The key to conducting an effective interview
How can you share your organization’s impactful work with an audience that doesn’t directly relate to your message, programs, or stats? Through storytelling. People give to people, not programs.
Impactful stories can only be shared if someone communicates one to you. Often, the easiest way for someone to tell their story is not to ask them to write a testimonial for you but to interview them about their experiences. Asking someone to talk about their story, specifically relating to your organization, lets you highlight to donors the real impact of your programs and services on someone's life.
When interviewing someone, you want them to feel as comfortable as possible while ensuring you get the information you need. Follow these five tips:
Build trust by putting your interviewee at ease. Start the conversation with a casual yet specific question that will set the tone for the remainder of the interview, such as “Tell me a little about yourself.”
Ask one question at a time. Ask individual, specific and concise questions to your interviewee one by one, allowing them the opportunity to answer before moving on.
Use mirroring tactics to check your understanding. Repeat answers back to your interviewee for clarification.
Listen more, talk less. It’s human nature to want to fill a silence with words. Allow silence to feel awkward, and give your interviewee the time and space to think and respond to your questions. Some of the most interesting information comes from not feeling rushed to answer a question.
Finish with an open-ended question. Leave the final comments up to your interviewee. Ask them if they would like to add anything else.
Following these tips will help the interview flow effortlessly while making your interviewee feel as comfortable as possible sharing their story. People share their experiences out of the hope they will help others who are experiencing something similar, so showing them that you care is incredibly important. Empathy can be exercised in two ways when interviewing: through engagement and the questions you pose to your interviewee.
Coming up with questions to ask your interviewees can be challenging when starting from scratch. But with some guidance, interviews don’t have to seem as daunting.
Here are a sample few questions to make the process easier:
Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
How did you first hear about us?
Why did you want the programs/services of our organization?
What brought you to our organization?
When did you first come to our organization? Please elaborate.
What was your first impression with our organization? Please explain.
Tell me about the programs/services you participated in/used?
Why were these programs/services so important to you?
How did the programs/services make a difference for you?
Is there a particular memory or moment of your time with our organization that stands out for you? Why?
What was most surprising to you about our program/service/event?
What’s your life like now? – or: Where do you plan to go from here?
What would you have done if there wasn’t an organization like [name of your organization here]?
If you could speak directly to donors, what would you say? Why?
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Want to know more about how to conduct great interviews? Download our FREE guide —The Art of Interviewing — now.