Tips for brilliant interviews

Six tips to improve your feature writing

Some useful transitional words and phrases

Writing for someone else's signature

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Harder than it looks…
Tips for brilliant interviews

Carolyn Weaver of Rogers Cable TV show Fine Print interviewed film director Norman Jewison on Thursday, February 24, at St. Barnabas Anglican Church (in Toronto’s Greek neighbourhood) as part of the University of Toronto’s 2005 Reading Series. Jewison is plugging his new autobiography This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me.

PR professionals, too, need to interview their corporate spokespeople (frequently C-level executives and customers/clients) for articles, newsletters, or background information for news releases, speeches, briefing papers, and so on.

Interviewing is hard work and the principle "garbage in, garbage out" applies in spades.

Effective interviewing is about asking the right questions, and that means doing your homework, then gently leading your interviewee on a journey to tell a good story. Brilliant interviewing is about getting your interview subject to part with private musings, personal or industry "gold nuggets," and asking poignant but overlooked questions.

Improve your interviews

1. It helps to have a great interview subject. Yes, this helps a lot. Actors, musicians, politicians, quirky business leaders and general "movers and shakers" make better interviews and better reading than most corporate executives.

2. Preparation, preparation, preparation. In order to prepare a list of interview questions, you need to read what has been published about your interview subject by others (both positive and negative commentary), so far. Google makes it easy. James Lipton spends 80 to 100 hours getting ready for an interview on the Actors Studio program—and the proof is in the interview.

3. A good interviewer is a journeyman; a brilliant interviewer is a producer. Based on your research, chart the path of the interview. Make a short list of the most seminal and poignant moments of your interviewee’s story. The producer’s role is to cue the interviewee to tell his or her story by asking questions in a particular sequence. As producer, what is the best sequence of questions to get the best story?

4. Like a speech, a great interview should have a rhythm. Not all the good stuff in at the start; not all the bad stuff at the end. You want a nice "up-and-down" rhythm to keep things interesting.

5. Experiment with different ways of asking the same question. Your question is really the "set up" for your interviewee to complete the story or provide special detail of a particular story.

Interviewers to study:
James Lipton, host of Bravo’s "Inside the Actors Studio," click here. 

Charlie Rose, host of PBS’ "The Charlie Rose Show," click here.

Tim Russert, editor and moderator of CNBC’s "Meet the Press," click here.

Six tips to improve your 
feature writing

As professional communicators, we spend a fair bit of our time writing for the web. One of the dangers of this is that we forget the skills of good feature writing. Use it—or lose it!

There will always be a need for good feature articles for the simple reason there are subjects that cannot be explained adequately on the average web page. And, oh yes, even in our over-communicated world, people like reading features. O.K., they will probably print out a 4,000 word article rather than reading it on-screen.

Here are some practical tips to improve your feature writing:

1. Spend a lot of time thinking about and crafting the lead to your article. The lead is what gets readers interested in reading your article. Fail to get readers’ attention and they’ll click on another link, or turn the page. Great inspirations for leads are references to pop culture: films, books, Hollywood personalities, business icons, songs, etc. if they relate to the topic you’re writing about. When interviewing your sources, press them for stories and anecdotes that might help you craft the lead. If you can do the interview in person, which is rare these days, look around your subject’s office: are there quirky and wonderful things that you could ask about? And how would they relate to the lead of your article? Avoid starting your subject, whatever it might be, with the history of that category. "If someone asks you for the time, don’t tell them the history of time-keeping." Press interview subjects for profound, meaty quotes. Sometimes, a meaty quote is a great way to begin an article. On these occasions, you are spared working on the lead to your piece.
        

2. Clean up quotes from your source. Don’t put in "umms" and "ahhs." Cleaning up quotes is not a crime. When you are a professional communicator representing your organization, you want your sources to appear brilliant. Taking things out of context or misquoting your interview subjects, however, can get you into trouble. Double-check your quotes to make sure you are clear on their meaning. Avoid diluting meaty quotes by paraphrasing them first, and then directly quoting your source. This takes all the wind out of your sails. The beauty of quotes is their impact.
        

3. Work on your diction. A feature is a great opportunity to use interesting and uncommon words. Don’t use unusual words for their own sake, but if the occasion warrants it, pepper your article with a few words that might just send a few readers searching in their dictionaries. There is nothing wrong with that. (On the flip side, too much fancy diction makes your writing laboured—and makes you sound pompous.)
        

4. Work on your transitions. Especially if your article is long, transitions help guide readers through your material in a logical fashion. Read about Transitional Words and Expressions here.
        

5. Details, details, details. Fight against the organizational tendency of over-generalizing and the broad-brush approach. Fight for details! You don’t have to have details, proof, back-up for everything, but details make feature writing come alive. And readers love details. What colour was the convertible that brought the celebrity? What music did the band play? How many pounds of potato salad were consumed?
        

6. Become an alumni of the school of good writing. When you see a well-written article, clip it out or save it in your "Writing File." The Writing File is a great place to go when you have writer’s block; it helps you get unstuck.

Some of my favourite publications are: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Fortune, Newsweek, Time and Fast Company.

Remember that exceptional times lead to exceptional journalism. As horrific as it was, 9/11 gave rise to many great opinion and commentary pieces. So, too, did the death of former US president Ronald Reagan. Add these to your Writing File, too.

Some useful transitional 
words and phrases

Writing is the foundation of public relations. Good writers are continually aware of the importance of transitional words that help your writing flow smoothly and weave your ideas together into a cohesive whole. Good writers know that transitional words provide directional clues for the reader, that they show the relationship between sentences in a paragraph, to anticipate the writer’s development of ideas.

For example, the furthermore says, "Wait! I still have more to say on this subject." So, readers hold the previously read sentences in mind while they gather the succeeding sentences promised by the transitional adverb, furthermore.

Writers might find the following table of transitional words and expressions useful:

Transitional words and expressions

Amplification
For example, in other words, that is

Cause and Effect
Accordingly, because, consequently, for this reason, hence, since, thus, therefore, if…then

Concession
Accepting the data, granted that, of course

Contrast or change
In another sense, but, conversely, despite, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, still, though, yet

No change
Similarly, moreover, also, too, in addition, likewise, next in importance

Emphasis
Add to this, besides, in addition to this, even more, to repeat, above all, indeed, more important

Equal value
At the same time, likewise, similarly

Increasing quantity
Also, besides, furthermore, in addition, moreover, too

Order
First, finally, last, next, second, then

Summary
For these reasons, in brief, in conclusion, to sum up

Time
From now on, afterwards, before, formerly, later, meanwhile, now, presently, previously, subsequently, ultimately

Tuesday, June 1, 2004

Writing for someone
else’s signature

A big part of the job of senior communicators is writing words that are attributed to someone else. We’ve written letters, speeches, articles, white papers and presentations for some of the most respected executives in Canada, for provincial premiers in several provinces, for lawyers and accountants and architects and engineers, for computer executives and senior civil servants. And salesmen.

We’ve even written words to be spoken or signed by authors and announcers and actors – their specialties were other kinds of words, sometimes more kind—and sometimes not.

How do you go about writing for someone else? Here are eight practical suggestions to help you write for someone else—and not lose your mind:

1/ Writers need access to CEOs, yet CEOs have no time.

In the ideal world, there would be in-depth briefings between the CEO and the writer at the start of every assignment. This is not reality.

So, how do you get inside the mind of the CEO? At the start of writer/CEO or PR professional/CEO relationship, have lots of meetings, formal and informal. How do you get meetings with the CEO? First, befriend his/her executive assistant. This person can make or break it for you.

Offer to pick up the CEO and drive him to work, talking in the car. Discuss the project over sandwiches at lunch time. Talk on the phone every morning at 7:30 for a few minutes. And take advantage of long rides to the airport (45 minutes from downtown Edmonton to the airport, and that’s without traffic). Time on an aircraft is great, too, if you can accompany the CEO.

2/ "Broad brush" versus specific, examples versus reality.

As writers craft a text, they are developing an overall framework for the text (speech, annual report or whatever). The writer pops in "for instance" examples of just makes stuff up for the sake of flow and cadence.

Some CEOs believe the text is accurate as written, opening the door for mistakes…. Other CEOs get indignant that the information is blatantly wrong….

A suggestion for a better process: the writer is responsible for getting a list of experts the CEO trusts. Facts need to be checked before drafts are circulated to the CEO. The CEO provides the list of "trusted sources" or "trusted checkers."

3/ Experience matters.

If the success of your organizations depend on the credibility and acceptance of the words CEOs are credited with, juniors are not the best choice.

Frequently, CEOs are more comfortable with someone more experienced. Hire some gray hair: a broadly-based PR professional with lots of real world business experience. Human nature is such that if the CEO likes the assigned writer, things will go much more smoothly. This way, briefings can focus on specific-industry expertise the writer will need.

If a PR agency is doing the writing, make sure senior people screen the words, even if juniors write them, before the words are sent to the client. And if the words are carried over, perhaps a senior person should do the delivery, so editing based on experience is possible, right then.

4/ Words come with legal, moral, technical, administrative, professional, and sales weight to them.

There’s a lot to think about with every word. That’s why the briefings, including casual discussions of the company and even invitations to sit in on management meetings, help ensure the right words are written. And it helps form the pre-CEO fact-checking list.

5/ Narrow down the thrusts and themes, and stick with them.

A good corporate communications plan has one, two, or at most, three ongoing themes and concepts. For instance, "in 2004 we’re creating the best customer service in the industry." A list of priorities that has 29 items (and counting) is not realistic. Ensure the organization’s priorities are reflected in every piece of writing—and that insignificant ones don’t dilute them.

6/ Together with the CEO, decide what is the persona the CEO wants to cultivate.

At the start of the relationship have a serious talk about personalities, attitudes, and how the CEO wants to be seen. Regal? Friendly? Control and command? High energy? Laid-back? Defining a personality is important to maintain consistency of style in both good news and bad news scenarios.

7/ People have personalities. Words have personalities. Match them up.

And, based on 6/ above, make sure the style of the writing matches the actual personalities and attitudes of the people the writing is attributed to. Many easy-going, friendly, well-liked managers seem to change to dull, pretentious, bureaucrats when they write….

Early in the draft process, write things in several styles and let the CEO show them to some friends and family, asking, "which sounds most like me?"

8/ Don’t take it personally, whether writer or CEO.

There’s a variety of, many, lots of, several good, some optimal, some really good, several acceptable ways of sayings, writing, conveying information, getting an idea across, no, getting an idea out, getting a concept understood, changing a mind, altering a perception, so don’t worry if, it doesn’t really matter, it’s no skin off anyone’s nose, if it takes several drafts, a few tries, lots of compromise, to get a final result, acceptable copy, words that sing, prose that works.

So, don’t take the inevitable alterations and draft changes as a sign of error or omission or bungling or nastiness or incompetence on either side. They are just letters arranged in another order.

I vote for relative easygoingness on the part of CEOs, acknowledging that they are going to put their signature on the words, so must be willing to live with them. I note: the previous sentence originally ended with "happy." But it got edited to "willing… ."