Comments on: Tips for Scheduling Video Interviews

By: Sonia

Sonia — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:30:58 +0000

This website was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally
I have found something which helped me. Many thanks!

By: 5 Tips for Scheduling Video Interviews | FilmmakerIQ.com

5 Tips for Scheduling Video Interviews | FilmmakerIQ.com — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:55:19 +0000

[…] Shooting Video interviews for a documentary or corporate video is an essential skill for the video professional – here are a few tips to make it more manageable. I recently finished production on a project where scheduling became a bit of a nightmare. Very busy … […]

By: Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:19:45 +0000

In reply to Stephen Pritchard. Great tips Stephen. Thanks.

By: Stephen Pritchard

Stephen Pritchard — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:12:43 +0000

Send regular reminders to people who’ve agreed to take part. Not too many (2-3 is usually enough) and try to make each email different, maybe adding more detailed instructions as the day nears. Just resending the same info is counterproductive.

Calendar invites are helpful too if the recipient can use them.

As a producer make sure your contact numbers are on the emails, and that you stress they can call: especially important for non professional talent who are often terrified.

A quick prep call can also put the guest’s mind at rest and reduce the chance of no shows. I often use Skype for that so people don’t have to call long distance.

By: Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:05:24 +0000

In reply to PodcastSteve. Thanks for sharing the tip Steve.

By: PodcastSteve

PodcastSteve — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:39:20 +0000

All good suggestions, Ron. I would just add the suggestion that for those of us working with very limited staff resources to handle scheduling need a more automated solution. There is a free site called Timebridge.com that you can set up to synch with your Outlook calendar. Visitors to your calendar page only see your free/busy time, not your actual appointments, but they can suggest up to five meeting times that fit your free space and their own. You get a message asking you to confirm one of the times, and when you do, it places the appointment on all parties’ calendars. You can also send out a meeting notice to multiple participants regardless of the calendar system they use. You choose five times, enter the emails of all the invitees, and TimeBridge collects the responses and tells you the most optimal time for all participants. Big timesaver!