Should I do a pre-interview or not? What even is a pre-interview, and why can the help or hinder my interview?

In this episode, I talk about some of the objections to doing pre-interviews and why, in my opinion, they're still a powerful way to get to the heart of a subject and an interviewee - if you do them right:

Documentary is my favorite type of interview. Getting the opportunity to sit across from someone and dig into their life or subject of choice is like drinking a cup of coffee in the early hours watching the sunrise - no matter how many times you do it, it gets better every time.

In this episode, I talk about my seven tips on doing the best documentary video interviews that you can do:

This episode is certainly not exhaustive, but it's some great tips that I've learned from years of doing documentary-style interviews and loving doing it.

There are a lot of people who answer the question of how to start your interview, but fewer people ask how to end your interview with a bang.

In fact, ending of your interview well is equally as important as a solid start. It's the time when you wrap up, sum up, and invite the person you're interviewing to really dig deep and summarize what they're all about.

In this episode, I talk about the best points on how to wrap your interview to get the most out of the time that you spend with your interviewee. I talk about several tips and techniques you can use to make your ending the best that it can be and go away from your interview thinking, man, that finale was full of fireworks!

Are you starting up an interview series but frustrated that your voice doesn't sound like everybody else in the interviewing sphere?

Don't be. Actually there's many different styles, cadences, and voice types in the world of podcasts, YouTube shows, and interviews.

That said, there are a few things you can do to improve your delivery and connect with your guest and audience in a better way. In this episode, I talk about five techniques that you can use to improve your voice delivery and interview presence to connect with your interviewee, engage your audience, and make your media an enjoyable experience for all involved.

You've scheduled your guest, and you're gnawing at your fingernails waiting for the day when you're going to do the interview.

What do you do while you wait?

In this episode, I talk about four things I would do if I were going back to the beginning and doing my first interview all over again. And really, it's four things you could do for any interview, whether it's your first or fifth or your fifty-fifth! 

I talk about each of these tasks one-by-one, the practical how-to as well as the theory of why each of these could be helpful for your interview.

An interviewer is only as good as their interviewee. So much of what an interviewer does is empowering the interviewee to be the best interview subject that they can be. And that's why, as an interviewee, sometimes it's helpful to know exactly what makes for a good interview right off the bat before you even begin.

That said, these are a few tips for you would-be interviewees that can help you to prep for your upcoming interview. These are also good points for interviewers to help direct their interviewees before the interview.

Should I go long or stay short? Long-form interviewing or short-form? Should I record long and edit short? What should the final duration of my podcast/video/media be?

In this episode, I talk interview and media length. I argue that, essentially, there's no universally right answer to these questions but that, instead, you should base your length off of the needs and value it creates for your audience. You should ask the questions:

And from this, you'll know what length your media should be.

As a bonus, I also talk a little bit about interviewing long and cutting short, so give it a listen!

Have you ever wondered why you're not getting the kind of interviews that you know are possible? Me too. And recently I had an experience where I was listening back to one of my interviews as a listener and it hit me like a load of bricks.

I haven't been empowering my interviewee to have the transformation that's possible for them. The interviews, instead, have been all about me.

In this episode, I talk about one of my most-recent realizations about my interviewing, and it's related to the transformational power of the interview. I also talk about why it's so important to listen back to your interviews as a listener after you're done recording them. This practice was what lead to my great realization.

Oh no! You've been asked or assigned to do an interview for your company, business, or for a friend. And let me guess, you don't even know where to start!

Well, you could start here. In this episode, I talk through three powerful types of questions you can use in your first interview:

These three types of questions are great for getting powerful interview audio bytes from your interviewee and helping you to form your curiosity!

Need some more help? Check out Parts 2 and 3 of this series as well where I talk about three mindsets and three skills you can ask in your first interview.

Oh no! You've been asked or assigned to do an interview for your company, business, or for a friend. And let me guess, you don't even know where to start!

Well, you could start here. In this episode, I talk through three of the most skills that you can bring to your first interview:

These are three of the foundational skills, in my opinion, to being a great interviewer.

Need some more help? Check out Parts 1 and 3 of this series as well where I talk about three orientations and three types of questions you can ask in your first interview.