I am better-suited to interviewing than many people are. I'm comfortable with the tech. I have a decent Internet connection. I have a flexible schedule, so I can adapt to guests. I use scheduling systems and can deal with timezones. I've got a workflow that involves posting show notes and even transcripts. I am reasonably good at asking questions and shutting up so that other people talk. I often stutter, but no one seems to mind. I usually take visual notes, which people appreciate. I'm part of communities that can get more value from the resources I share.
So, what's getting in the way of doing way more interviews?
I feel somewhat self-conscious about questions and conversations. The Emacs Chats have settled into a comfortable rhythm, so I'm okay with those: introduction, history, nifty demo, configuration walkthrough, other tidbits. Frugal FIRE has a co-host who's actively driving the content of the show, so I can pitch in with the occasional question and spend the rest of the time taking notes. It's good for me to talk to other people out of the blue, but I don't fully trust in my ability to be curious and ask interesting questions.
Hmm. What's behind this self-consciousness? I think it could be that:
Really, what's the point of being self-conscious when interviewing people? After all, I'm doing this so that the spotlight is on other people, and listeners can survive inexpertly-asked questions. Hey, if folks have the courage to get interviewed, that's something. Like the way that it's easier to focus on helping other people feel more comfortable at parties, I can try focusing on helping guests feel more comfortable during interviews.
And it's pretty cool once we get into it. I end up learning about fascinating Emacs geekery, connecting with great people, and exploring interesting ideas along the way. Well worth my time, and people find the videos helpful.
So I think I can deal with some of those tangled emotions that were getting in the way of my interviews. (Look, I'm even getting the hang of calling them interviews instead of chats!)
What's getting in the way of reaching out and inviting people on? I should be able to reach out easily and ask people to be, say, a guest for an Emacs Chat episode. I have good karma in the community, and there are lots of examples now of how such a conversation could go. How about Quantified Self? I've been thinking about virtual meetups or presentations for a while, since there are lots of people out there who aren't close to a QS meetup. What's stopping me?
All right. So, if I want to learn from people and share useful stuff, I can work on being more actively curious about people, and at inviting them to share what they know. I don't have to ask brilliant New York Times-y questions. I just have to start from the assumption that they know something interesting, and give them an opportunity to share it with other people.
Why would people take the time to do interviews? Maybe they find themselves explaining things to people a lot, so a recording (plus visual notes! plus transcript!) can save them time and give them something to build more resources on. Maybe they're looking for other people to bounce ideas off. Maybe it helps them understand things better themselves. I shouldn't say no on their behalf. I can ask, and they can decide whether it makes sense for their schedule. Right. People are grown-ups.
Okay. What changes can I make?
Hmm. That actually looks doable.
Have you gone through this kind of mental tweaking before? Any tips?
]]>Along those lines, I've been doing a weekly show for Google Helpouts providers. It's a community of maybe a thousand people, which is a tiny niche in the Internet. I used to have co-hosts, but they're on hiatus for various personal/business reasons. I did my first solo show the other week, and my second was last week. So far, I have managed to survive. I like it because Google Helpouts is a new platform and everyone's still figuring things out. I'm fine with talking tech and maybe a little online marketing/customer service, but other people know so much more than I do about business and education, so interviews are a natural fit. I'm getting settled into a decent workflow involving Hangouts on Air, the Q&A module, MP3s, and even drawing sketchnotes while the conversation progresses.
Sketchnoting is oddly calming. I had done it from the very first show, when I had a co-host handle all the niceties of reaching out to people, introducing them on air, and asking questions. For a kick, I tried seeing if I could do it even when hosting solo, and it worked out fine. You'd think adding one more thing to do during the show would drive me crazy from multi-tasking, but actually, drawing keeps me not-stressed-out enough to listen well, ask follow-up questions (since I have my notes handy!), and help people follow along with the conversation or catch up afterwards. Besides, it's a good excuse to swap out my webcam image for the screenshare, so I don't have to be “on” all the time.
So the interview itself is fine, and it will get better as I pick up more experience.
Then there's all the rest of the processes around that. I typically stay up about two hours after the end of the show. I chat with participants off-air for 30-45 minutes (this is usually the most fun segment!) and then handle all the post-work, since I like it when the resources are posted right away. That way, I don't have to go back and work on it again. Although it's certainly possible to just let the video be automatically posted on my YouTube channel and be done with it, I like putting together the video, my visual notes, an MP3 download (for the people who prefer to listen to the podcast while, say, doing chores or walking around), and eventually a transcript. If I'm going to do something, I might as well use it as an opportunity to explore what awesomeness look like. =)
That said, wouldn't it be awesome to be able to document my processes so that I can do them without worrying about missing a step, and so that other people could take care of making things happen? I'd love to worry less about identifying, inviting, and coordinating potential guests, too. Someday.
Since many of the things I do involve my Google account, this probably means building trust carefully. I was thinking about what sequence of activities might make sense in terms of trust.
Come to think of it, I can improve my post-podcast process by parallelizing some of the tasks that take a long time to do. Maybe I'll even figure out how to automate some of those tasks, like perhaps getting the ID3 information from a spreadsheet.
Here's a list that's roughly in order of trust:
The biggest risk, I guess, is that someone goes rogue with my Google Account. Goodness knows enough people have had that kind of problem with people breaking into their accounts. Working with assistants I pick myself (since I work with people who have a good reputation) and making an effort to be an excellent client could lower that risk. I've also separated my domain administration account from my regular e-mail account. At some point, I'll just have to trust (and verify).
Helpers Help Out – a weekly show for Google Helpouts providers (~700 people, pretty exclusive at the moment =) )
More info on helpershelpout.com
I want to share learning-related tips and give people a space for picking my brain, too, so here’s Learning Together:
I’ll publish a more detailed blog post with MP3s and everything soon. I’m going to see if I can have it transcribed. =) They say the cobbler’s children have no shoes, but I want to see if I can make these things as well as I can. You can check sach.ac/learn for details of the next event, and you can download the MP3 from https://archive.org/details/LearningTogether01NovemberTipsSachaChua .
Some notes from producing the shows:
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