This kind of preparation takes time, but it's essential if you want to ask the kinds of questions that really push the conversation forward. It also shows your subject that you're taking the interview seriously, which can go a long way in building rapport and trust.

 

A. Know your subject

 

The first and most obvious step in preparing for an interview is to research your subject. This means going beyond just scanning their Wikipedia bio or social profiles; your conversation should build on and/or challenge ideas that your subject has already presented to the world.

 

Start by reading or watching any previous interviews, talks, or public engagements they've done. Look for the key themes that come up repeatedly, and pay attention to how they frame their own work and expertise.

 

See if you can also identify what your subject hasn’t said yet. Where are the gaps in your subject’s public persona? What questions have previous interviewers failed to ask?

 

These are the areas where you can really add value by pushing the wider discourse of your field in genuinely new directions. If you want your interview to stand out, make sure it's never happened before.

 

B. Know your audience

 

The second pillar of good interview research — and an often overlooked one, from my experience — is understanding your audience.

 

After all, you're not just having this conversation for your own benefit. Even if you’re publishing the interview to a newsletter with only two subscribers, you’re doing it because you think its underlying insights are worth sharing with other people.

 

So, before you sit down with your subject, you need to have a crystal-clear idea of who your intended audience is and what they care about. What keeps them up at night? What are they talking about on social media? What aspects of your subject's work or expertise are most relevant and interesting to them?

 

This is where market research comes in handy. If you're doing this interview for a particular publication, talk to your editor about who their target audience is, and how that might influence what they're looking for in a story. If you're interviewing for your own channels, take some time to analyze your existing or target readership, and the kinds of content that resonates with them. This can be as simple as visiting a social media account that you know your readers follow, and seeing which kinds of posts get the most engagement and why.

 

The goal here isn't to pander to the crowd, nor to compromise your own journalistic integrity. It’s to ensure that your conversation will be engaging and relevant to the people whom you are ultimately servicing in your work.

 

C. Know the landscape

 

The final pillar of interview research involves zooming out beyond just your subject’s individual work and expertise, and understanding the larger context in which your subject operates.

 

In your back pocket, you should have a good sense of the current state of the field, including how its big ideas and debates have evolved over time. What are the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing the field's practitioners today? The new technologies, business models, and cultural shifts that might disrupt the status quo?

 

The exact depth and breadth of this area of research will vary widely, depending on the nature of the interview and your own level of expertise. If you're interviewing someone in a field you know well — like I do with the music business — you may not need to spend as much time here.

 

If you’re relatively new to the field, fear not: Asking your subject for their opinion on the most pivotal issues at hand often makes for a great interview question, especially for a layman audience.

 

That said, at minimum, it's worth putting in the effort to develop a sense of informed curiosity about the world your subject inhabits. It helps you develop more insightful questions, and also helps your audience understand why your subject's work matters and how it fits into the bigger picture of their industry.

 

D. Prepare your own hypothesis

 

After you’ve finished conducting your research, take a step back and consider your overall hypothesis for the interview topic. What do you think are the most important issues to explore — and what do you expect your subject to say about these issues?

 

To be clear, having a hypothesis does NOT mean you should go into the interview with a rigid agenda. It's a starting point of inquiry, not an ending point of belief. The primary function of this hypothesis step is to help guide your questioning, and keep the conversation focused on what you believe matters most.

 

As you listen to your subject's responses, pay attention to how they line up with your initial predictions. Are they confirming your suspicions, or diverging from your assumptions? Are they introducing new ideas or perspectives that you hadn't previously considered?

 

If your hypothesis is confirmed, you have a clear, straightforward narrative to build your story around. And if it's challenged or upended, that's even more exciting: It means you've stumbled onto something unexpected that could shift your thesis in a whole new direction.

 

---

 

2. Ask the right questions

 

With your research and hypothesis in tow, you can start to craft a list of more specific questions to reference during your interview.

 

Some basic guiding principles that have served me well:

 

A. Start with the easy stuff

 

Begin with a few lighter, more casual questions to put your subject at ease. You could ask about their surroundings, or their day so far. Or, if you want to show that you've done your homework, you could reference something quirky or interesting they've posted on social media recently. The goal is to establish rapport, set a conversational tone, and demonstrate your engaged curiosity.

​

B. Then, go deep

 

After easing in, don't be afraid to pose more expansive questions that get at the heart of your subject's experiences, motivations, and beliefs. Ask about their hopes for the future of their field, the lessons they've learned from past career challenges, or the unsolved problems that keep them up at night.

​

C. Challenge assumptions — including your own

 

If there are commonly held beliefs or narratives surrounding your subject or their work, an interview is a ripe opportunity to interrogate those ideas. Ask questions that might compel your subject to reconsider their own assumptions, defend their positions in new ways, or even critique the hypotheses that you yourself have developed about their field. 

​

*In these situations, it's crucial to ensure that your questions are open-ended and not leading. This means avoiding questions that suggest a particular answer or bias, and instead framing them in a way that encourages your subject to provide their own unique perspective. For example, instead of asking, "Don't you think that the current narrative around your work is misleading?" which implies a specific viewpoint, you could ask, "How do you feel about the way your work is currently being perceived or discussed in your field?"

​

D. End with an open mind

 

As the interview winds down, ask questions that invite reflection, or open up new future lines of inquiry. What hasn't the interview covered yet that your subject feels is important to understand? Who else does your subject think you should talk to for additional insights, especially underrepresented perspectives that need to be heard?

​

---

 

3. Feel — and control — the flow

 

A great interview is a balancing act between preparation and spontaneity. You need a clear sense of what you want to learn, while also leaving room for insights and ideas to emerge in the moment. Every interview will have its unique flow based on the participants’ interests, moods, and personalities on that particular day.

​

For this reason, I rarely send interview questions to subjects in advance. This approach helps maintain the integrity of the conversation, ensuring that the subject’s responses are genuine, spontaneous, and not overly rehearsed. (There are a few exceptions, such as interviews for college classroom settings where focus and structure are paramount for effective learning experiences.)

 

The meat of the conversation is where your skills and preparation as an interviewer really come into play, when it comes to guiding and focusing the discussion effectively. There are a few key tips to keep in mind:

 

A. Remember your role

 

Once again: The interview is not about you. You are a conduit between your subject and your audience.

 

You can certainly express appreciation for your subject's work or show genuine interest in what they have to say. But ultimately, your job is to ask questions, to listen, and to steer the discussion towards valuable insights, not to compete with your subject for knowledge or airtime.

 

B. Listen actively and adapt

 

While an interview is a kind of conversation, the art of interviewing can also be understood as the art of listening.

 

You can't predict every response, and the most interesting moments often come from unexpected tangents. If your subject says something intriguing or surprising, don’t be afraid to follow up with "why?" or "can you elaborate?" Some of the best questions in an interview are the ones that build on your subject's previous answers, digging deeper into the motivations and insights that lie beneath the surface.

 

C. Bridge irrelevant tangents back to the core conversation

 

If your subject veers too off-topic or avoids a question, acknowledge their point and gently steer the discussion back. You can say something like, "That's fascinating, and I want to return to that later. But first, I want to make sure we cover X, which is something you mentioned earlier and that I think is crucial for our audience to understand."

 

If they still resist, be direct but respectful, emphasizing the topic's importance to your audience and to the field at large. Of course, if they won't budge, you can move on and find other ways to get the information you need.

​

---

 

4. Follow up

 

The responsibility of an interviewer to seek context and truth extends well beyond the interview itself. In fact, some of the most important steps in the interview process actually happen after you’ve said your goodbyes and stopped recording.

​

After every interview, I would recommend the following steps:

​

A. Send a thank-you note

 

This simple gesture demonstrates that you value your subject’s time and insights, and keeps the line of communication open for future interactions.

​

B. Schedule dedicated time for additional research

 

Explore the new or unexpected questions that you or your subject raised during the interview. This could involve deeper background context, contrasting perspectives, or other relevant case studies that can help you paint a more complete picture of the topic at hand.

​

C. Fact-check — then fact-check again

 

If your subject cited specific statistics or quotes during the interview, don't just take their word for it. Do your due diligence and verify the accuracy of that information with reputable sources. This follow-up work is a critical component of what separates a good interview from a great one — facilitating a piece of reporting that is comprehensive, compelling, and credible for your audience.

​

---

 

Conclusion: Why interview?
 

Whether you're a seasoned journalist, or just someone looking to have more meaningful discussions in your personal or professional life, I hope you find something valuable in this process.

​

Good interviewing is a skill that I am still mastering to this day, but one that I believe is accessible to anyone willing to put in the work. Especially in a world that often feels increasingly polarized and divided, the deep, empathetic listening associated with great interviews feels more important than ever. It can help us build bridges across differences, expand our own understanding of the world, and, ultimately, tell stories that matter. ✷