2007.06.30
I’ve performed and edited more interviews in the last two years that I can remember; I’d guess more than 300. During that time, I’ve coached and trained people and given presentations on interview skills. I’ve come to realize that people also need coaching on being a great interview guest. Here are my suggestions:
BE ENERGETIC AND DYNAMIC
If you use a monotoned voice or lack energy and inflection during your interview, the listener will tune you out. Your voice is a powerful tool; use it well.
BE CONCISE AND ON TOPIC
I’ve edited a few interviews in the last few weeks in which the guest carried on for so long after a single question (at least five minutes in all cases), and lacked energy (see the point above), that I actually forgot what the question was. The nice thing is that this makes the editing decision easy — lose the question and answer.
GIVE THE LISTENER SOMETHING TO REMEMBER
It’s sad to say that most of us have grown to expect great speakers who can talk in sound bytes. Having said that, little packages of information are great because your audience will remember them. Frame your ideas in a quotable way.
HAVE STORIES TO TELL
Having good responses for each question is important. It helps a lot if you are able to support your responses with entertaining and interesting stories where possible.
BE RELAXED
This is a lot easier said than done for many people. If you can focus on the interaction between yourself and the interviewer, and think of the interviewer as a curious friend, it will help a lot. Talk “with your host” not “at the microphone”.
Do you have any stories about being an interview guest?
2007.06.30
From STLtoday.com, the online version of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, comes this excerpt of an interview with Stewart Copeland in which he was asked about his candid review of the first full-length concert of The Police reunion tour.
Q: Do you stand behind what you wrote on your blog about the band’s Vancouver show?
A: It was a private little joke on my private little site. A lot of artists have their own little sites, and mine is where I write a review of all the things I do and where I might give myself terrible reviews.
I might go through a show with a big smile, but an amp might have gone out and it might be what I call a disaster gig. And the audience has no idea. So I was just sharing this inside gag with a few people, and Reuters picked it up and misrepresented it.
Q: How did Sting and Andy react to the blog?
A: My two buddies have a sense of humor. They first heard about it from the wrong side, but then they got it. We can truly say we’re our own harshest critics, and that was the worst review we got. And it was a great gig anyway.
And, for my friend AJ of the Bob and AJ Show, here is the closing quote from the interview.
Q: What reunion would you like to see happen?
A: ABBA. I’m only sort of half-kidding. They did some really good pop songs, though they’re probably pretty ugly now. But we were ugly, too, and we’re still playing.
Photo: fboosman
2007.06.30
The latest version of the Canadian Podcast Buffet features an audio collage of PAB2007 speakers and panelists to kick off the show. In my haste to edit and publish CPB I left a number of speakers out of the collage. This morning I completed the collage, republished CPB and made the PAB2007 tribute available on the Podcasters Across Borders site. I can’t help making it available here, as well.
