How to conduct lively and enjoyable interviews

There is a rule for producing good communication material/pieces. It states that a communicator should spend 80% of their time gathering the content they need and only 20% of their time putting the gathered content together i.e. formatting it for its intended audience.

What the above rule reveals is that the content-gathering process is what makes or breaks communication and therefore anyone who wishes to communicate effectively must get the content-gathering process right.

There are various types of communication content and each type has a method best suited for gathering it. For gathering stories, research data, people's opinions and profiles, the best-suited method is?interviewing the?source of the?information.

Here are 3 tips you can add to your interviewing toolbox that will ensure you have lively and enjoyable interviews.

1. Always keep time

Never arrive late for an interview. Arriving late can be disorienting for you as the interviewer because it gives the respondent (who did you a favour by waiting for you) the upper hand in leading the [interview] conversation.?A late interviewer will arrive to a frustrated (even angry) respondent and interviewing a frustrated respondent produces a dull interview.

Always arrive early to the interview venue so you can have ample time to properly?set up?for the interview.

2. Use the Funnel Approach

The Funnel Approach is an effective way of conducting interviews that helps the respondent feel more comfortable and free to provide in-depth responses to the questions asked.

When using the Funnel Approach, you start an interview by asking open-ended questions that are distantly related to the topic of interest and end with direct questions of greatest importance to the topic.

The funnel approach can basically be divided into 4 parts.

1) Introductions that are aimed at creating rapport between the interviewer and the respondent. A sample question here is: Who are you and what do you do?

2) Asking questions that connect the respondent to the topic of interest with the aim of psychologically preparing the respondent for the questions that are directly related to the topic. A sample question here is: Have you always been passionate about protecting and saving the environment?

3) Seeking the respondent’s personal views on the topic of interest so as to give a personal touch to the subject matter. A sample question here is: When you hear or read reports about the fast-diminishing tree-cover in Uganda, how do you feel?

4) Seeking the respondent’s professional/technical views on the topic of interest. This is where the respondent speaks about the topic professionally and authoritatively. A sample question here is: As a forestry officer, tell me, how has deforestation affected your district?

3. Always have a recorder

Avoid any form of multitasking during an interview. For your respondent(s) to feel comfortable and to open up to you, they must feel your presence and know that you are listening to them and that you are interested in what they are saying.

To demonstrate your interest and attention, you need to maintain eye contact. This is however not possible if you have to write down what is being said by the respondent during the interview. In fact, any activity you engage in during the interview is a distraction to the respondent and takes away from the richness of the interview.

Therefore, for all interviews, always have a voice recorder to record your interview conversation. If you do not have a voice recorder, use your phone (after placing it in aeroplane mode to avoid incoming calls interrupting your recording).?Remember to let the respondent know that they are being recorded before you start the interview.