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Please join us here at 2:30 p.m. ET for our weekly roundtable discussion. We'll be talking about the newly-redesigned CNN iReport Interview section and how you can help interview your favorite stars.
iReport producer Henry Hanks and CNN.com video producer Lauren Ready have been leading the charge on this project and will be here to answer your questions about the iReport Interview. They can tell you what producers look for when they're choosing questions and if we're lucky, they might share some of their favorite iReport Interview moments.
We've also got a couple of fun new assignments we want to tell you about and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Comments will open on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET. We're looking forward to talking with you.
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Hi everyone welcome!
Hi everyone and welcome to today's roundtable.
Sorry I'm running a few minutes late.
Lauren here!! I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys!
Hallo evrebody there!
anyone here
"Your favorite stars". Are they all US Americans?
Welcome JVHill!
@markpel - We are actually working to get more international interviewees, the most recent is Olivia Newton-John - http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/777412
Here are some of the best examples of questions for iReport interviews: http://ireport.cnn.com/blogs/ireport-blog/2011/08/17/top-five-ireporters-tough-questions
Those questions really got the attention of the interviewees. InsideMenace and andyclinton are certainly masters of attention-getting questions.
What sort of things do you look for when you're deciding which questions to use in the interviews?
hhanks, good to hear. Also international stars.
Hi all
I'm curious about that too! I've noticed that some of our contributors have perfected the art of question asking.
@Markpel any stars in particular you would like to see interviewed by the iReporters?
I look for questions that are (a) short (10-15 seconds), (b) energetic, (c) thought provoking to our celebrity, (d) off the beaten path, a question that might solicit an answer we haven't heard before in the media from our celebrity.
I personally always love when kids ask questions, like this one for Michelle Obama: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-740452
And we should probably say @laurenready works with team iReport on the iReport interviews!
hello from Slovenia folks
Hello, everybody.
Greetings @seeitnow @respier
A few more examples from years past: http://ireport.cnn.com/blogs/ireport-blog/2010/12/30/10-memorable-ireport-interviews-for-2010
Slovenia eh? Far out. No pun intended. Love it!
@BritBrit88 asked Aaron Sorkin, the writer of "Social Network" to shed some light on a scene which was cut out of the movie. It's always great when you learn something new from the iReport interview, and that often happens.
dsashin, I don´t know but I think so called stars should be international known.
Lauren is one of the people who get's to go out and do the interviews and show the celebrities the questions.
How do they react when you hand them an iPad?
Stars/celebrities or better still interesting people to interview? lets start at home with Piers Morgan, Anderson Cooper, Fredericka Whitfield, Kyra Phillips, etc.
You can often get questions that the celebrity or newsmaker has never heard before like when @Rajiim asked Nick Lachey about his biggest career regret.
Hey, markpelster. How are you doing?
@PiersMorgan (I say that because he is an iReporter) actually interviewed David Hasselhoff in an iReport interview. (Nancy Grace has as well, in an interview with Chaz Bono.)
What about questions for political leaders of different countries?
Anderson Cooper - done and done! http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/07/17/pkg.anderson.cooper.ireport.cnn
Hi guys! Hope all is well. I'm picking up my kids right now so I'll have to get the updates later. Just wanted to say hi! Take care all!
You never know how a celebrity will react when you hand them an iPad...I was most surprised when Michelle Obama said she wasn't familiar with iPads. So I had to show her how to press play on each one of the videos, and then how to get to the next video. So now, before every interview, I ask the celebrity if they're familiar with iPads. The cast of the Hunger Games laughed at me and said "of course we are!" Most people know how to use it, but there is the occasional celeb who isn't computer savvy. Oh then we have people like Bill Gates, who preferred not to use an iPad and watched the videos on his laptop :)
Line up say the President of Rwanda to see what he has to say about his country's remarkable growth lately. I'd find that very interesting.
hey, everyone
Lauren, how do you decide who will make a good iReport Interview subject?
Respier, hey, thank you, I am fine! How are you?
haven't read everything, but it looks like you're discussing international stars as subjects for iReports, interviews, yes?
Hi everyone. It's a beautiful day here in Vermont. I hope all of you are doing well.
just tossing this out: international soccer stars....these are followed famously throughout the world on every continent....
@wjoreilly we are talking about iReport interviews in general. CNN.com video producer Lauren Ready is answering questions.
Michelle Obama post was great!
Also, if you have more than one question for a celebrity, post multiple videos! We comb through all of the submissions and sometimes we'll send two from the same person and decide in post production which question brought out the best answer from the celebrity. So don't be shy!
By the way, we're proud to have Skype as a sponsor now for iReport interview!
Political leaders and soccer stars could be very interesting.
Interesting that in my coverage of OWS at Zuccotti Park I deliberately steered clear of celebrities. I guess it depends on the context youre in, whether you want to interview or not. I might need training on how to contain myself if I ever was confronted with Halle Berry for an interview lol
.
Soccer star David Beckham has taken iReport questions - but worth looking into more -
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/sports/2011/07/31/ireport.david.beckham.cnn
hhanks, Skype! How much do you get?
Picking celebrity guests is tricky. First and foremost, the celebrity has to be open for an interview. Then we have to decide if the celebrity is well known enough for our community to know who they are, and if our community would want to engage with the celebrity. We've learned a lot from the amount of questions iReporters submit for various celebrities.
@wjoreilly - Who else would you like to interview?
I think it's really interesting to hear what the regular participants have to say at an event like the OWS protests. I know what you mean about the celebrity sitings too. I've had a few fanboy moments in the newsroom.
I guess deciding on a celebrity is quite subjective because by definition a celebrity can be quite controversial. I can just imagine the attention this would bring in both sides if it were Kim K. for example
I'd like to interview Bashar Assad of Syria
@seeitnow - speaking of...
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2009/11/24/kardashian.ebay.store.cnn
Hey guys, jumping in to say hello! Hooray for the iReport Interview.
I am impressed with the celebrity interviews by ChrisMorrow. She has gotten some awesome interviews by celebrities. I don't know how she is so lucky to meet and get all those interviews.
@markpel - It's a testament to the popularity of iReport interview and the sales team at CNN that we have Skype as a sponsor.
seeitnow, if you want interview Assad you should do it very soon. The situation can change very quickly in Syria.
I promised to tell you about two cool new assignments, so I want to be sure to do that before we run out of time.
If you have any more questions for Lauren, go ahead and fire away.
hhanks, thank you for the information.
Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating 60 years on the British throne in June, so we're asking people to share their stories.
If you've met the Queen or any other members of her family we would love for you to post photos and videos and tell us about the experience: http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/776188
#markpel I'm hoping to get that chance one day. I've been in touch with his father in law but it's all pretty sketchy and altogether doubtful. I tried Kim jung Il once and actually got close within a week.
I certainly have to mention the upcoming iReport interview with Olivia Newton-John, as was mentioned before.
http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/777412
And Vinny from "Jersey Shore" - http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/777905
#davidw What Queen? Oh "That" Queen, the one on our currency and stamps. Well she shows up every 10 years or so to see how the "Dominion" is doing but she always declines my invitation to dinner : > (
And on the topic of questions that got a big response, be sure to click on the Drew Brees iReport interview video on the top of CNN.com/interview for a special moment for a young fan of Drew's.
We also want everyone to try their hand at gardening this year and try to grow at least one thing you can eat.
http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/777972
It can be a vegetable garden, some fruit or a basil plant on your window sill.
seeitnow, good luck. You have made great interviews for iReport. One from Napoli I saw on CNN TV.
We definitely learned a lot when Cloris Leachman showed up to answer iReport questions - http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/19/five-things-you-might-not-know-about-cloris-leachman/
Have a great time, ALL!
@seeitnow - in case you missed - http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/12/05/wolf-blitzer-iri-ireport.cnn
#Davidw are you sure, you know what our biggest crop is here where I live I assume : > )
Leachman's visit is pretty legendary. I was on vacation that day and the newsroom was still buzzing about her when I got back.
Thanks David I will try my hand at this assignment and promise to be safe doing it. By the way, my knee is still on the bum.
#markpel I loved that pizza in Napoli. You'll never ever get a finer pizza anywhere, bar none as far as I'm concerned.
Hello! Finally made it :)
Just want to let the CNN team know that the iReport video page does not function properly. That is, when I click the "Share" button, it does not appear (it hides UNDERNEATH the video)
And another international sports star - http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/sports/2011/08/26/rafael.nadal.irpt.intv.cnn
Welcome @LondonEve who has taken part in quite a few iReport interviews!
As for your question, what browser are you using?
I hope you're feeling better soon @thepizzaman. I'll bet you can make some amazing pizza's with homegrown veggies and spices.
#hhanks We can't get enough of Anderson and Wolf so lets do em again! Everywhere I go in the world people always ask about Anderson Copper and Wolf, occasionally they ask me about Henry : > )
I am using Safari. Maybe this is the problem... hahaha
Hi London Eve, thanks for being a regular iReport interview contributor!
Thanks for joining us today Lauren. It was fun talking to everyone.
We'll be back next week, so please invite your friends.
Bye.
@LondonEve - I will bring this up with our development team thank you!
Bye
Thanks Lauren! i love it :)
Also... what is the process like when choosing whose question will get answered? Are there many stages? Do a few people few the questions to decide? Just curious:P
Thanks David. You got that right. You can't beat homegrown veggies and spices. The fresher the ingredients, the better the pizza.
@LondonEve - Every interview is different, depending in large part on where it is taking place. Sometimes it is one person deciding, sometimes more. There is usually just one stage, but when we received a large number of questions for Katharine McPhee at the last minute, we went back and reconsidered. Thanks again for participating!
And P.S. to everyone - this roundtable usually happens every Thursday at the same time so we look forward to seeing you next week!
Darn, I missed this roundtable. Thanks for all the info though because I like doing interview questions.
I missed the roundtable as well but just wanted to say thank you for the compliment on the questions! Seriously. That really meant a lot!
Just read through this all and SOOOOO bummed I missed it but great stuff to know and read, love what the iReport crew and members are doing! As always!
Thanks from me too! I'm sorry I missed being part of the round table. My seventh period class probably needed my attention, though. Just wanted to say that I LOVE being a part of the ireport interviews. Thank you for all of the terrific opportunities!
Hi sorry to be this late can I have the skype account or skype number of iReports please?
JOIN THE COMMUNITY, CAN NOT GET ADD A STORY TO WORK HERE IS THE STORY
POLITICAL ASSYLUM HANDFIELD
Less than a minute ago
waltmickey I REPORT, NEW, MY SYSTEM FLIPING TO HERE
HERE IS THE NEWS WORTHY STORY
POLITICAL ASSYLUM, CITIZEN SOUGHT TO BE KILLED/MAIMED IN USA BY UNKNOWN GROUP KNOWN TO DEPT OF DEFENSE NO NAMES LEGAL
ADDED DISCUSSION, WITH BIN LADEN, HILARY CLINTON GROUP 'UNKNOWN OF DEPT OF DEFENSE' ARE TRYING TO MAIME AND KILL A PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES THRU ELECTRONIC DEVICES' I WILL FOLLOW HER, SHE IS TRYING TO LEAVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR HER LIFE AND HER LIFE OF HER BROTHERS. FOMERLY, SHE WAS AN ARMY EXPERIMENTAL LAB RAT, FT DIX, NO KNOWLEDGE NO CONSENT, SHE IS BEING USED AGAIN, 'USA BETRAYED HER', SHE WILL BE WEARING ON HER BACK PACK BLOODY TENNIS SHOES SHE WAS DENIED HEALTH CARE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE UNKNOWN GROUP IS KNOWN TO OBAMA AND PRESIDENT BUSH, IN HER EARLIER YEARS SHE KNEW GEORGE W. BUSH 1970S., HOPEFULLY, SHE WILL MAKE IT TO BALTIMORE WASHINGTON AIRPORT, IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, TO MAKE 'HER SAFETY FLIGHT TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION OF STATES FOR HER LIFE' USA IS TRYING TO KILL HER AND MAIME HER. LAST NAME IS HANDFIELD, MARION. FEMALE. I WILL TRY TO GET PICTURE OF THE BACK PACK AT BWI, FRIDAY APRIL 28, 2012, SHE IS CHASED BY THIS UNKNOWN GROUP FOR YEARS, 24/7 ALL YEAR, THEY STEAL ALL FROM HER, AND ALL IDENTIFICATION CARDS, MONIES, ETC., DEPT OF DEFENSE WANTS HER, WHY? NO ONE KNOWS., SHE STATED "DICTATED/FORCED/COHERSED/HARMED/KILLED IN USA'. IT IS NOT SAFE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SHE IS LEGAL SHE KNOWS HER PERPATRATORS, SHE WILL TELL ALL IN RUSSIA. TRY TO GET HER PICTURE. MS. HILARY CLINTON STRIKES AGAIN, LIKE BIN LADEN. DO TO OTHERS THINGS NO ONE WANTS TO KNOW., SHE DID NOTHING TO DESERVE THIS. XENA IN THE FEDERATION OF STATES (RUSSIAN) CITIZENSHIP/POLITICAL ASSYLUM KNOW OF THE SITUATION.
THIS IS POLITICAL ASSYLUM FOR HER LIFE.