How to Best Conduct an Informational Interview for a Newsletter Article

Without training, the idea of interviewing a person for a newsletter article can seem daunting. Where to begin? What are the formalities? The good news is that a great interview is simply like a pleasant conversation. The difference is that you want to learn about a specific topic, and what that person knows about it, so you have to stay focused. Each interviewer eventually develops a style, but it helps to start where other people have had success, with these techniques.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Ask for a block of time with the person you plan to interview in advance. Make sure it is long enough for you to learn what you need to know. Most significant interviews with primary sources take at least an hour.
2. Prepare by reading everything you can on your subject and the person you are interviewing.
3. Break the ice. Start by making some sort of friendly conversation, like "Are you from this area originally?" Get the person talking about something, anything really. Then turn the crank.
4. Quickly go through personal mileposts, to get a sense of where your interview subject is coming from. Find out where that person went to school, what kind of family is in the area, job history, what important relationships they have in the community. This is still warming the person up, but it's also helping you better understand the perspective from which your information is coming. Get to know the person a bit.
5. Get down to business by making sure you have the person's name and title spelled correctly. That signals it's time for the meat of the interview to begin.
6. Order your questions from the point in which you want to start to the end, where you want to finish, in chronological order to make sure you understand the progression of what is happening.
7. Ask for every detail. None are too small--addresses, names, ages, sizes, colors. It all could come into play when writing, so learn it now, start thinking about the complexities of what you will write, and the connections will come into focus.
8. Look, listen, feel, smell and touch the scene in which you are in. Any sensory details here that could make your story more interesting?
9. Don't forget to repeatedly ask "Why?" Like a small child, make sure you understand every single thing that is being told to you in perfect progression.
10. Make sure you have contact information, preferably a cellphone number, in which you can call back quickly for any last-minute details.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask abstract and open-ended questions. See where they lead.
• Listen. This story is about what your subject has to say, not you.
• When you hear a phenomenal quote, put some sort of mark, like a star, next to it in your notebook. That way you can find it again quickly.
• Don't forget to get the overview statements, the broad (and sometimes boring sounding at first listen) kind that can be used for transitions. Often those come in really handy when you start writing, and they might sound perfectly powerful in the right spot.
• Don't be a robot. Make personal contact with your source, and the interview will be much more enjoyable for everyone.