I will have more to say when I do my wrap on the Festival in a day or two but meantime:
Well done Chairman Richard Cathie who had the courage to remind one of the Katherine Mansfield Fellows panellists that he had gone over time (and the end was not in sight).
Richard did it pleasantly without embarrassing the speaker, but with seven panellists all having to speak within the one-hour time limit it needed to be done.
And having seven panelllists in a session lasting one hour is clearly a crazy idea in my book!
1 comment:
I'll look forward to your comments on this. I was at a smallish session on Friday with Debra Adelaide, on stage with Stephanie Johnson who I thought would have known better after all her years with the festival. She left Debra floundering, unsure what the questions were and when she should speak, as Stephanie waffled about various aspects of the recent book, trailing off with uncompleted sentences when she wanted Debra to talk. The session dragged without the required momentum the chair should have provided.
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