Use Interviews to Extend your Content

18 May 2020

Interviews can be a great addition to a course, while also being multi-functional. A single interview from your course can serve as content for multiple social media posts, blogs and case studies. Interviews also add a different angle to courses, giving students an opportunity to hear practical experiences from an ‘expert’.

When preparing for an interview to include in your course, you must consider the following:

Find the right person

When deciding who to interview, find someone who is knowledgeable in the field of your course, is reasonably well known within the industry and is available to interview. There is no point spending all your time trying to get someone who will only be available in six-months if your course is going live in one month.

Research in advance

To ensure that your interview is professional and effective, it is important to research in preparation for the interview.

• Research your interviewee’s role to help you with drafting relevant questions
• Research current industry news
• Research some personal information about your interviewee, as knowing some personal information shows that you are interested in your interviewee.

Prepare your questions in advance

In your interview, you want to have both general and specific questions, while ensuring that your questions flow in a logical manner. Start with more broader questions before moving onto more specific questions.

Find the right location

Interviews can be done face-to-face or remotely. When doing a face-to-face interview, it is important to choose a venue that is quiet. If you do the interview in a busy coffee shop, it will be difficult to hear anything, as the loud background noise will override your interview. 

Similarly, for a remote interview, it is best to use online software such as Zoom. During your interview, find a quiet spot that does not have much background noise. 

Have the right tools

For Face-to-face interviews, it is always advisable to record the interview to ensure that you can refer back to the interview and the quotes that your interviewee said. Before recording anything, you must ask your interviewee for their permission to record the interview and share the content discussed. Whether you use your phone or a recorder, test its functionality before your interview to ensure that it is working and that you know how to work it. It looks very unprofessional if you are struggling with your recording tools during the interview. Similarly, for remote interviews, test the software that you will be using prior to your interview.