WorkshopsThe Art of InterviewingBy Michael Tardif, WIW Member Can you conduct an interview in three minutes and glean enough information to write a feature article? WIW’s April 27 Workshop panelist George Curry (www.georgecurry.com) opened with just such an exercise, challenging two attendees to interview two others, while he conducted a third three-minute interview himself. Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) News Service, conducted the most successful interview, eliciting a vivid portrait of an audience member—selected at random—who had had an unusual career in women’s professional baseball and softball. The 15-minute exercise, (including the post-interview re-cap), demonstrated how to quickly uncover the most interesting detail of a person’s life, earn the subject’s trust, pursue the most fruitful avenue of questioning and develop a full portrait. Curry’s short questions were to the point and open-ended. After asking and confirming the subject’s name, he asked, “What is the most surprising thing someone could know about you?” The pro ballplayer's answer provided an opening to many follow-up questions. When the question “Did you experience sexism as an athlete?” yielded no interesting tidbits, Curry shifted direction and asked, “What drives you?” “Sports makes me feel alive,” the athlete responded. Curry broke into a broad, knowing smile. From that moment, he simply prompted his subject with brief interjections such as “Tell me more” and “Tell me about a moment special to you.” With Curry’s exercise as a backdrop, author and journalist Tim Wendell (www.timwendell.com) reviewed some basic “rules of the road” for interviews, highlighting the difference between interviewing a private person, as in Curry's exercise, and a public person who is more accustomed to being interviewed. A public person generally understands the ground rules of an interview, while a private person may need reassurance and some explanation of how the process works. For a public person, Wendell emphasized “doing your homework.” The time allotted for an interview should not be squandered gathering information that could have been obtained in advance from other sources. Because public persons are interviewed frequently, Wendell recommended that you “find out something interesting or unusual about the person because you have to entertain them initially.” This also signals that you've taken an interest in the person as an individual. Among Wendell’s other suggestions:
As an example of the potential value of an evergreen question, Wendell recalled an interview with Mary Chapin Carpenter, during which he asked: “You could live anywhere. Why Washington, D.C.?” Focused on his subsequent questions, Wendell nearly missed Carpenter’s soliloquy on Washington, D.C., which became the angle of his story titled “Hometown Girl.” Panelist Ken Adelman, Washingtonian magazine's national editor, has written a monthly “What I’ve Learned” interview column since 1988. His interviews are personal reflections about what people have learned in the course of their careers or their lives. “I choose people with insight and reflection who are not out to spin,” said Adelman. Adelman permits his interview subjects to review his articles before they run and to make changes in their responses to questions. “People don’t remember what they say,” said Adelman, “but they do remember what they think. Generally, they change very little.” People who know they can make changes are more forthcoming, noted Adelman. Following the panelists’ remarks, questions from the audience yielded many useful tips:
For additional reading: The Craft of Interviewing, by John Brady
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