Interviewing 101

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Getting the Scoop

#1 - Find a good location: Avoid Starbucks! It’s often easiest to suggest a centrally located corporate coffee shop but if there is any way you can interview in a place that has some relevance to the story or your subject you’ll have much greater success. Not only because you’ll gain a further sense of context, people are often more comfortable (and open) when they’re in a familiar place or what feels like “their territory.”

#2 - Prepare Your Goals Ahead: Know what questions you’re going to ask and why you’re going to ask them. Heading to an interview with a sense of what you want to get out of it (a colorful re-enactment of an event, an on-the-record opinion on the issue you’re covering, general background, etc.) is critical to conducting a successful interview.

#3 - Write down your questions: Bring questions with you. I usually go into an interview with twice as many questions than I expect to ask. The security of knowing that I’m not going to get stuck helps my confidence, and you never know what question will get you the information you’re really looking for.

#4 - Work on your flow: This is probably the most challenging, but also the most important interview skill you can develop. You want to strike a balance between a conversation (which helps make your subject feel comfortable) and getting the job done. As your subject is answering your question, be thinking about what you’ll ask next and why. The flow of questions needs to seem natural and conversational.

#5 - Think about the medium: Interviewing techniques vary for different mediums. If you’re interviewing for audio or video you want to ask two-part questions that encourage subjects to talk for longer blocks of time. When you’re interviewing for audio, nodding and smiling accomplishes the same sort of conversational encouragement as saying “uh hum” when talking with friends.

#6 - Bring a buddy: Having a second person as a note taker and extra set of ears can be useful.

#7 - Endure awkward silences: I know this is totally counterintuitive. My instinct is to keep chattering and asking questions to keep people feeling comfortable, but sometimes, especially when you’re dealing with sensitive subjects, you need to shut up and wait.

#8 - Ask for what you need: Seriously, sometimes interviewees are frustrating not because they’re trying to bust your chops but just don’t understand what you want from them. You can say, “Listen, I really need a quote from you encapsulating your feelings on this issue,” or “I really need you to walk me through the chronology of this,” or even, “I really need you to take me to a location that is relevant to this issue so I can set a scene.”