I didn’t play music with him, though.
I played tennis.
So when I heard that he died late last year, I dug out this recording where I tell the story to Dave Drexler, the great DJ from my favorite Jazz Station, KSDS in San Diego.
May we all take McCann’s most famous lyrics to heart, and try to make it real.
Below is a photo from 2015 where he was at our Writer’s Symposium By The Sea.
]]>Earlier this year the San Diego Union-Tribune had me as a guest on its podcast called Name Drop San Diego. They called me a “Journalism Guru” in the headline. The timing of the program was two-fold: 1). the interview Oprah did with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had just been broadcast, and since I literally wrote the book (or a book) about interviewing (you know about my book “Talk To Me,” right? https://amzn.to/3hcUYzD) the hosts wanted my take on how the interview went. Fair enough. I watched the interview and was ready to discuss and evaluate Oprah’s methods. She’s good! 2). Our annual Writer’s Symposium By The Sea was about to occur. Because of the pandemic, the writers we had scheduled agreed to wait until 2022, so the Symposium focused on some of the great writing occurring on the campus where I teach.
Part of what made this podcast so much fun was that one of the hosts, Abby Hamblin, had been a student of mine in our journalism program, and I had several classes with her. Being interviewed by someone I had taught was a great experience.
But what has stayed with me since the podcast was a question Abby asked me. She and her co-host Kristy Totten had already asked me what story I had worked on that was the most bizarre, and that was an easy one — while hiking and backpacking in Tibet I witnessed a ritual that is called a “sky burial.”
The question Abby asked as a follow up, though, is the one that surprised me. She asked me to tell what story I had worked on that had moved me the most. I was surprised at how emotional I got right away, even though the story I described happened 20 years ago.
So this podcast is about interviewing. But it was the interviewer’s unexpected question that took me back to an experience that shook me to my core. So, who was the guru after all?
Here’s the podcast:
]]>I wrote about it in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper last month, and it resonated with their readers. I hope it does with you, too.
]]>Both interviewers were well prepared — good for them! That made the conversation so much more interesting and useful for listeners, in my opinion. They also had completely different applications for great interviews. In my view, the applications are endless — management, leadership, author promotion, podcast, parenting, human resources, financial planning, social work, medicine, journalism, and on and on.
Here’s the Mind Tools blog and podcast: https://www.mindtools.com/blog/expert-interview-dean-nelson/
And here’s the Shaun Tabatt interview: http://www.shauntabatt.com/dean-nelson-how-to-interview-podcast-guests-like-a-pro/
Feel free to contact me if you want to Talk To Me with your own application of these ideas!
]]>Many came because they had heard my interview about the book a few days before on KPBS.
The store sold all of their copies of my book in less than two hours. If you didn’t get one, contact La Playa. More are on the way! Thanks, La Playa!
]]>This time it was Rob’s turn.
I have interviewed Rob Bell twice — once for a magazine a long time ago, and again in 2011 for our Writer’s Symposium By The Sea, just as his book Love Wins was about to come out. You can watch that interview here.
But a couple of weeks ago, I headed up to Los Angeles to record an episode on his Robcast, the wildly popular podcast, and it was great fun. He was prepared! (Which, by the way, is the most important part of the interview! It must be true, because it’s in my book!) He wanted to interview me about my new book, Talk To Me: How To Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like a Pro.
So when you listen to it, listen to how he begins, how he makes it clear he has given thought to our conversation, and the way he brings it home. This guy knows what he’s doing!
I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed talking with him. Listen to it here.
]]>My new book “Talk To Me: How To Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like A Pro” just came out from HarperCollins, and it’s getting some good response! It’s both a practical guide to conducting great interviews, and an inspirational quest for how to talk and listen to one another more effectively. I just taped a podcast about it with Rob Bell, which will air in the next week or so. In January, I was on Donald Miller’s Storybrand podcast. WBUR in Boston just taped a segment about it for the Here and Now program on NPR. San Diego Magazine applied the principles of my book to dating. Lots of applications going on here!
The official launch for the book was at Warwick’s in late February (see photos below). To the more than 70 people who attended that night, THANK YOU! We packed the place out! They ran out of chairs!
People are sending me photos of them reading it on the subway in New York. An interviewer who has done more than 150 podcasts said he was going to completely revamp what he does as a result of reading this book.
If you talk to people as part of your work, this is for you! If you’re a journalist, (or strive to be one) this is ESPECIALLY for you!
One reader told me that his favorite part of the book was when I broke down transcripts of interviews and showed why they went well or why they went badly. The interviews that I deconstruct are Terry Gross of Fresh Air and Gene Simmons of Kiss; David Greene of NPR and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders; Chris Wallace of Fox News and Bill Clinton; and Barbara Walters of ABC’s 20/20 and Mike Wallace of CBS’ 60 Minutes.
This book is about both the art and craft of interviewing!
I’ll be at various conferences and gatherings to discuss the importance of asking good questions in the near future. I hope to see you at some of them!
]]>“No,” he said. “I’m not traveling any more. Give everyone my love.”
He said no too quickly, in my view. I asked if he remembered being on our campus where I interviewed him in 2007 at the Writer’s Symposium By The Sea.
“I remember,” he said.
Still not convinced, I pressed it a little further.
“Do you remember your public smackdown of me in front of that audience?” I asked.
Now he laughed — that raspy, hoarse chuckle.
“I remember it was about Isaiah,” he said.
Yup — he remembered.
You have to see the interview to appreciate how quick on the trigger he was when I was needling him about not traveling with Bono and U2 when he had the chance. The interview is here.
You can’t miss it.
When Fuller Seminary did a short film about Peterson and Bono and their love for the Psalms, the filmmakers couldn’t resist using that great smackdown clip. Here’s their video. My exchange is within the first two minutes.
While Peterson was on our campus, I did a lengthy interview with him for Relevant magazine, too. You can see that here. What I found most remarkable about the magazine interview was what he said about Mystery and Imagination. “We hate Mystery,” he said. “We’re enamored with knowledge.” As for Imagination, he said “Imagination takes us beyond ourselves. There’s not enough of that happening today. I wish the Christian community would honor and commission the poets, musicians, writers, filmmakers, journalists and other masters of imagination as much as it does its preachers and missionaries.”
Traveling mercies to you, Rev. Peterson. Tell Isaiah hello for me.
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