Interviewing group - Wed 09h45 - Rupesh

As Chris says, there’s a sense of needing to hand over the stick now. We were in a small group of four with Gustav and I trying to prepare them to take on the interviewing role. I’ve been interviewing people for information for almost 15 years and each time I do it I still feel some sense of uncertainty about how things will turn out. Experience will teach them a lot but we also want to pass something on that might be useful (they are beginning to feel like ‘our babies’, so we might need to watch out for this mothering tendency).  So, what do we say in 20 minutes to a group for whom this was the first time they would ever interview anyone?

We kept it fairly simple.

We offered a little bit technical guidance. We’ve all handled some sort of tool or implement and so it’s important not to get afraid of this set of kit. So, here’s how to hold the mic (now hold it, feel the weight in your hands), point it towards the interviewee and try to keep it out shot. Oh, and remember to check if it's recording well.

Some relational stuff. Interviewing is an experience you create together, so you need build a relational space in which interesting stories, information and personal energy can come out. So try to make the interviewee comfortable and at ease, take them for a little walk whilst the crew is setting up, ask safe entry questions (things which they can answer quite simply, like “when did you first come here?”).

And also some personal grounding. You are interviewing someone, this is an active verb and suggests the practice is around being actively engaged. But what does that mean?  Active listening is a key behaviour here, since you want to give the participant the experience of being listened to (and handily, the practice of checking back understanding can help your brain tick along nicely and elicit richer information). Keep your body active; this is not about being hyper-active windmill of arms and legs. If you are standing then relax yourself, don’t lock your knees out. And finally, engage with active and empathic heart; this is human-to-human communication mediated by some technology, so show the interviewee when you hear things you like, breathe and smile for them.