The most popular search term on Google for this site is “How to interview.” I thought it would be fun to subvert the usual ‘how to…’ post with some some top tips for really screwing up an interview.

1. Arrive late. Shows disrespect and/or incompetence. Also it irritates the other person. (See How I trained myself to get up earlier.)
2. Fidget during the interview. Confidence is attractive whereas nervousness can be misinterpreted as boredom or irritation, which creates negative feeling in the interviewer.
3. Wet fish handshake. This will make the interviewer think you are a) nervous, b) untrustworthy, c) too lazy or weird to subtly dry your hand on your trouser / skirt beforehand.
4. Waffle. Don’t give them a chance to change the subject or get through all the questions they have.
5. Don’t listen to the questions. Just say whatever comes into your head. It’s bound to be more interesting than whatever the interviewer wanted to know about.
6. Recite pre-scripted answers. This is particularly good in a journalist interview if you are a big-shot executive with days of media training under your belt. Under no circumstances give them any information they can use.
7. Treat the interview like a test. Try to assume the interviewer is trying to score points and that the interview is a zero-sum game.
8. Lie. It’s fine to lie on job applications and in politics, so why not do it in interviews as well (try not to be caught).
9. Insult down competitors / previous employers. This is always a good one. The interviewer will know that you can stick the knife in properly and he’ll treat you with more respect.
10. Don’t give examples. There’s a big difference between “I am a highly motivated individual with a great sense of personal responsibility,” and “I got up at 6am every day to train for the London Marathon.” Always speak in generalities and fake pieties. Say the same as every other interviewee.
11. Don’t prepare in advance. There’s nothing worse than a know-it-all. Like the chap who won the Apprentice in the UK this year - he was the only candidate who had read Alan Sugar’s biography. Creep.

Related posts: How to interview someone, Why interviews go wrong, How to give good interview.

Technorati Tags: Interviews, interviewee, recruitment, job, journalist

When I do an interview I tend to write near-verbatim notes. This is an old habit from my days as a journalist. However, it gets me into some interesting problems when I do it for corporate clients. For example (and without naming any names!):

• One client who, on hearing that I did this, tried to claim that they should get copies of all the transcripts automatically. (I did this once with another client and I ended up having to rewrite a case study three times because different people liked different quotes from the interview. Ouch. More importantly, there’s a big difference between my unproofed, unedited transcripts and something I would be happy to show a client. Also, there’s still something of the confessional about an interview and I don’t like to share notes like this.)
• Another client who asked for summaries of all the interviews I did, by way of contact reports. That’s fine but it was the best part of a day’s work. It’s one of those things that easier to ask for than to do.
• Another client who wanted me to send all my interview transcripts (done for a general business article, not case studies) to another agency so that they could produce case studies out of them. It’s hard to explain that an interview for an article isn’t necessarily the same thing as an interview for a case study.

Also, on reflection, it’s obvious that transcripts involve a huge burden of typing and note taking. A 30m call will generate 1200-1500 words of notes. I do a lot of interviews so this is by far and away the biggest chunk of my typing. Even thinking about it gives me RSI.

So, am I being over-punctilious taking transcripts? Do they open me up to more trouble than they save? What do other folk do?

Technorati Tags: Transcripts, interviews

Since I’m being mean to PR companies this week, I had to mention something that happened to me in April.

I was writing a supplement for The Independent about eBay. I had put out a request on ResponseSource to find companies who used eBay in their business and a certain PR firm got in touch to say their client was the perfect case study.

We booked up an interview with the boss.

I rang him. His secretary tracked him down and put the call through. He said:

You *%£$!”s. eBay has all the ethics of a barrow boy with kleptomania. I don’t know why you’re calling me. I don’t want to speak you. You’re the scum of the Earth. Now, f*** off!

Or something like that. I stopped taking notes after the first two words. He hung up on me.

Why did he agree to do the interview? Why did his PR firm put him forward?

I would have thought that after this call either he would sack his PR firm or his PR firm would resign the account.

Technorati Tags: PR, interviews

Interviews matter. Interviews are the foundation of good reporting. They are the best way of understanding a complicated situation and seeing it from someone else’s perspective.

A wise, old editor of mine used to say “report it out.” She meant ‘go talk to people, don’t rely on your own opinions and judgment.’ It’s a good maxim. One of my rules of thumb is to do one interview for each 250-500 words of final copy.

So here are my top tips for a good interview. Your mileage may vary and I’m keen to hear any other suggestions. (See also how to give a good interview and why interviews go wrong.)

Preparation

1. Choose the right format. Sometimes a face to face interview is good. More often, for me, a phone interview works best.
2. Face to face. For a feature about an individual, I like to do several face to face interviews. The first is really a get-to-know session without notes and off the record. It is a reconnaissance. Then the major interview. Finally a follow-up interview around the time I’m writing the piece.
3. Phone interviews. I love phone interviews. There’s something confessional about them and it’s easy to strike up a rapport with someone. I type quickly enough to take a more or less real time transcript during a phone interview which makes this form of interview particularly efficient. Also, a phone interview cuts out travel time and waiting around for people to turn up. Also, it makes interviews much easier to schedule as most people can find 20 or 30 minutes in their diary but a face to face interview seems to require an hour and a lot more commitment.
4. Avoid email interviews. I’ve done two or three email interviews in my time and they’ve all been unsatisfactory. The results have been stilted and unnatural.
5. Have a backup. For face to face interviews, I prefer to use two recorders or one recorder and hand written notes. Nothing could be worse than getting back from an interview and finding that you didn’t have any record. Mind you I ended up spending 15m of an interview with Google’s Sergey Brin talking about digital Dictaphones instead of Google’s future.
6. Have enough time. I was promised an hour-long interview with an airline executive for an profile I was writing for a UK magazine. On the day, the PR involved said it would have to be a 15 minute phone interview. I talked to my editor and we agreed that I should do it but the three page feature would be cut to a half page news item. Left to my own devices, I would have pulled out altogether.
7. Manage PR people. PR minders are a frequent nuisance when I interview people. They’re helpful when they book up an interview and make sure that the people turn up. However, I find their silent presence on phone interviews oppressive and I suspect that it intimidates the interviewee as well. Generally now, I won’t do an interview unless it is a one to one deal.
8. Don’t give questions in advance. I don’t prepare questions in advance and I always say no to people who ask me to send them a list of questions. Partly, this is because I don’t work that way and partly I don’t want people over-preparing. Also, my interviews tend to be quite free-ranging. Similarly, I don’t give copy approval to interviewees. Apart from anything else, it would be logistically impossible for most of my work. (The exception is for certain corporate assignments where the work is being published by the company that employs the interviewee.)
9. Avoid group interviews. An interview is essentially a one-to-one situation but many interviewees like to have a colleague in on the interview. Often they do this if they feel that their technical knowledge isn’t up to scratch. If I interview two people, it becomes harder to properly attribute quotes. Also, you miss out on potentially valuable contributions. Only one person can talk at a time. I would rather do two separate interviews. Again, I am increasingly against doing this.
10. Prepare and research in advance. I don’t usually prepare a list of questions, although I’ll sometimes have a list of topics to cover. However, I do like to Google the interviewee, look up their employer and review other related interviews for angles and questions. I have an interview template in Word and I usually set this up before the interview with all the contact information and some initial thoughts and topics for the interview.
11. Avoid the word ‘interview’. Most people think an interview is a scary thing. They think of job interviews or the kind of TV interviews that politicians do. Neither model works for a good journalistic interview. I prefer the words ‘chat’, ‘conference call’ or ‘conversation’.
12. Confirm the time and date in advance and send reminders. One in four interviewees don’t turn up or aren’t available when I call them. I’ve started sending Microsoft Outlook meeting invitations which form a sort of contract because they have to be accepted or rejected by the interviewee. It’s also helpful to send an email reminder the day before. I am researching ways to offer interviewees a choice of interview slots on a self-service basis so that I can semi-automate the process of booking interviews. At the moment, arranging the interview usually takes longer than actually doing it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The interview itself

1. Introduce yourself. I like to introduce myself at the start of every interview. I tell people who I am, my relationship to the publication I’m writing for and what the piece is about. I call it the Government health warning. It’s a courtesy but it’s also a kind of protection. Doing it consistently means that any interviewee knows exactly where they stand.
2. How to record interviews. I like to do interviews on Skype and use HotRecorder to record them to MP3. A headset is a must and I use a Plantronics USB CS60 handsfree headset for Skype calls. This leaves both hands free for typing notes. I also have a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard which is quieter than my old Dell keyboard so that the sound of typing doesn’t intrude on the interview.
3. Observe the legalities. In the UK, you have to tell people you’re recording a conversation because of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, or RIPA as it is charmingly known. I tend to say ‘I’m keeping a record of this conversation to make sure I don’t forget anything.’ Even if it weren’t a legal obligation, I think it is a courtesy to say so. I don’t record all my interviews.
4. Be yourself. My interview style is discursive, subjective and personal. My favourite interviews are the ones where I find common ground with the person I’m talking to and we have a fun, stimulating conversation. This means I have to come to the party dressed as myself. I interviewed Stephen Bungay a while ago for this blog and I had expected to chat for an hour. We ended up talking for four hours.
5. Be enthusiastic. People like people who like them. They are also conditioned to think of an ‘interview’ as a potentially hostile situation and be on their guard. Consequently, you should be upbeat and positive. Do this genuinely if you can. Otherwise, engage your sincerity simulator.
6. Shut up. You should be talking about 10-20% of the time at most. (This is my biggest weakness - I often end up interviewing myself!)
7. Listen hard. Sometimes you can pick up a word or a phrase in an answer which you can play back to the interviewee and get something much more intimate, interesting or honest. Interviews aren’t scripted Q&As, they are intense professional conversations and you need to concentrate.
8. Capture the basic information. I use a template form for all my interviews that captures: name (get the spelling right), job title, contact details, time and date of interview and intended publication.
9. Job titles can be difficult. Sometimes people have very long-winded or obscure titles. These don’t work well on the printed page. If this is the case, I like to get a more informal job description agreed with the interviewee. Tech companies are notorious for acronym-laden job titles. The important thing is to get the interviewee’s agreement to whatever you use. I like to ask: ‘how would you like me to describe you in the article.’
10. Get past the canned speech. If an interviewee has been media trained, my heart sinks. Usually, it means I have to listen to 10-20m of self-important waffle prepared for them by their PR department. Sometimes you have to let people do their duty and then you can get to the interview. Sometimes asking the same question three times will elicit, on the third go, a more honest, human answer. Building a rapport with them on non-controversial subjects (like their job title or their recent career history) can put them at their ease. I’m not trying to trick people into saying something they don’t want to say. I’m trying to trick them into saying something in a natural, human way. A good interview sounds like an intelligent conversation over coffee not a standup PowerPoint presentation.
11. Don’t lose control. Sometimes, especially with self-important interviewees, you can get into a bit of a tug-of-war over who is in charge of the interview. Never forget that you are the CEO of the interview. You don’t have to be bossy but its important that you get what you need from the interview and you steer it in the direction you want to go.
12. Focus on what you need. Sometimes people get absorbed in details or get too waffly and abstract. Sometimes you need a specific quote or a good story. A timely intervention is sometimes required to redirect the interview. Phrases like ‘do you have any stories that illustrate that point,’ or ‘how does this relate to the bigger picture’ can be very useful ways to do this.
13. Respect the interviewee’s privacy. Although I make transcripts of all my interviews, I don’t like to share them with anyone else. I know this is an ironic position but corporate clients often ask for the transcript as well as the finished article. There are three problems with this. First, redacting a transcript for public consumption is a task in itself, not a freebie. Second, it encourages clients to start rewriting my piece. Third, I think it’s not fair to the interviewee because an interview has some usable bits and a lot of filler.
14. Be courteous. Say thank you afterwards. If you can provide a copy of the final article, do so.

Technorati Tags: Interviews, interviewing, transcript, how to, interview, journalism, reporting, writing

In my fulltime journalist days, I was only asked once to treat a whole interview as ‘off the record.’ When my article came out, the interviewee rang me and complained bitterly that he wasn’t quoted in it at all.

This story popped into my mind when I saw this cartoon on the super iScatterlings blog.

Like my interviewee, a lot of people don’t understand the basic concept of ‘off the record.’ This is what I think:

• It guarantees nothing. Journalists do not have a magic ‘off’ switch that is activated when you say the words ‘off the record.’ If you want to keep a secret, don’t tell anyone.
• A journalist may still record the conversation or take notes. It means - to my mind at least - that what you say will NOT appear in print.
• Journalists can’t unlearn something they know off the record. If they have the information it may shade or spin their story even if you aren’t quoted.
• It has a different meaning to ‘background,’ ‘non-attributable’ and ‘anonymous’. Reputable organisations and reporters will have detailed, highly nuanced guidelines on how to treat different categories of information.
• You can’t use ‘off the record’ to grab editorial control of what quotes are used. Either it is off the record or it is not. Either it is quotable or it is not.
• It is not the cure for interview nerves. (See my post: How to give good interview).
• Asking for something to be off the record isn’t even a speed bump to a disreputable journalist but creates several kinds of difficulty and stress for a reputable one. Don’t do it unless you really have to.

I wouldn’t say that you should NEVER trust a journalist. If you know them well, have confidence in their track record, if they have something to lose by betraying a confidence then you might consider telling them something off the record, as background to help them understand the story.

On the other hand, you wouldn’t trust a complete stranger with the keys to your car, so why trust a journalist you’ve never met with a secret? There are definitely lazy, immoral, stupid, corrupt journalists out there. There are also honourable, decent, trustworthy, respectable ones. Just like people in any profession.

Luckily, now most of my work is through Articulate Marketing for corporate clients and the issue doesn’t affect me so much. The little journalism I still do is not controversial or I tend to know the people I’m interviewing before I interview them.

I‘m watching a fantastic program on Channel 4. Tony Benn, the left-wing politician, interviews four of Britain’s top TV and radio journalists.

He talks to Jon Humphrys about interrupting interviewees. “I do sometimes get a bit irritated, and a little bit annoyed, and then, if I interrupt unfairly, and I do sometimes, I overdo it sometimes, I am aware of that and cross with myself,” says Humphrys. All four interviewees are convinced that uninterrupted politicians will spin and dodge and not really give any new information.

“A crucial role of anyone doing my job is to expose and report and reveal what people in power are doing,” explained Nick Robinson, in answer to a question about who should have access to the media.

Benn asked all the interviewees about whether local politicians or union leaders get enough air time. The general response was that with limited air time, interviewers naturally go to the organ grinder not the monkey. “The internet has democratised the media,” added Robinson in response to Benn’s question about whether people with radical ideas have access to the media.

What is the mission of journalists? “Sometimes it’s a question of holding to account, sometimes it’s a question of finding out what makes people tick,” says Jeremy Paxman. “Shine a light,” said Jon Snow.

I’m writing this in real time as I watch the programme. I don’t want to form instant judgements for the sake of it. Overall, I think the interviewers - who are really the top guns in the UK - come over pretty well and have a good understanding of their profession and their role in society. Benn asks challenging questions and I really enjoyed and welcomed the airing of the issues.

I’d love to find a transcript but Benn trailed the programme in an article in the Guardian.

Technorati Tags: Interviews, Jon Snow, Jeremy Paxman, Nick Robinson, Tony Benn, John Humphrys, news, journalism

Iwas talking to the marketing manager of a technology firm last week. She asked me about interviews that go wrong. My experience is (perhaps surprisingly) that very few interviews are wasted. Generally people are interesting. I like talking to experts in any field and I’m pretty curious about things.

The best interviews are like really intense, slightly one-sided conversations (you talk more than me, otherwise what’s the point) where interesting insights and observations emerge. If I’m doing my job then you’ll end up coming up with the goods.

However, interviews do fall below their potential sometimes and here are some of the reasons why, at least in my experience.

Interviewer problems

• I’m insufficiently prepared. Usually I haven’t researched enough.
• Technical difficulties with my call recorder, dictaphone or PC distract me.
• Someone else calls or interrupts me while I’m in the interview.
• I’m tired. It’s the end of a long day and I’ve done twenty interviews. I try to schedule people who I think will talk on autopilot or be extra-interesting for the end of the day but sometimes after eight or ten interviews I sort of lose the will to live.
• I haven’t had enough tea. Try to avoid scheduling interviews with me before 10am.
• (Rarely, I think) I get a diary failure and call at the wrong time. A typical article will require a dozen or so interviews and each one requires half a dozen emails. I’m usually working on a bunch of assignments at once. I don’t have a secretary so it sometimes happens that I slip up with all this. If this happened to you, I’m sorry.
• The urge comes upon me. Sometimes (again, rarely) I get the urge to dig into some random, peripheral topic and pursue it like dog with a bone. This gets people’s defences up and, in turn, I sense their anxiety as defensiveness and redouble my efforts. It’s a bit of a vicious spiral.

Interviewee problems

• You didn’t turn up. About one in five of my pre-arranged phone interviews fail to happen because the interviewee forgets or doesn’t take the call. I try to avoid face to face interviews, mainly because the same failure rate occurred but instead of wasting five minutes trying to get someone, I’ve wasted hours schlepping to the interview place.
• You get distracted or interrupted. Typical problems: mobile phone calls, Blackberries, meeting room intrusions.
• You’re on a cell phone and you keep going into tunnels or you’re on a train. Don’t do interviews on your cell phone. It sounds like an efficient use of time but it’s actually a monumental pain in the arse for me.
• You get your timing wrong. One airline executive promised me an hour long interview and ended up giving me fifteen minutes. This is why they got a one page article instead of a three page article. They probably wouldn’t have got anything if the magazine hadn’t already commissioned photos.
• Two interviewees are not better than one. A common PR belief is that if they can get two people into the interview, it will be better. Wrong! It makes my job harder - I have to figure out who is saying what and attribute each quote. Since I transcribe all my interviews in full, this is an extra burden for me and if I’m confused I can’t use the quote. Also, only one person can talk at a time so I still only get one interview’s worth of stuff.
• You talk rubbish. This rarely happens but I get very journalist-cynical when people talk up their achievements or glibly puff up their business. “I was the CEO’s right-hand man” - so why didn’t we see your name in the FT? “We doubled our turnover in a year” - against what baseline? Etc. Get my hackles up and I do get quite Paxman.
• You’re boring. Sometimes, perhaps one interview in a hundred, I get someone who could bore for England. Either they stick to their script (too much media training) or their expertise (too much detail) and the interview becomes a genuinely painful experience. I know this is happening because I find myself repeating the same question two or three times and getting the same answer. Generally the best thing to do here is to end the interview as soon as possible. It’s surprising how few people are genuine bores when they talk naturally about a subject they know well.

PLEASE NOTE: From the number of comments about job or university interviews, it’s clear that people find this article looking for advice about that.  However, this article is not about that type of interview. It’s about doing press interviews. For more tips on job interviews read How to be a really bad interviewee and Want a job? Learn to spell and Getting a job in the games industry on my personal site. Also, I’m sorry but I can’t give personal advice about your upcoming interview.

Giving an interview is easy. It’s not like public speaking and it’s not like being cross-examined by Jeremy Paxman except if you are Michael Howard. A good interview is like a focused, directed conversation between two professionals.

I do twenty or so interviews a week. There are few pieces of writing that can’t be improved with more and better interviews.

• Be yourself. Be concise and answer the question put to you.
• Let the interviewer lead. If they seem to want you to talk more, talk more. If they sound impatient and keep interrupting, be more succinct.
• Don’t talk too quickly. I have a theory that one reason why George Bush plays so well in the American media is that he talks really slowly. There is some evidence to suggest that has psychological overtones of confidence and power. It also makes people listen harder. It gives you more time to think and the poor journalist more time to write notes.
• Don’t be put off by tape recorders. Some interviewers use a tape recorder and work from the recording and some will write notes during the interview (I do both).
• Agree an agenda and schedule. Agree at the beginning how long the interview will last and some kind of rough agenda so that you get through everything in the time available.
• Don’t ask for questions in advance. It is reasonable to ask a journalist what sort of questions they may ask and what topics they want to cover when arranging the interview, but don’t ask for a list of questions in advance – they won’t have it and even if they do, they won’t send it to you. It’s not that they want to catch you out, it’s just that they want your answers to be fresh and spontaneous, not rehearsed.
• Do your own research. Read the interviewer’s other work, Google them, read the magazine or newspaper the article will be published in. This is much more useful than preparing cod answers to cod questions.
• Do think about what you would like to say. Think about the kinds of things you want to communicate and the sorts of questions you are going to get asked but don’t write prepared statements.
• Remember what the interviewer wants. Usually they want three things: 1) a better understanding of the topic, 2) something new and interesting to say to their readers and 3) quotable quotes that will punctuate the story.
• The interviewer is human. My best interviews come from a natural rapport with the interviewee. If they are defensive, it makes me defensive but if they are friendly, I am friendly. It’s just human nature. Part of my job is to put my victims at ease but I need something to work with.
• Pick your time well. I am terrible before 10am and after about 5pm.
• Be accessible. Give the journalist a phone number and an email address. Don’t hide behind a PR company because they will add two days and extra cost to every interaction. Try to be flexible about arranging the interview. Don’t be like the publicity-hungry airline executive I interviewed once who gave 24 hours notice of an interview, cancelled on four hours notice, rescheduled to the next day promising an hour but only gave fifteen minutes. And then complained that he only got a one page article.
• Turn up on time. If I arrange to interview ten people, there will always be at least one who doesn’t show up or who doesn’t answer their phone. Some try to reschedule, some disappear. I schedule lots of interviews during an interview day and if someone misses their slot, I normally can’t fit them in later.
• Don’t ask to review the article. For corporate work, this is usually possible though time-consuming. For journalistic interviews, it is a practical and often a contractual impossibility. It complicates the production cycle, most writers’ assignments specifically forbid it and editors fear that people will get all nannyish and try to rewrite a piece to turn a good interview back into a bland, committee-written press release.
• Prepare yourself. Have a friendly journalist or PR ex-journalist do a mock interview with you. Get some media training (although please keep some personality and candour afterwards - don’t turn into media puppet).

There are two things to be wary of in an interview. These are tricks that unscrupulous journalists sometimes use but mainly in the tabloid press.

• No such thing as off the record. Unless you know and absolutely trust the interviewer, don’t say anything ever that you wouldn’t want to appear in print. A good journalist will respect an off the record comment or an inadvertent slip; but the only guarantee comes if you don’t make them. However, don’t do what one of my interviewees did once: ask for the entire interview to be off the record and then complain to my editor when he wasn’t quoted.

• Don’t let the journalist put words in your mouth. Some people think this is a legitimate tactic. For example, “your industry is in a terrible mess and only a bloodbath will sort things out, wouldn’t you agree.” If you don’t disagree they might put those words into quotes as if you said them. So, listen carefully to what they say and if they ask a question in that format, do a Tony Blair and say “I’m not sure I agree with that entirely. What I think is …”

Journalists are the scum of the Earth and should be treated as such. Especially freelancers. If you have to deal with these vermin, here are a few tips:

1. Ignore them when they ask you for an interview or for information. You don’t need a relationship with them until you’re ready to launch a product or you need coverage.
2. Say you’ll do something and then forget about it. There’s no need to worry about using a diary or to-do list to keep track of journalist requests. If it’s important, they’ll remind you.
3. Wait until after their deadline to call them back. When you do, tell them you couldn’t find a spokesperson on that particular topic but tell them to call you next time you are writing something because maybe you can help then
4. Don’t put any press contact information on your home page. Journalists love a challenge.
5. Tell all your receptionists to assume that all journalists work for The Sun and want to write lies and make stuff up. It’s better if they don’t actually speak to anyone.
6. If you do take a call from one, listen to what they say, who they are writing for, what the article is about and what they want. Don’t take notes. Instead, when they’ve finished ask them to put it all in an email. They’ve got plenty of time and don’t mind repeating themselves to save you a few minutes.
7. If you agree to an interview, ask them for questions in advance. Obviously, they’re incapable of having a normal conversation and must write out each question in full, in advance. Not only that, but they aren’t interested in a natural, informed response to the questions. They want robotic repetition of what your PR company told you to say.
8. Offer an email interview but get your PR company to write the answers. It’s much more efficient.
9. Agree to an interview but then cancel it or change the time at the last minute. They don’t have anything else in their diary so they can easily accomodate you. Even better, tell them you’ll do the interview but then give them four hours notice of when you’ll be available. This will make you look important. For maximum effect, start the interview by saying “I thought I’d have an hour, but I’ve only got fifteen minutes.”
10. Get their home and mobile phone numbers and call them every time you send out a press release to make sure they have received it. They don’t always check their email and they’ll appreciate the reminder.
11. When you do an interview, wait until the end before saying ‘of course, all that is off the record’. They respect people who know the language of journalism. Then complain to the journalist when the article appears and you haven’t been quoted.
12. Make them come to your office for the interview, keep them waiting for an hour and then tell them you’ll only do the interview if you can have full copy approval before publication. They like to be busy and sending the article to every interviewee, collating the results and rewriting the piece is the kind of extra work they love. Some of them love living on the edge and breaking the terms of their contract (which usually says that they won’t give copy approval) will give them an added thrill.
13. If you give an interview, make sure that you check the quotations word-for-word. While they will almost always get the gist of what you said, they might sometimes apply Hansard rules, get the odd word wrong, edit for concision or mishear what you said and make an honest mistake. Even journalists with shorthand and tape recorders. It’s hard to condense ten or twenty hours of interviews into a 1,500 word article and they’ll appreciate your attention to detail. Copy any complaints to their editor to keep them on their toes.
14. Invite them on a press trip to California to meet senior executives in your company. Then wait until they’ve sold stories to two magazines before cancelling the trip. Don’t tell them you’ve cancelled the trip until a week before the planned departure date. Don’t offer any alternative way of doing the interviews so they have to cancel both articles. The embarassment and loss of income will encourage humility. Show them who’s boss. Under no circumstances apologise. [This happened. You know who you are. Feel very ashamed.]