The Art of Interviewing

Interview prep used to be one of the most stressful parts of writing a story for me.

It might seem silly that it's not the interview itself that makes me quiver.

But how prepared you are, what questions you ask, how you phrase your questions and how much research you do can be the difference between getting a good, thorough story and getting a mediocre story missing important information.

As I have become more experienced at interview prep, it makes me less nervous, but I still spend almost as much time prepping as I did when I first started doing interviews (but less time fretting and reading them over and over again, worrying I missed something).

This afternoon, I spent a few hours researching and preparing three interviews. When I was done, it felt like I had accomplished very little. I had no answers to my questions — no story. But it had to be done.

And I would argue it was possibly the most important part of the stories I just prepped for.

But regardless of how much prep you do and how finely you craft your interviews, when conducting interviews, it's important to be flexible and stray from your questions when need be. You have to be a good listener and play off of the answers you get or you might miss something important.

All of the interviews I have done are for print stories, which are easier interviews to do as no one will ever hear/read your questions. (I just cringe a little bit when I listen to the recording — I giggle when I'm uncomfortable and am trying to be overly friendly!)

But as we get further into our broadcast journalism course, I've been thinking more about on-air interviews and the extra talent that takes. Thinking on your feet in front of the camera while thinking about your posture, your reactions and keeping your guest comfortable, among other things, takes a lot more practice and talent.

Katie Couric, who I personally think is a great interviewer, offers some good tips about television interviews: how to prepare for them, the importance of moving away from planned questions, body language and tone of voice, and remembering your audience.