Be on time! Arrive with your recording equipment and paperwork. If the narrator is coming to you, it is courteous to provide them with water.

Make sure that you have fresh batteries in your recorder(s) or - and this is strongly preferred - the ability to plug in to a wall outlet. As you are setting up, do your best to reduce the anxiety that is often inherent to the interview setting. One way to do this is to tell them a bit about yourself, since they will be offering so much of their story to you.

Before starting, ask again about your narrator’s schedule for the day to make sure that you are both on the same page about time commitments and that you will not be imposing on other obligations. Also before starting, be sure to show them the paper permissions form and perhaps set it out in a spot where it will not be forgotten or overlooked. It is important that the narrator sign the permissions form, but it is best practice to ask them to do so after they have completed their interview, rather than before.

The Introduction: At the beginning of the recording, ask your narrator to introduce themselves. Have them state their name, the date and the location of the interview. Respond by giving your name as well. If you are in a situation where you are using verbal consent rather than a paper permissions form, read your consent text after the introduction, and be sure that your narrator affirms their consent.

The Golden Rule of Oral History Interviewing: Ask your question and then get out of the way. Don’t respond to what you’re hearing with verbal cues; use head nods and other non-verbal reactions instead. This makes for a much cleaner recording and also helps to minimize distraction. Remember, you are there to collect their story and the less your voice is recorded, the better. Whereas a conversation between friends might be considered as a roughly equal exchange of thoughts and ideas, an oral history interview should be thought of as a 90/10 interaction.

Fundamental Interviewing Ethics: Be mindful of the difference between an oral history interview and a journalistic interview. Where it is the journalist’s obligation to speak truth to power and report their observations, it is the oral historian’s obligation to approach their narrator with feelings of empathy and gratitude for sharing their story -- remember, your narrator is placing theirself in a vulnerable position by sharing their story for inclusion in the historical record. Do everything possible to avoid asking a “Gotcha” question, and if the narrator asks that pieces of their interview be edited out - or that the entire interview be deleted - it is your responsibility to follow these wishes.

Also be aware of any third party considerations that may arise over the course of the interview. While you and your narrator will ideally have a shared understanding of what you are trying to achieve with your project, any individuals that they may speak about on the record have not been part of that conversation. To the extent that your narrator may have shared uncomfortable details about that person, you may need to consider edits or redactions to protect that person's privacy, especially if they are still alive.

Listen carefully. Make notes as needed, but don’t get distracted by your note taking. Think about the ways in which your narrator’s answers are opening up new lines of inquiry that you hadn’t anticipated. Be prepared to improvise a bit. Ask for clarification of any jargon or spelling of names as appropriate.

If your narrator starts zooming ahead, rushing through topics or time periods for which you have prepared multiple questions (this is a common occurrence, especially near the start of an interview) and you wish to be more deliberate, wait for them to complete their thought and then say, “Thank you for that. Let’s back up a little bit; I want to ask you some specific questions about…”

On the same token, if your narrator has given you a short answer to something that you really want to know about, it’s ok to say, “Tell me more about that.”

This is difficult but important: As you listen, you will need to be thinking about what your next question will be. Do not assume that you will have a follow-up interview, so be sure to ask the questions that you most want answered. As the interview moves forward, it is likely that you will need to recalibrate your interview plan, and perhaps skip some of the items that you have prepared. What is most important though is that you cover the topics that are crucial to your project. Be sure to have a clear sense of these priorities heading into the interview, and lean on them as the interview proceeds. 

Pay attention to your time and, as necessary, inform your interviewee of how time is passing.  At the end of the interview, always ask if there is something important that you haven’t yet touched upon. Generally the answer to this question will be “no,” but sometimes it will be quite the opposite and deeply meaningful.

Back up your interview files as soon as possible, keeping in mind the LOCKSS approach to born digital records: Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe. To this end, consider uploading a copy of your interview to one or more cloud storage locations, while perhaps keeping one or more additional copies on pieces of physical media.

Also be sure to document the specifics of your interview in a central location. This is especially important if the interview is one in a series that you and/or others might be conducting for a larger project. A simple spreadsheet containing the date and location of the interview, narrator’s name, interviewer’s name, interview length, and interview file location can go a long way toward maintaining intellectual control of your work. If there was anything especially noteworthy about how the session went, particularly as concerns potential edits to the recording, make sure to add that as well.

Finally, take the time to touch base with your narrator once the interview has been completed to let them know about any next steps in your process.