Simple Strategies for Conducting Successful Video Interviews

Video transcription services are available to help professionals and students make the most of the interviews they conduct. However, conducting a video interview is not easy, especially if you don’t have the experience. Whether it for a news story, article, video or research purposes, you need to develop the skills to conduct the interview and master them with practice. Going by these simple rules can help you conduct successful video interviews:

• Prepare well: Spend time preparing on your subject as well as the topic that will be discussed. Know your goals. Good journalists would have already gathered basic background information on the person before the interview. This will also save time during the face-to-face and allow you to focus on key issues.
• Use the right techniques: Think about the interview techniques you need to use to encourage your subject to give responses that will result in an interesting video. Ask open-ended questions that begin with ‘where’, ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ to elicit informative answers and provide solid information. On the other hand, closed-ended questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ can be useful when you need a definite answer to a question. However, they don’t encourage the interviewee to expand on the subject. Using the right interview techniques can win the trust of your subject and allow you to create a complete story.
  Forbes reported on how Larry Ellison was interviewed by a veteran magazine reporter when Oracle was a startup on a rapid rise. Though the subject was corporate strategies related to database software, the reporter began by asking Ellison where he was born and raised. Ellison spoke about his childhood – how he was raised by a single mom and spent much of his youth on the streets of Chicago. This went on to become a key factor of the Ellison persona and the Oracle’s aggressive competitive style.
• Be flexible: Best practice is to prepare your questions in advance, but you should be flexible too. Let the conversation flow naturally and you may discover something interesting or new which is of interest to your audience. It’s not advisable to send advance questions as it will look scripted and cover limited ground.
• Make small talk: This is important to make the subject comfortable. Ask them how the day went or how they plan to spend the weekend. This will put them at ease before you begin the interview.
• Listen and don’t interrupt: Remember that listening skills are critical for understanding and learning. Ask your question and listen attentively. Empathize – this will build trust. Don’t interrupt as your subject talks, but nod and smile to show you are listening. This will yield a lot more information than you expect.
• Step softly, don’t interrogate: The interview is about the person you are talking to and to reveal them, you need to develop a soft style that coaxes to draw out revealing, useful responses. Leave interrogation to the police! Using a gentle style and establishing a personal rapport with your subject can elicit revealing answers.

Interview transcription can help you hone your style and polish your interview techniques. Record your interviews and get them transcribed by a reliable video transcription service provider. Studying the verbatim transcripts will help you understand where you need to improve. Analyzing yourself will help you conduct richer interviews.