<p>hmmmm. . . my lady is coming to my house. Is that okay? Do we go in the kitchen or the living room? She won't make me play the piano or something awful, will she? I'm nervous!</p>
<p>Don't be nervous! I just had my interview a few days ago =) Choose the place that you're most comfortable in and isn't too distracting. I highly doubt she'll make you perform an exhibition, but if she does and you're too nervous, just very politely mention that you're out of practice, and perhaps she'd want to hear more about your participation in piano and music. Gently nudge the interview in the direction that you want it to go. The interviewers aren't inquisitors; you don't have to do or say anything you don't want to as they can't force anything.</p>
<p>True enough, and most EC's I know work very hard to generate a relaxed atmosphere for the interview. I would be highly unlikely to ask anything to put the candidate ill-at-ease (exception: on those very rare cases when I think the candidate is making stuff up, I can press harder).</p>
<p>As to gently nudging the interview in the direction that you want it to go, that only works partway. The interview is generally a relaxed chat. But if I see the candidate working really hard to change it into a series of prepared speeches, or veer away repeatedly from what appears to be a normal topic of conversation, I do get curious.</p>
<p>Example (exaggerated beyond recognition for effect):
Me: "So you tell me that you've been in the marching band for 3 years, what instrument do you play?"
Candidate: "Would you like to see my collection of bottlecaps?"
Me: "Ummm... Maybe later.... So, what do you do with the marching band?"
Candidate: "Did I mention that my favorite color is fuschia?"</p>
<p>If I only had the most casual curiosity about marching band before, and did not really care about it, now I am fully interested in finding out more about it. Steering has to be done very gently, or it can backfire badly.</p>