This is a great question. She obviously planned the interview ahead of time by having good questions ready. She knew what she wanted to learn more about and was sure to ask pointed questions about it. This particular question is interesting since only an elderly person like James can answer it. I think that it is a question that few people think about but everyone is interesting in the answer once they hear it. The interviewer is a great listener and she doesn't assume that she knows the answer even though she knows her grandfather well.

This is a big question. She uses the technique of asking easy questions and deeper ones. By asking about things from his past, easy questions and then asks this more philosophical ones, she helps the interview be relaxed but interesting. This is a good technique as far as mixing the more simple and more deep questions.

Without asking any questions, she is able to get Oshea to talk about his feelings by listening well and simply commenting a little based on his responses. This is good, but I think that if she had asked a question or two, it could have been even more interesting. I would suggest a question like: How do you deal with challenges in your daily life? How have you changed since your time in jail? I think that a mix of question/answer and non-planned conversation is the best technique for my interview.

This is a conversation and not an interview, so it is an interesting comparison with other classic interviews. There are no questions asked, but the two have a history together, so they talk about their relationship. Mary did a good job not answering for him, interrupting or assuming that she knew what he wanted to say since she knew so much about him. This may be helpful to me as I interview my coach, since I will be asking questions, but I can also be open to the conversation. It doesn't have to involve questions only. We can chat about things too.