On-stand interviews: questions, sound, subtitles

When an interview on the stand is worth it

An interview is worth it whenever someone can say something that pictures alone cannot show: why a product was developed, what a customer achieves with it, why a distributor chose to represent your brand. At a trade fair these people are in one place, often for the only time that year. That makes your stand a good location, despite the noise.

Typical interviewees are your managing director, product leads, existing customers, distributors and partners from other countries. Their statements later appear in the 90-second trade fair film, in short social clips or as a stand-alone testimonial. A few minutes of interview often produce several edits.

For exhibitors travelling to Germany from the Gulf, Asia or the US, the show is also the easiest moment to film European customers and partners who are hard to reach otherwise.

The questions: open, short, in the right order

Good interview questions cannot be answered with yes or no. They start easy and then get more specific. This order works well:

1. Who are you and what do you do in the company?
2. Why are you at this show?
3. What are you showing here for the first time?
4. What problem does it solve for your customers?
5. How have visitors reacted so far?
6. For customers: why do you work with this company?
7. What should someone who does not know you yet understand?
8. What happens after the show?

Two rules make the edit easier. First, ask the person to include the question in the answer, speaking in full sentences, because the question itself will be cut. Second, wait two seconds of silence after each answer. The best sentence often comes then.

Send the questions a few days ahead, but not scripted answers. Memorised lines sound stiff on camera.

Questions to avoid

• Double questions such as: what is new and who needs it? The answer gets long and hard to cut.
• Leading questions such as: aren't you excited too? The answer sounds ordered.
• Figures that have not been cleared. Sales numbers or volumes in a film need internal approval first.

Sound: the biggest challenge in the hall

Exhibition halls are loud. Speakers on the next stand, announcements, conversations in the aisle, machines running. Pictures can often be rescued in the edit; bad sound rarely can. That is why sound comes first.

• A clip-on microphone on the speaker's clothing, not just the camera microphone.
• Direction: the speaker stands with their back to the loudest noise source, so the microphone faces away from it.
• Timing: shortly after the doors open or late in the afternoon, when it is quieter.
• Location: a corner of the stand, a meeting room or a back wall that gives some shelter.
• Small things: phones on silent, jewellery and badges away from the microphone, your own stand music turned down for a few minutes.

A quick test recording checked on headphones shows immediately whether the background is too strong. It takes a minute and saves trouble later.

Picture: background, eye line, light

The background should show where the interview takes place: the stand wall with your logo, the product, a busy stand (booth). It should not distract. Visitors walking directly behind the speaker's head or a flickering screen pull attention away from the face.

The speaker usually looks slightly past the camera at the person asking the questions. That feels like a conversation and takes the pressure off. For short social clips a direct look into the lens can make sense; decide that in advance. Hall lighting is often flat or has a colour cast, so a small light to one side of the face makes a clear difference.

Standing is usually more natural on a stand than sitting. Allow about fifteen minutes per person, including fitting the microphone, a test and two takes.

Subtitles and languages

Most interview clips are started without sound, so subtitles are not an extra but a requirement. For international exhibitors there is also the language question. Let each person speak in the language they are most confident in. A fluent sentence in Arabic with English subtitles comes across better than a hesitant sentence in English.

At Pixer we conduct interviews in English, German, Arabic and Persian and deliver subtitles in those languages. For the subtitles, keep in mind:

• Send names, job titles and product names in writing beforehand so the spelling is right.
• Add a name caption with the job title the first time each person appears.
• Use burned-in subtitles for social media and a separate subtitle file for YouTube and your website.

For several markets at once, read our guide to multilingual subtitles.

Consent and the show-day routine

Anyone interviewed has to agree to the recording and the planned use, ideally in writing. That matters most for customers and partners who are not part of your company. A simple template and practical notes are in our guide to consent for on-stand interviews.

Schedule interviews at fixed times and give each interviewee a contact on the stand who brings them to the spot. Customers have full diaries at a show. Someone booked for 10:30 is more likely to turn up than someone asked to drop by at some point. Interviews are included in the Full Day package and can be added to smaller packages together with a 90-second film for €190. See our testimonial video service for more.

The short version

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Common questions