SKF NOTE: Listening back this morning to one of my recorded 1980s Michael Shrieve interviews, I remember lessons learned about interviewing.

My biggest lesson, I think, was learning to shut up. Ask a question. Then while the person being interviewed is answering – shut up. Llet them answer. Don’t finish their sentences. Don’t step on their answer to ask a follow-up question.

Have a follow-up question? Make a note of it. Ask the question when the interviewee stops answering the current question.

Shut up means also eliminating all unnecessary “y’know’s,” “um’s,” and other utterances interjected while the interviewee is talking.

Shutting up is especially important when recording interviews to be broadcast as audio/video interviews.

It’s easy enough, although time consuming, to leave out utterances from print interviews.

Not as easy cutting utterances from audio/video interviews. Sometimes it’s impossible. I learned that working on video projects with videographers Dean Gyorgy and Scotty Heidrich.

My worst offense, I learned, was making sounds while the interviewee is talking. In those cases it is impossible to separate the two sounds – my utterance from the interviewee’s voice – for the audio or video interview.

“God gave us two ears and one mouth. We should use them in that proportion,” is a good rule for interviewers.

I would actually modify that rule for interviewers. “God gave us two ears, two eyes, and one mouth,” and we should use them in that proportion.