Knowing how busy people are I started to contact people about an interview early October. I focused on people who I knew and had been involved in casting with an objective to find out what they looked for and how much they knew about personal branding. I contacted 6 people who I knew and 3 were a referral. I felt the 9 people would give me a rounded view e.g. they were from different areas of my professional practice and 2 were professionals in Personal Branding. The initial response was good; all but 1 got back to me straight away and said they would be happy to help. I was extremely please however reality soon hit home when I tried to pin them down with a date. Getting a mutually agreed time when people could meet became a nightmare. Three months before Christmas is not a good time to try and get people to meet you. They are either really busy on a contract or working miles away from home. This was a big time management challenge and I had to be persistent without being pushy or seen to be nagging. I found this really frustrating and soon became quite worried about time scales and the impact it might have on my research timetable.
So far I have managed to interview four people:
· An experienced Actor who now coaches
· A choreographer
· A company branding professional
· A colour Analyst
The four interviews I have completed to date were extremely useful. I used a semi structured approach as I knew I wanted everyone to answer certain questions but also wanted the freedom to digress if appropriate. I prepared the same thing for all of my interviews;
· Final confirmation on time and place
· I sent a copy of the type of questions before hand
· Printed a consent form for them to sign
· Had pen, spare pencil, paper, tape recorder, spare batteries, phone, copy of questions, contact details, map of venue and appropriate clothing.
Despite best intentions each interview had its challenges;
· The skype interview had technical challenges and resulted in a telephone call
· The interview in a coffee shop was very noisy and the recoding picked up a lot of background noise
· My recorder memory was full and I did not want to delete the content so I had to take notes
· I realised I don’t know how to use the recorder on my tab
· The notes that were taken for me, I couldn’t read their writing
· I arrived at a venue realising that I didn’t know what the person looked like so ended up smiling at everyone who walked into the coffee shop until someone asked if I were Pearl!
Reflecting on this exercise there are a few things I would do differently:
· I would identify a bigger pool of potential people to interview knowing now how difficult it is to get some of their time.
· I would be even more persistent about chasing them. Hoping that I don’t cross the line.
· I would make sure I had sufficient space on my recorder
· I would learn how to use the functions on my tab
· I will add to my check list “make sure you know what the person looks like you are interviewing”
I found the interviews a really rewarding part of the research and during one of the interviews I had an observer who gave me some feedback. If you have never been observed I can highly recommend it. I do things that I didn’t have a clue about. When I get over enthusiastic I have a tendency to interrupt people before they have finished either to contribute to what they are saying or to ask yet another questions. If you have taped your interviews try listening to it and see what you do.
As my end date has changed I am continuing to chase some of my original list and I have also widened the pool to include a couple of performers who I know have knowledge and received some education on personal branding at college. I hope this will be useful when I write up my final conclusions and give me the rounded views I had hoped for.
