I’ve done thousands of interviews with experts from a variety of technical fields. Years ago the platform was print. I wrote news and magazine articles and also press releases for corporations and universities. And the fields were biotech, human medicine, veterinary medicine, environmental science, and STEM universities. But most recently everything is digital with podcasts, videos, and live streams and I’ve been interviewing software developers.

Although biologists, veterinarians, physicians, scientists, and software developers all present different challenges in an interview at an individual level, there are certainly many characteristics they share in common. So I figured I’d write down some bits I’ve learned over the years talking to these people about their work. Since print-only is largely dated or dead, I’ll focus exclusively here on doing interviews for modern platforms like audio/video podcasts since that’s what I do now with software developers.

Here’s a quick checklist I go through before each interview to help keep me focused. This list mainly focuses on the personal interactions with the guest, not really on all the tech and environmental issues that also have to be considered when doing interviews on location at different venues. So for now, just Zoom from my kitchen.

• Do a little research on the guest before the interview so you at least have some basic background. You’d be surprised how many interviewers just wing it.
  
• Pre plan the start so you can begin efficiently. This is always hardest part for me, especially when doing live streams. Plan the end, too, so you can get out efficiently without dragging the interview out too long. All conversations have a natural life span. Get out before the energy dies.
  
• Listen! Listen to your guests while they are talking so they feel heard and you can facilitate the conversation. This way the discussion feels natural. It’s obvious when one person in an interview is not listening to the other person.
  
• Comment on what the guest is talking about and then bridge to the next question based on previous comments to keep the conversation going. If a clean break is needed, do that and make it obvious. Maybe comment on the previous statement and then say, ok cool, let’s switch gears and move over to X topic. The guest will usually just follow your lead and move too.
  
• Try to keep the conversation going fluently by asking the guest to comment on this or that issue rather than always asking question one, question two, question three, etc. So, weave in some open statement questions like, “You mentioned X issue, I thought that was interesting, can you talk more about that?”
  
• Brief your guest beforehand so you both agree on the general scope of the conversation. Agree on some broad topics but not specific questions. You need some spontaneity in the discussion so how you specifically phrase questions should be done live rather than beforehand. Also, regarding broad topics, ask your guests beforehand to think of some stories they can tell when they answer questions. A few funny or dramatic stories in a conversation can go a long way to making things interesting and less stressful for both parties — and to better engage the audience!
  
• Recognize that being interviewed is a different skill then presenting a session. Some famous developers who present at conferences all the time in front of thousands of people may actually feel and look a little uncomfortable being interviewed. They don’t have a laptop in front of them. They’ve not rehearsed the discussion. Don’t assume they are skilled at this specific task of recorded, free flowing conversations. I’ve seen some pretty smart and skilled speakers freeze up when I pass them the microphone. So make it a habit to put all of your guests at ease right up front. This is a mutual discussion, not a journalism interview. We’ve having fun here. That’s it. You’ll edit out anything embarrassing (which is rarely necessary; in fact, I’ve done it a few times in 500 interviews).
  
• Encourage your guests to ask you questions, too! That helps to break things up in the discussion and may help put them at ease. If that happens, though, don’t be surprised if you feel uncomfortable! Remember, asking the questions isn’t the same as answering them! There are many skilled interviewers who aren’t that good at being interviewed.
  
• Try to not speak too much. You just need to find a balance where you can insert yourself in the discussion to keep things going. Adding a comment here and there to give them a break is cool. But if you talk too much, the interview will look and sound awkward because the guest will be sitting silent too much. This is even more uncomfortable when you are doing a live standup and you are hogging the mic. The guest is the focus of discussion, not the host.
  
• Good quality sound is more important than good quality video. Start there. Now, the gear conversation is longer and more complex and needs a separate checklist based on whether you are just doing Zoom from your kitchen, recording live in person, or streaming live from a stage. All those situations require different gear and different actions based on the situation. The same goes for post production editing. A different checklist is needed. For now, just doing Zoom from a distance, request that the guest use the best microphone possible. If the audio on their side is very bad, don’t do the interview. It’s not worth it. You can only fix so much in post.

NOTE: As usual with all of my posts, everything’s a draft. I’ll keep editing this one and adding/deleting bits along the way. Maybe I’ll craft some gear checklists I go through when traveling to events (if that ever happens again).