My main takeaway from the Eminent person practice interview is that I need to show my interviewee more excitement about and interest in what they are saying. The two pieces of feedback I received as stretches were that my voice was a bit monotone, and I needed to make more connections and conversation after each answer. By remedying both of these, I would be showing my interviewee that I value what they are saying and that it means something to me. This could lead the interviewee to be more encouraged to tell me more and contribute more, which would make the interview run smoother and be more worthwhile. I know I am already on my way to that goal because of the positive feedback I received. I did a good job of asking relevant follow-up questions, maintaining eye contact, and having well-prepared questions. I think that with just a little bit more practice and preparedness, I would reach my above goal. Being prepared is one way I can improve at asking follow-up questions and making conversation. This is because by knowing my questions well, being well researched on my eminent person, and asking questions that interest me and are relevant, follow-up questions and conversation will come more naturally. I know this because, during my interviewing of an animator for a career education project, I was able to follow up questions well and make conversation naturally because I was so interested and had prior knowledge of the topic.

Another aspect I noticed was that sometimes my questions didn’t provoke the answers I was looking for in the interviewee. While this wasn’t written on my feedback sheet, I think I should try and be very mindful of the questions I am asking, so that I learn what I want to learn and the interviewee understands what I mean by the question. I should pay close attention to the wording of the question, as well as how I ask it to best achieve this goal.

As I search for someone to interview and eventually conduct the interview, I will keep all of this in mind to make the most of the interview and what it can provide that research can’t.