Planning Interviews at Events Without Delays

In short

Decide who you need, what for and how long each person has, before you plan the place.
Pick a quiet, fixed interview spot close to where people already are.
Name one person to bring interviewees and one person who approves what is said and shown.
Interviews are separate from event coverage, so confirm the crew and time they need in your quote.

Plan interviews as their own small schedule, not as extra items squeezed into the programme. Decide who to interview, give each person a short fixed slot, choose one quiet spot, and name who brings people and who approves the result.

Start with who, why and how long

Interviews take time from the crew and from the interviewees, so be clear before you plan anything.

Who: list the people in order of importance, with a backup for each.
Why: what will the interview be used for? A short social post needs different answers from a keynote summary.
How long: agree a short slot per person and a few questions. The interview schedule builder turns this into a printable plan with unresolved items clearly marked.
Where: one fixed, quiet place close to where people already are.

Our event interview filming service covers this work. The rest of this page helps you decide the plan to give us.

Three situations, three different plans

These are illustrations, not real events. They show how the same method changes with the setting.

Speaker interviews at a busy conference

Speakers are usually free only around their own talk. A practical pattern is to schedule each interview just after the session, when the speaker is already near the stage, or before arrival time on the first day.

When	Pros	Watch out for
Just before a talk	Speaker is prepared	Nerves, last-minute rehearsal
Just after a talk	Ideas are fresh, speaker nearby	Next session starting, questions from attendees
Around departure	Longer slot possible	Speaker may leave early

Ask the organiser to mark each speaker’s session time, arrival and departure on the run sheet. Our guide to planning camera coverage around the run sheet shows how to do that, and the conference and convention service page covers the wider event.

Award-winner interviews between presentations

At an awards night, winners leave the stage and return to their tables. A short interview straight after the presentation is natural, but it must not delay the ceremony. Agree a handover point at the side of the stage where a runner meets each winner and walks them to the interview spot. If the order of awards changes, the schedule changes with it.

Who is interviewed, and in what order, is a fairness question as much as a filming one. See capturing award recipients fairly and consistently and awards ceremony videography.

Customer interviews at a trade fair

At a trade fair, the risk is interrupting sales talks and recording claims the exhibitor has not approved. Ask each exhibitor which customer or staff member may be interviewed, when their booth is quietest, and who approves what is said. Hall noise is a real problem, so choose a quieter corner or a closed meeting room. See exhibition and trade-show videography and our sound planning guides for noisy halls.

Who does what

Interviews go wrong when everyone assumes someone else is handling it. Write down:

Interviewee coordinator: finds people and brings them to the spot on time.
Approver: confirms what is said and shown. For public use, this may also be the interviewee.
Crew lead: keeps the schedule and decides when to move on if a person is late.
Programme contact: tells the crew if the running order moves.

The filming and publication responsibilities checklist and our permissions guide explain consent and approval in more detail.

Protecting the programme

Do not film interviews in the main hall while a session is running.
Keep the spot near, not inside, the busiest area.
Set a firm stop time for each person, and a final cut-off for the whole interview block.
Leave gaps. A schedule with no buffer collapses the first time someone is late.
Agree who tells the crew when the programme changes. See coordinating filming with the emcee and stage manager.

What we confirm for your event

Whether one crew covers both the programme and the interviews, or a second operator is needed.
The quiet spot, background and power point the interviews need.
A backup order, so a late arrival does not hold up the block.
The names, questions and approvals we need from you before the day.
When you review the interview edits after the event.

Once you have a draft list of people and a rough programme, send it to us and we confirm what is possible for your date. Interviews can sit as their own line in the quote for event videography, and the number of people and the time they need move the quote: see pricing.

Send us the programme, the people you would like to interview and any areas where filming is restricted. We will suggest where interviews could fit and what we need confirmed first.

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Useful next steps

Planning who films what, and when

Plan event video coverage around time, people and moments that happen together. See the decisions that come first and which guide helps with each one.

Interview filming at your event

Filming interviews with speakers, guests and organisers at your event. How we plan the questions, location and sound, and how permission is agreed before anyone is on camera.

Event interview schedule builder

Plan interview slots at your event around speakers' stage times and crew duties. See clashes, unconfirmed permissions and suggested times, then print.

Creating a filming brief that a crew can use

How to turn a long event programme into a one-page filming brief: priorities, times, places, people and contacts, so a video crew knows what to do on the day.

How to plan video for simultaneous event activities

Two rooms, two courts or two stages at once? Learn how to find recording conflicts first, decide what gets full coverage, and why it changes your quote.

Planning camera coverage around the event run sheet

Match each moment in your event run sheet to a time, a place and the view you need, so the crew knows where cameras and sound must be before each moment starts.

Prioritising moments that cannot be repeated

Decide which moments at your event cannot be filmed again, and mark the shot, the sound and the person responsible for each, so the crew puts its effort in the right place.

Questions people ask

How long should each interview take?

Keep them short and agree the length beforehand. A brief, focused interview is easier to schedule than an open conversation. We confirm what is realistic once we know the number of people, the questions and how quiet your spot is. Allow extra minutes for people to arrive and settle.

Can the same crew film the event and the interviews?

Sometimes, but not at the same moment. If one crew must also film the programme, interviews are placed in gaps. For key moments or many interviewees, a second operator may be needed. We confirm this for each event, based on your programme.

Where is the best place to record interviews?

A quiet spot near the event but away from loud speakers, music and crowds. Check the background, light and power point. Sound matters as much as picture, so we test it. Our venue filming questions checklist helps you ask the venue about suitable corners.

Do we need permission from each person we interview?

You should agree how each person's words and image will be used, and who approves them. Put it in writing where possible. Our permissions guide explains the responsibilities. If the video will be public, ask before filming, not afterwards.

What if an interviewee does not turn up on time?

Build in a buffer and a backup order. Someone should be responsible for finding and bringing interviewees to the spot. If a person is late, the crew moves to the next name on the list instead of waiting, and you decide whether to try again later.

Planning an event? Let’s talk it through.