Interviewing tips to get the most out of your guest…
The very first interview I ever did in my radio career was with Will Smith.
Yep, that’s right, at the ripe old age of 20 I sat down across from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, by myself, and attempted to ask him questions (while trying not to die of a heart attack).
Unbelievably, to this day it remains one of my favourite interviews.
Part of the reason was that he was delightful to me.
Knowing what I know now, I realise that was probably because he thought I was a lost child who’d accidentally wandered into his hotel room.
You have to build trust in a short space of time
For a lot of interview subjects, particularly celebrities, there can be a sense of distrust when they’re being interviewed. This is understandable since they often have no idea what you’re going to ask them. Plus, in this click bait obsessed world, people are often trying to trip them up in the hopes of getting a “scoop.”
As a result, it’s more common for high-profile guests to shut down rather than open up.
To have a good interview it’s important the person you’re sitting across from feels comfortable and like they’re in safe hands.
Clearly, there’s nothing less intimidating than a nervous 20-year-old who seems slightly confused about how she ended up sitting across from Will Smith.
It’s important to know your stuff
The other reason that interview went well (apart from him taking pity on me) was that I was so flippin’ prepared I could have written a thesis on the guy.
When I sat down, you could tell he wasn’t expecting much. But when he realised I’d done my homework, he opened up and we had a great chat.
So much so that when I was walking out of the room his publicist grabbed me and said: “He hasn’t laughed like that in a single interview today.”
I was chuffed and from that moment on I’ve walked into every interview understanding the importance of serious preparation and surprising your guest (in a good way).
Since then I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews with celebrities, politicians and everyone in between and while you never stop learning, I now have a good idea of how to get the best out of an interview subject.
I wrote an article about this for Problogger.net and wanted to share it in case you were thinking of adding interviews to your podcast or blog and needed help getting started on the right foot.
If you want to check out my workshop on presenting your podcast from the Problogger Conference you can grab a virtual ticket here. The ticket gives you access to all the recordings from an awesome line-up of professional bloggers, podcasters and internet marketing gurus.
