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Authors (and Speakers) – Interview Others for Rich Material – Who, How, and Why?

22nd February, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments

If you are a writer, speaker, trainer, or really, have any other kind of job or avocation, you have content that you can access for your writing, speaking, and so forth. One of the many ways to generate new content, however, that is related to your areas of interest and expertise is to interview others. Once you have done that, you have a wealth of material to share with others – for free or for a fee.

If you are wondering, should I interview others, my answer is a resounding, "Yes! To answer the WHO? question, consider individuals from these categories as resources (depending on your purpose):

• Children and young adults
• Former students
• Former teachers
• Teachers
• Administrators
• Former clients
• Organized people
• Disorganized people
• People you would like to have as clients
• People you know and would love to learn from
• People you have never met but would love to learn from
• Folks in crisis
• Folks who seem to have it all together
• Authors
• Speakers
• And the list continues on and on….

The idea here is that, depending on what you want to learn, you can interview anyone. All you have to do is ask. Most people are willing to be interviewed, because most of us love to be asked for our opinions, knowledge, ideas, how-we-did-its, etc.
To answer the HOW? question, here are some suggestions:

1. Figure out what you want to know (and you don’t even have to know for sure what you’re going to do with the information).
2. Determine who would be able to help you know what you want to know.
3. Ask the person or persons if you may schedule a time for an interview. It might be face to face or on the phone. It could also be an email interview, although generally, I prefer some voice contact because you can read (actually hear) so much when you have the voice, too, not just the words. But be flexible if the other person prefers email. They are doing you a favor so make it as easy as possible.
4. If you’re interviewing on the phone and want to record the call, there is equipment you can purchase for that, however there are services that provide that as well. The nice thing about recording the interview is that you do have it to use later for reference, or potentially as a "product" (as long as the other person is fine with that–and can use it as a product, too).

To answer the WHY? question would take many articles, but are four reasons:

1. You gain information you wouldn’t have otherwise.
2. You make connections with others through your interview that you might not have made connections with (or at least this type of connection) if you hadn’t asked to interview him/her.
3. You have information to freshen up and/or extend your knowledge that you can share with others.
4. You can turn the interviews into ‘products’ of different types, e.g., MP3 downloads, CDs, Special Reports, and the like.

It’s easy to find people to interview and to capture that interview. Who are you going to call or email today to ask? Why wait?!

If you want additional ideas for interviewing others, capturing ideas, and learning how to move your professional and personal life forward, be sure to consult the Life of E’s blog:  http://www.meggin.com/lifeofes/wordpress/.

Topics ranging from money to productivity to speaking to writing to coaching to business set-up and more are featured there.

And, to make sure you are productive in your personal and professional life, you’ll want to access the resources at:

**Top Ten Productivity Tips    http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph.D. of Productivity"(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.