Preparing for a Nervous Subject
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A subject who has never been interviewed before often carries a nervousness that has little to do with the actual content of the conversation and everything to do with the unfamiliar situation itself. Anticipating this, and adjusting the pace accordingly, tends to produce a far better sitting.
Simple measures help considerably: explaining what will happen before it happens, starting with genuinely easy questions, and resisting the urge to fill early silences that are really just a nervous subject gathering their thoughts rather than struggling to answer. A little extra warmth in these first exchanges tends to pay for itself many times over later in the sitting.
Patience shown early in the sitting is usually repaid later, once the nerves have settled and the subject begins answering more naturally. Rushing a nervous subject early tends to keep them guarded for the remainder of the conversation. A subject who feels rushed early rarely fully recovers their composure for the remainder of the conversation.