Recently, Tom Johnson got me thinking about interviewing for podcasts. While I won’t go into any details, a set of emails that Tom and I exchanged made me sit down and put on paper the techniques that I use to do interviews for DMN’s podcast.

What wound up on a page of one of my notebooks kind of surprised me. Not so much that I actually have a method, but how much I’ve internalized it.

Tech comm is a long way from J-school

As you may or may not know, my background is journalism. I was fortunate enough to attend one of the best journalism schools around, and benefitted from a group of great instructors. One of whom was Paul McLaughlin, who taught me the basics of good interviewing. If you can, get a copy of his book Asking Questions.

I’m definitely not a great interviewer. But I’m not too bad of one, either. What I learned in journalism school has served me well in the multiple forks of my professional life — technical communication, freelance writing, and podcasting.

Start with a question

You’re probably saying to yourself Isn’t interviewing about asking questions? Obviously, it is. But before doing an interview for the podcast, I ask myself one question: What do I want to learn from this person? If you’ve walked in the groves of academe, I guess you can equate this to coming up with a thesis for a paper.

But that question sets the tone for the interview. It gives you an opportunity to focus the topic of the podcast; there’s nothing worse than a rambling interview, for both the person being interviewed and the listener.

Of course, there’s a bit of hubris wrapped up in the question What do I want to learn from this person? I’m assuming that listeners want to learn or hear the same things that I want to.

Developing your questions

Before even thinking of interview questions, I do a bit of research. If they exist, I read blog posts, articles, and books by the person I plan to interview. I peruse their Web site and presentations that they’ve given at conferences. Most of all, though, I dig up background information on the subject’s area of expertise. I don’t want to come across as a complete idiot when talking to them.

Then, I go all stream of consciousness and write down every question that comes to mind. Usually, that results in a lot of questions. Often, more than I’ll have time to use. And, to be honest, some of the questions are variations of previous ones and others are just downright lame. If necessary, I chunk the questions into categories.

I go through a pruning process, and wind up ripping out anywhere from 10% to 30% of the questions. I then run the questions by Aaron. He has a knack for pointing out some of the foolishness that I miss, and for pinpointing questions that aren’t focused well enough.

Doing the interview

The mechanics of the interview are simple: it’s me, the interview subject, one of my laptops, and a microphone. I usually start off with a little chit-chat, and before proceeding explain that if they make a gaffe or flub just to take a moment and then continue; I can edit anything out later.

I work my way through the questions that I’ve prepared, but I don’t stick to the list. Sometimes, the person I’m interviewing answers a question later on in the list, and sometimes a question turns out not to really mesh with the way the interview is going. Instead of upsetting the flow of the interview with an awkward question, I get rid of it.

Of course, I’m always paying attention and listening for a potential tangent. That tangent may or may not appear. If it does, I’ll make a note of it (I have a notebook beside me when doing an interview). When the time comes, I’ll follow that tangent by saying something like “Earlier, you mentioned …” and go from there.

Conclusion

Interviewing is a deceptively difficult task. It’s often more than just a matter of whipping up a few questions, asking them, and posting the results in a podcast. A good interview depends on a number of factors, including:

• The quality of your questions
• The rapport that you can build with the person you’re interviewing
• The interview subject himself or herself
• Your own demeanour

Interviewing takes practice. Your first few will probably be shaky. But you can learn from those experiences and not make the same mistakes. Make no mistake, though. Interviewing is a useful skill to have if you’re a podcaster or a blogger. Or if you’re just trying to get information from SMEs in your organization.

Related posts:

1. Advice for the novice tech writer: writing isn’t enough
2. Interview with Scott Abel
3. Weekly links roundup