by Steve Lubetkin, APR, Fellow PRSA; Managing Partner, Lubetkin Communications LLC

As the public relations world moves increasingly toward creation of online audio and video content, making successful web videos and podcasts means knowing how to conduct effective interviews. Here are a few interviewing tips that will make your recordings look and sound more professional:

1. Take the time to read the guest’s bio before you meet.
A bio can give you clues to a person’s philosophy and suggest questions you might ask about his or her experiences. Make a note of schools the guest went to, companies he or she worked at, and other things that might lead into interesting discussions. If you have any points in common with the person, you might bring those up in the interview. For example, you could say, “When I was at The Wharton School, professors emphasized portfolio management techniques. You’re also a Wharton grad. Do you think that approach to investment is still valid after all the things we’ve seen in the markets in the last two years?”

2. Do some research about the topic and the guest.
If the guest has been quoted in the media elsewhere, or there are articles comparing and contrasting the guest’s activities with those of competitors, such background information can suggest questions for the interview. If you are interviewing a client, discuss the interview in advance and explain that it offers an opportunity to address misperceptions or inaccuracies that appeared in the other coverage.

3. Before the camera or recorder begins to roll, have a chat with the guest to find out what points are important to mention.
If you learn ahead of time that the guest wants to discuss a special experience, you can make sure to ask about it in the course of the interview. You don’t have to preface your question by saying, “before we started recording, you told me…” The audience doesn’t really care what happened before the recording, so just go ahead and ask the question.

4. Discourage guests from using notes.
Many business executives don’t feel comfortable just talking to an interviewer. They feel that they need the security blanket of notecards or PowerPoint decks. Discourage this. It makes them sound stilted and over-rehearsed. Tell them to just pretend they are meeting a good friend for a drink, and ask them to tell you a story.

5. At the beginning of the interview, introduce your guest and explain his or her business.
There’s more to interviewing business executives than just asking them to explain what they do or describe their backgrounds. Too many inexperienced interviewers open a conversation by asking the subject to say their name and title and describe their business. When you get your guest’s official bio ahead of time, use it to craft an introduction. Pick out the key points of the person’s career, put them into spoken English, and use them to introduce your guest. Start the introduction with some kind of startling or interesting fact about the person, not the formulaic “Joe Jones is vice president of manufacturing for Ajax Corp.” Listen to excellent radio interviewers like NPR’s Terry Gross or Scott Simon, to see how introductions should be done.

6. Be curious about the guest’s expertise.
If you always wondered about someone’s expedition to Antarctica, ask about it. Your guests will be happy to know that you are interested in what excites them, and this will encourage them to open up and become more animated in their answers.

7. If the guest gives an answer full of buzzwords and jargon, get him or her to explain it in terms an ordinary person can understand.
Help your guest to bring the answer to a concrete level. Ask, “How does this biological compound actually improve the operation of a wastewater treatment plant?”

8. Don’t start your next question as soon as the guest takes a breath.
One of the best qualities of an interviewer is to be a good listener. Wait for the guest to finish an answer. Then count to three in your head before trying to jump back in. The guest might decide to add something valuable that you would have forestalled if you fired the next question too quickly.

9. Above all, make it sound like a conversation.
Try not to read your questions, but formulate them as if you are just talking to someone. If the guest says something surprising, it’s OK to indicate that you are surprised to hear that answer. Then let him or her embellish the answer. The guest will probably come up with another nugget of information to reinforce the point.

10. Finally, edit the recording in post-production.
Too many good interviews are being lost in the rush to post them online without editing. In unedited content, there are going to be false starts, and there might even be Q&A segments that should be moved around to provide a better sequence in the final recording. Suppose the guest opens by saying that his firm has three main products, and talks about product A, goes on to discuss U.S. policy in Afghanistan, and returns to describe product B and C later in the interview. The flow of the conversation can be improved by putting all the products together, and the political discussion can go elsewhere. Umms and ahhs can also be removed in editing, providing a smoother pace to the recording.

Steve Lubetkin is an award-winning producer of documentary audio and video content for web distribution.