7 Tips On How Not To Ruin An Interview
You do not have to be a journalist to interview someone, but some professional tips can help you get the most out of the conversation you will be having. Conducting your first interview with someone is exciting and a little bit scary, but do not worry – great interviewing skills come with practice, so our team at www.mypoint.tv gathered some tips for you to rock your first one.
- Do your research
Spontaneous conversations can turn out great, but by doing some research about the person you are planning to interview you can prepare better questions and show the person that you respect them and value the time they dedicate to you. It does not have to be in-depth research – you can simply open Google and read about this person or check their website and public social media accounts.
2. Check previous interviews, especially verbal interviews
Researching before your interview can also help you feel more comfortable speaking to the person you are interviewing – you can learn about the way they speak, about things that matter to them, and even get used to their voice and speech pace if you find some verbal interviews.
One thing to keep in mind about written interviews is that sometimes they are done via email, so the answers you are seeing are well-planned, edited and it might not reflect how the person will express herself or himself when you talk face-to-face.
When you read or watch previous interviews, feel free to refer to some of them in your questions. In that way, you can have a longer discussion about things that you are curious about and the informant would know that you dedicated some time and prepared for your conversation.
3. Do break the ice
Remember that some informants will be just as worried as you and some of them will have much more knowledge about particular topics than you – show initiative and start the conversation. It will make the informant feel welcome and set the mood for the rest of the interview.
4. Open and closed questions
Good questions will make the interview interesting for both sides. What is the difference? If you can answer a question with a simple “yes” or “no”, it is a closed-ended question. The general rule is that open questions can give you longer and more detailed answers. Having more content to work with is always great. But closed questions are important too. In some cases, that is exactly what you want to hear – a clear answer.
When it comes to how many questions you should prepare, it depends on what type of interview you are doing. If you want to dive into a particular topic or your informant’s story, you should prepare questions about different aspects that interest you.
If you already know what content you would like to get by interviewing the person, you could prepare fewer questions and work on that short list by choosing the most important ones and getting rid of unnecessary words. You can even guide the informant by asking questions like “What is the best part of your job”. It will most likely result in a reply that starts with “The best part of my job is…”, which will make a beautiful quote!
5. Prepare questions but be flexible
Don’t rush with the list of questions you prepared. It can make it seem as if you are not listening, and sometimes it is true! You can accidentally forget that you need to listen – try not to do that. It can get quite awkward if the person you are talking to will ask you “Where was I?” and you will have no idea.
As mentioned above, preparing for the interview is beneficial, but so is listening and adapting to the conversation. A little bit of silence is also important – let the informant gather their thoughts.
You can let the person know that you are listening by nodding, keeping eye contact, and, if the interview is not on camera, saying something assuring (if the interview is on a video, noises that you make can complicate sound post-production). If the informant is passionately talking about something and you are curious to find out more, you don’t have to stick with the plan and rush it.
After all, you cannot plan every detail of a face-to-face interview if you want the final result to feel natural.
6. Try not to share your questions before the interview
This is another way to make sure that the answers you will hear will not be staged and well-planned. We do encourage you to briefly present the topics you would like to cover but that it is enough in most cases. Sometimes, and that depends on the person and if, for example, they are representing someone or something, people disagree to have an interview without seeing the questions before.
Some journalists never give out their questions, but others think it makes their work easier and more efficient. The decision is yours – think about the topic you want to cover and if unstaged replies are crucial.
7. Don’t hesitate to follow up
Keep in touch with the informant, if needed. Some of the answers that seemed clear during the interview might not make sense afterward. It is better to clarify this at least for you to better understand the content that you are working with and to avoid any misunderstandings.
