The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters - Lifecycle Performance ...

32 / THE SEVEN STRATEGIES OF MASTER PRESENTERS
2. Face-to-Face Interviews
Face-to-face pre-seminar interviews can be incredibly insightful.
If you ask the right type of questions, in the right way, and at the right
time, you can achieve deeper levels of communication with the audience
members with whom you will be speaking.
For example, if your audience consists mostly of IT specialists, you
probably want to interview IT specialists to determine their professionspecific
issues. Audiences appreciate speakers who show interest in,
and knowledge of, their specific issues and concerns. If, however,
your audience is very heterogeneous, you may find it desirable to interview
a wide variety of individuals at different levels within that
organization.
In summary, pre-seminar interviews will not only provide you with
relevant information, they also cut down on preparation time, because
you will have a much clearer focus on what you need to prepare
for. Additionally, you will be much less likely to prepare information
that your audience does not need to hear.
There are several advantages of having a written interview protocol:
You will have had to think of the questions ahead of time, the questions
can often be improved upon after a suitable time of reflection,
and you are much less likely to forget to ask an important question
during the interview. In addition, if there is an uncomfortable pause
in the interview, you know exactly what question to ask next. Lastly,
you have the opportunity to test the questionnaire in advance and
incorporate any suggestions or corrections. At the same time, you
should be flexible enough to add relevant information that the interviewee
wants to tell you, and to modify the interview protocol accordingly
where it makes sense to do so.
3. Telephone Interviews
Because face-to-face interviews can be time-consuming, the subject
may be reluctant to consent to a sit-down interview. When this
occurs, consider using telephone interviews. Telephone interviews
offer two main advantages: convenience and a perception of anonymity.
Of course the concept of anonymity is merely a perception, but
the fact is, some people are more “open” in a telephone interview
than in a face-to-face interview.