How to conduct an interview

This is the first in a series about HOW TO do things in the content world. 

The below advice is good for both for journalists interviewing sources and content strategists/ghostwriters interviewing their executives. It is orientated towards interviews for a particular piece of content, but also works for initial conversations in establishing tone/voice and content ideas in the case of ghostwriting. 

I estimate I've interviewed at least 2,000 people in my career, and that, while outrageous, seems like a big undercount. Along the way, I've honed my approach and am happy to share what I've learned. 

Be ready 

Have your questions written in a place you can access them easily - on a notebook or on screen. No more than six foundational questions for a 30-minute meeting. Don't ask anything you can't learn on your own. Get to the interview five minutes before the subject. Don't let intros and chit-chat go on for more than three minutes. 

Start with gratitude

Interviews are often quid-pro-quo situations (a writer getting more context, which enriches their story; the subject getting a chance to speak about their interests). But, nonetheless, the interviewer should thank the interviewee for the time they have devoted to the conversation. 

Recap the situation

This is especially valuable with busy executives. In fact, sometimes those execs will start the conversation off with a direct question, e.g. why are we here? what are we talking about? who are you? Do yourself a favor; don't take it personally. If a PR person is on the phone, they will likely feel frustration as well - as they undoubtedly prepped the executive for what was going to be discuss. If the executive is silent or the PR person doesn't do it for you - it's always good to remind everyone on the call why they are there, what you plan to do, and what the likely output would be. Especially if you're recording and hoping to use audio for a podcast or assets for the piece. 

Ask an easy question first

One of the world's best interviewers - Isaac Chotiner of the New Yorker - understands this better than anyone. His first question enables the subject to state, sometimes at length, their main position. It all goes downhill from there, as Chotiner meticulously pulls back the argument and exposes contradictions, fallacies or preposterous leaps of faith. Now, Chotiner's output is a Q&A format, so there's a narrative logic in how he lets the interview proceed. But, regardless, leading with his tough questions would raise the defenses of the subject and likely impact his ability to ask difficult questions later on.

Demonstrate knowledge and familiarity

In other words, do your homework. Nothing kicks an interview off on better terms than demonstrating you've read up on the subject. Compliment a super fan of a team on a recent win or trophy. Share news of a mutual friend in common if they exist. But, most importantly, learn what you can about their backstory. View these two questions side-by-side:

1) Can you tell me a bit about your background?

or

2) I know you first worked at Google, then moved on to a nonprofit role, and now you've launched your own company - it's an interesting career path - what led you to make those decisions and how did your previous roles prepare you for the startup world?

The first one requires the subject to spend important seconds (or minutes) providing the contours of a biography you can easily access from LinkedIn or a profile. The second one gets right to the heart of what you want to know - not what decisions someone made, but why.

Brace for difficulty

There are certain things you cannot control. If the executive is brusque in general or undergoing a lot of stress, the interview may hit some rocky moments. That's fine. Once again, don't take it personally if you get an annoyed answer or a prolonged sigh. Sometimes, the interviewee is just being unfair. Don't take it personally.

Keep track of time

If you are suddenly worried about not asking all of your questions ten minutes into the interview, it's going to be a bad time. I am not immune to needing five additional minutes or so to finish the interview, but I never want to be scrambling at the end to rapid fire questions that you want to allot more time for a response. Every respondent is different. If you're getting long answers to even simple questions, you will have to make some tough decisions. Either finding ways to interrupt when an answer meanders or constantly reshuffle your questions to make sure the most important get answered. Another idea is to edit your questions on the fly to ask for more direct answers. 

Take notes

I know AI tools are all the rage now, and I appreciate their existence when I need to check a quote. We used to do the same with a tape recorder - a complicated thing you had to connect into a landline and would always worry whether it worked. But I really believe those are best used for stories that are in Q&A format or for protecting yourself or double checking something. To be a good writers/reporter/content person, you need to be able write or type quickly while interviewing and not lose your focus. I believe it's something you learn through repetition, so it's okay if it's tough as first. One of the reasons why I can produce content as fast (and accurately) as I can is because I emerge from a call with my outline decided by what I write down/type and what I do not. And my quotes are fully formed. And since I do not hallucinate, I do not need to go back and double check that AI transcript captured the moment correctly.

Give the interviewee the last word

It's not just polite; it's extremely effective to end the conversation with: is there anything else you wanted to add or a question you were preparing to answer. I can't count how many times I got something incredibly edifying from just asking this. 

An interview is a gateway to great content

Even on days that I would prefer to be heads down writing, I do love conducting interviews. You learn something new, always; you get to make someone the star of a little show; and you always get new stories ideas beyond the one you went in with.

I am a content strategist and journalist with my own consultancy Total Emphasis. Are you interested in bringing my interview philosophy into your organization to either help build stories or contribute content? Connect with me or DM to learn more about my services.