Three Kinds of People

Matthew and I went peopling today. Our first time going out with the sole purpose of getting interviews! Very exciting.

We learned there are three kinds of people, and each group forms about 1/3 of the population we spoke to.

1) People who say 'no.'

These are the people who when we ask if we can take their picture, immediately say 'no' and hurry on their way. You get used to it--this is great training for dealing with rejection

2) People who say 'well....' or 'what?' or 'why?' or 'I don't know...'

These people tend to be self-conscious or suspicious--quite understandable when a random person initiates a conversation. Most of them said 'no,' though, even after an explanation.

3) People who say, 'okay.'

Most people who agree to being interviewed will assent immediately and readily. And so far, they have not indicated that they want to STOP the interview--I'm the one who steps away. Today we were interviewing at lunch time, and I didn't want to make anyone late returning to work. I do wonder, though....how long can I talk with a random person?

Things We Learned: Our Second (and failed!) Interview

In order to learn more about interviewing, we took a field trip to the local radio station, WPAX/WTUF. It's been on the air since 1922! It was a great opportunity, and we may have even gotten a Humans of Thomasville interview, except...

My phone battery died.

1) Charge your battery. 

We spoke with Chris Hurst about his interviewing techniques.

2) Learn their name.

It's terrible to get all the way through an interview and go to report and then realize you don't know the person's name. Learning their name is important, even if you don't report the name, in order to identify the person should they withdraw permission to use the interview and to make them feel more comfortable during the conversation.

3) Answer the 5 Ws.

This primarily applies to news stories, but learning who, what, where, when, why, and how can help you come up with follow questions during your interview. If you are missing one of those, you can develop a question related to it.

4) Ask the person what their story is. 

When you are finished interviewing, it's important to ask the subject if they want to tell you anything else. Most people have a story bursting within them--they simply want to be asked. So ask! What story do you want to tell me? Anything else you want to say? Is there anything you want me to know?