A reader writes:
I’m in a position where I do some industry event hosting and public interviewing. I don’t arrange any of the events, I’m just a speaker/host (I work in a related field too, but these gigs are freelance and paid separately.)
I had agreed to interview someone very prestigious in their field who was launching a new product. It was a big event with paid tickets, with the expectation that quotes from the interview would be used for content, promotion, and publicity. I’ve worked with the PR company who were handling it on similar events and it’s all been fine.
At this recent event, I turned up 15 minutes before the interview, as requested. The VIP, who I’ll call Lee, arrived and seemed a little tipsy but in good humor (it was an evening event in a venue with a bar so while being tipsy obviously is not great, it wasn’t like they were morning-drinking at an office.) I asked if they wanted to go over the interview questions, they said no and that they’d go with the flow on stage, and seemed fine.
Alison, I went to the bathroom and in that time (literally about four minutes) Lee had downed a full glass of wine and started gulping down another. The PR people were all present and laughing away like it was a party — one of them was the person who got Lee the drinks from the venue’s bar. I was immediately worried this would be a mess but Lee is an adult surrounded by their publicity people who weren’t saying anything, so I said nothing. For what it’s worth, there would be some allowance for this person to lean into some “creative genius” eccentricity if they were still interesting and articulate, so I was hoping that would be the case.
It was not.
I went on stage, gave Lee a nice introduction, and they came on stage — and it unsurprisingly and rapidly went very wrong. Lee couldn’t articulate themselves, started getting frustrated at themselves, and I could tell they were about to start crying. I pivoted the discussion to some audience feedback on the need for the new product, early reviews, etc, just to give Lee a few moments to breathe. As an audience member was speaking, I quietly asked Lee if they wanted me to wrap it up, but they said they wanted to hear some more feedback. I vamped a little with the audience, but I could see that Lee was not getting any more composed and the audience was aware. I tried to wrap it up as elegantly as I could, at which point Lee started audibly getting emotional, saying they’d ruined the event. The PR reps ushered Lee back to their hotel, only mentioning to me on the way out that Lee hadn’t eaten anything before drinking, had been very anxious about the event, and had a hugely stressful week.
I feel mortified and a bit sick. I feel like I unwillingly participated in someone who has a drinking issue, major anxiety, or both being shoved in front of a crowd when they were in a bad state. I’ve never been in that position before and feel like I should have tried to say something in the three minutes we had before going on stage, or maybe ended the “interview” more quickly. By the time we’d started, I was genuinely trying to figure out how to give the product some attention and discussion while not drawing attention to Lee’s behavior — but in retrospect I think it was so obvious to the audience that Lee was drunk that I should have just got them off the stage immediately, rather than have them continue to sit on stage for 15 minutes.
It’s so obvious that Lee was not in a good space that I can’t be angry at them, I just feel sad for them — but I am annoyed at the PR team for not flagging Lee’s anxiety with me and for giving them two drinks within literally five minutes right before we were going on stage. Apart from Lee’s welfare, I’m also worried that I looked unprofessional to the audience and like the discomfort of the event is going to fall on me, and, as I’m freelance, that’s a big deal for me in terms of future jobs.
I’m not sure if anything needs to be said to the PR company. They’re obviously aware it did not go to plan for them or the product launch, so sending a message afterwards feels possibly like stating the obvious?
We had also agreed on a fee in advance which was on the assumption that I would have a 45-minute interview with Lee, which obviously did not happen. Should I still expect the full amount? I did all my research and preparation and arrived ready to do my job, but I know they didn’t get what they needed. I don’t know what is fair to expect, payment-wise?
You should be paid for the job you agreed to do. You set aside time and prepared and came ready to do the work, and then you rolled with a very difficult situation very gracefully. Nothing here warrants a reduction in your fee.
In your shoes, I’d call your contact at the PR company and say you wanted to touch base about the event and check on Lee. It’ll be clear why you’re concerned, and your contact should have some kind of commentary on what happened that should naturally bring you to more of a point of closure about the event. But if for some reason they don’t do that, you could say, “That was a tough situation to handle — is there anything I could have done differently on my end to smooth that over? I had asked Lee if they wanted to wrap up early and they didn’t so I tried to pivot to the product, but I think it was just a rough situation for everyone to navigate.” This is really just about helping things feel more wrapped up, since it’s weird if no one talks to you about it.
But from there you should send your normal invoice and assume they will pay it. It would be really crappy of them to balk at that, just like it would be crappy if they balked at paying you because a VIP got food poisoning on stage and had to cut the night short or anything else that short-circuited an on-stage interview.
