10 Essential Tips for Conducting Engaging and Effective Video Interviews (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Greetings. Planning to conduct an interview? Here's our 10 tips for producing a powerful video interview. We hope they are helpful to you. Before we share our tips on how to conduct an interview, we have an important suggestion. Do your homework. If you have asked someone to share their time and experience with you, do some research on them and the field they are in. Check out their website or social media accounts and learn a little bit about their career or avocation. Making an effort to get to know something about your subject's area of expertise will make you feel more confident and will make them appreciative. If you will be interviewing an artist, visit an exhibition of their work to be familiar with their style. If you'll be interviewing an archaeologist, learn a little bit about the sites he or she have been involved in excavating. If your interview subject is a street dancer, find out something about the performance art's different styles, techniques, and terminology. Interviewing tip number one. Explain your process and manage the interview subject's expectations. Give them a sense of how many questions you'll have and some general guidelines on what you're looking for in their answer. And remember, be relaxed and have fun. This is not advanced calculus, rocket science, or like trying to teach chess to a two-year-old. Tip number two. Prep the interview subject on what to wear. Encourage them to be themselves and wear clothing that reflects their personality and how they want to be seen by viewers. Do suggest that they wear colors that complement their skin tone so they won't be blending into the background. Tip number three. Select a place to conduct your interview that has a suitable background and isn't distracting. Make sure there's not a lot of ambient noise. Don't have your subject in front of a bright light like the sun or in the shadows. Tip number four. Test the sound quality by doing a sound check with your subject. Even seasoned, experienced professionals who have made a million videos know it's better to be safe than sorry. Tip number five. Remember, you are not conducting an adversarial 60 minutes interview. Make your interview subject comfortable. Before you start filming, have a friendly conversation that sets them at ease. Have a funny anecdote about something that will help them relax. Tip number six. Let your interview subject know where you want them looking. That's usually at the camera. If you are not behind the camera when you are conducting the interview, they're likely to look at you. Try to position yourself so it's natural for them to be looking at the camera lens. Tip number seven. Coach your interview subject about how to begin their answer to your question. It's natural for people to just dive in, but they will need to frame their answer so viewers know what they are talking about. Tip number eight. Your subject will be more at ease and articulate if you make eye contact and demonstrate with your body language that you're interested in what they're saying. Nod your head, smile, and they will respond by being animated and engaged. Tip number nine. You'll be editing the interview, so you don't need to do all the filming in just one take. If there are pauses, they will be invisible to viewers. So wait a few beats before prompting your interview subject. It's human nature to want to fill the void of silence, but if you don't, your interview subject will. It may feel a little awkward to sit in silence, but wait for it. You may just get a gem of a soundbite. Interview tip number ten. Ask each question more than once. Just phrase it a little bit differently. Your interview subject will be all warmed up and their second take may be the best one. You've got that much more material to work with. Thanks for watching. We hope it was helpful. We'd love it if you'd give this video a thumbs up, make a comment, and subscribe. We appreciate it.