This document provides guidance for conducting effective interviews. It discusses preparing for interviews by researching guests and their topics, relaxing guests during initial meetings, focusing questions to guide conversations, and editing interviews to highlight guests while maintaining natural flow. The overall message is that with practice, observation of other interviewers, and focus on guests, one can become a skilled interviewer.

1. But You Can Be a Good Interviewer! Ewan Spence www.ewanspence.com @ewanspence And Senator, You're No Johnny Carson...

5. ...over 25 days

8. It has a direction and a purpose

11. By building up practical experience and asking for feedback (listeners, guests, mentors)

12. By being incredibly critical and honest when listening back to interviews

13. The Bronze Rule There is no right or wrong way to do this. What I am going to do is talk with you about how I do it. Please consider this a foundation.

14. The Silver Rule The BBC's Reithian Principles To educate... To entertain... To inform...

15. The Golden Rule Watch lots of Johnny Carson

20. To be interrogative?

21. To discuss a topic, trend or product?

22. To make people laugh, think, cry or call them to action? Something else?

24. A show, film or appearance

29. TwiT style

31. Your guest's personal background

32. More depth in the area your guest wants to speak about.

38. Press releases

40. Parry this to “areas of discussion”

42. Becomes more of a conversation

43. Allows you to diverge to interesting areas if you can keep control of the flow

45. Be honest

46. Keep fawning to a minimum

49. Have their mobile number, and a PA's number

50. Get their early!

52. Check environment

57. You might have missed something

58. Builds trust

59. Lets them start to think ahead and plan, even in a small way

60. Also lets them vent if they have to get something off their mind.

63. It wlil sound rehearsed

64. Listeners are smart – something will sound wrong

66. Check your levels

67. Check you are actually recording!

70. It steers the interview to the right topic

72. Presentation The next question is already there, it is part of the last answer

77. Make sure you ask the key questions or sparks

80. Use non-verbals

84. Twirl your hair

85. Move around your seat

86. Go defensive or cross your arms

87. Post Production “Who does it hurt, that's who the story is about” James Blish, author of “Spock Must Die!”

89. Make the interview sound brilliant

93. Do not be afraid to move whole sections around, but remember the idea of wave to keep some flow

94. You have a responsibility to represent your guest accurately.

97. Sometimes useful to take a copy of a breath you take, and your guest, to drop in later.

98. You can edit single words, but consider loosing a whole sentence instead to preserve flow and rythym

99. Do not alter the meaning with edits

100. A silence can seem four times as long as I actually is.

104. Don't forget to take notes for the blog post (show notes for Google ranking)

105. Ewan Spence www.ewanspence.com @ewanspence You Will Be a Good Interviewer!