This is a guest article by Corinne Edwards, who is following the training she has received in Blog Mastermind by submitting guest articles to help build her traffic.
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I had a TV show for eleven years and did more than 400 interviews for a major cable station. I was fortunate to have a great interviewing coach so I thought I would share some of the techniques and advice I was given. Take what you need here to put together a great interview.
1. This is probably the most important point. Your guest is the star of the show. Not you. Do not give your opinion on anything. Do not tell stories about your experiences. People are listening because you have an important guest and they want to hear what that person has to say. What you have to say is on your blog. You can write a follow up later if you like.
2. Your podcast is on your blog so the listener already knows where they are. Do not spend more than one minute introducing yourself. Just a warm welcome and thanks for being with us today and your name.
3. Your introduction should obviously be longer when introducing your guest. Give their credentials. Also, ask for a bio in advance so you know what they like to stress about themselves. Ask them. Do not mention why you asked them to be on your show. That’s about you. This interview is about them. Thank them warmly for coming on.
4. You should have given your subject a list of possible questions you will be asking and you have probably asked what they would like to cover. Let them know what your first question will be so they will be prepared.
5. Assume your audience knows nothing. So start with the basics. For example, I once had an author on my TV show who was a Buddhist nun. She was shocked when I told her my first question was going to be, “Who was Buddha?” She said everyone knew. They don’t.
If you are interviewing a fellow blogger, you might start out with, “What is a blog?”
Next question might be something like, “How is a blog different from a website?” I assume you are conducting this interview for your blog audience. They may not know.
6. Ask a question once. Don’t add a tail on it like, “What is a blog? There are so many people out there who still don’t know. Can you explain it?”
Let the first question hang out there. Your guest got the question the first time.
7. Listen to what your guest has to say. I know you have a list of questions you want to cover but you might want to follow up with something your guest just mentioned before you start a new subject. This is a conversation, not an interrogation.
8. Don’t ask personal questions without clearing it with your guest. For example, I think it would be fascinating to hear what Darren Rowse from Problogger would say if I was interviewing him and asked, “It was so interesting to read in your biography that you were once a minister. How do you feel that background influences your blog today?” I would ask him if it’s OK to bring that up.
9. Do not interrupt. Hear your guest out.
10. Avoid technical terms that are only familiar to bloggers. Don’t talk about pingbacks and permalinks etc. etc. unless you ask your guest what they are. You can ask how they are used in a follow up question if that is your topic.
11. If you are interviewing an author, read his book. Then ask about the points in his book. Never ask how he happened to write it unless it is a riveting story. Nobody cares. They want to know what he has to teach them. Don’t ever start out with, “What’s your book about?” That shows you have not read it.
12. Let your guest promote himself. He’s doing this for free. Give him a break.
13. At the end of the interview, be sure to thank your guest for taking the time to come on your show.
14. Recap their bio briefly at the close – “We have been talking to —etc.
15. Don’t promote yourself until the very end. You are entitled to a short promo but make it real and appropriate to your blog or perhaps your next podcast.
16. Thank your audience for listening and invite them back to your next program.
17. As a training exercise, make it a point to watch Larry King and notice how he interviews. Whether you are fond of his show or not, he is the master. I have studied him for years. Sometimes his follow up question is only, “Why?” And if you notice, he never talks about himself or gives an opinion. Even if his guest bring up something about his life, he either ducks it or gives a very short answer. He brings it right back to his guest.
Thanks for listening to me today. I’m Corinne Edwards and I am looking forward to being with you again soon. For further information, you can check out my blog, http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com.
THANK YOU FOR FEATURING MY ARTICLE, YARO!
This is a huge thrill for a new blogger to be on a prominent site like yours! My first post was in June of this year.
I follow everything you say in your lessons on Blog Mastermind. And it all works – including this which you mentioned in lesson nine! You said you were open to guest authors.
It should give all your students encouragement that you walk the talk you talk!
I so appreciate your support and I hope your readers enjoy my article.
Excellent tips from someone with a lot of experience. Great article Corinne!
What fun to see Corinne’s interview wisdom in print. My husband Jim Sniechowski and I were guests on Corinne’s television show 4 times and she practiced what she’s teaching. So her interviews were fun, focused, and fabulously entertaining!
Judith Sherven
http://www.judithandjim.com
Corinne – congrats on making it onto E-J.com and for a top-notch article. I really enjoyed it, and whilst I don’t do podcasting yet on my site, there’s some great tips there for life, let alone for your cast.
Nice one again!
Adnan
Corinne,
Great article! You have a lot of really good tips, and I am definitely going to keep these in mind once I start my interview series.
Yaro,
You could at least have put her affiliate link to BMM in her intro…heheh!
Hi Corinne
Congratulations on a very informative post. Thanks for some great tips.
Thank you Corrine. Everyone who does interviews will benefit from these great tips.
I greatly appreciate you very practical, helpful advice. I particularly like the idea of asking a question once without a “tail”. It’s also essential to remember to listen to the responses and make your interveiw more natural and conversational. Please keep up the good work!
I would recomend using audacity(free open source software) to edit the podcast.
Corinne – Having been maybe your number one fan and probably have seen most of your interviews, I would rate you right up there with Larry King …
When watching your shows,I never did learn anything about you on a personal level. — your interviews were all about your interviewees – and I should know about interviewing myself – having owned a temp agency in downtown Chicago for 22 years –I’ve interviewed at least 30,000 people. If Larry King is the master – you are the Queen. It’s not a dialog – it’s an interview – Inter -VIEW – LOOKING INSIDE THE PERSON WITH QUESTIONS. Your blog is an off-shoot of those wonderful shows with Deepak, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, and 400 more. I can’t wait to see more of your blog.
Corinne,
Loved your article. I had the opportunity, years ago, of watching you interview a celeb, followed by another interviewing the same celeb. I was so impressed by the comparison. You highlighted your interviewee while the other person tried very hard to impress the interviewee with her knowledge. Not only was your article informative – you definitely do as you say. You have been my favorite interviewer for years.
Enjoying your blog,
Sheila
Yaro, Corinne, I just completed my very first podcast today. I remember reading this article when it first came out, and the part that stuck in my mind was that my guest was the star. I tried to remember that and concentrated on having a conversation, but not dominating it. Thanks for a great article.