A deposition is sworn, transcribed, out-of-court testimony taken during discovery, and under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure it is governed principally by Rule 30, which sets a presumptive limit of one day of seven hours, requires objections to be stated concisely and non-suggestively, and permits an instruction not to answer only to preserve a privilege, enforce a court-ordered limitation, or present a motion to terminate. This guide covers the full arc for both audiences: for lawyers, the mechanics of noticing, taking, and defending depositions, the objection taxonomy and why form objections exist at all, Rule 30(b)(6) organizational depositions and the duty to prepare a designee, errata practice, and the use of transcripts at trial under Rule 32; for witnesses and business owners, a plain-English account of what the day looks like and a set of rules for answering that hold up under pressure. It also maps the territory beyond the federal rules - deposition practice in arbitration, where depositions are the exception rather than the default, and the meaningful variations in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Colorado. Throughout, the emphasis is practical: what actually happens in the room, what the transcript will look like six months later, and which decisions genuinely change outcomes. Hypotheticals are invented and illustrative, and the guide closes with working checklists, an FAQ, and cross-references to the rest of the UpLaw deposition library.