The difference between a good podcast interview and a not-so-good podcast interview isn’t a lot. It is in the minor things that the podcast host takes care of when identifying a guest, communicating with them, and then bringing them on the interview.
In this episode, we will discuss 7 such rarely discussed podcast interview tips that can help you make a good interview podcast.
Tips to create the best Interview Format Podcast
If you didn’t listen to my last episode on the 12 podcast interview tips to create a better interview podcast, then I would recommend that you listen to it first, because that will help you understand some of the basics that you need to keep in mind when creating an interview format podcast.
The below 7 tips are something that I have put together based on my experience with running interviews. I am not a perfect interviewer, but throughout my journey, I keep learning how to create better interviews.
These tips are often ignored or, not discussed but can be very crucial.
Let us look at these 7 tips that will help you create the best interview format podcast.
Pick Good Podcast Guests
The difference between a good interview podcast and a not-so-great one is in the kind of Podcast guests that you invite to your show.
Remember that the podcast guests that you are inviting to your show should be aligned with your niche and what you are trying to communicate to your audience.
Podcast guest matching services like Podmatch and Matchmaker.fm make some decent matching, yet they might not be the best matches.
So it is your responsibility to ensure that you are doing your part to vet your guests and see if they have anything that is of value to you and your audience.
I invited Brendan Kumaraswamy to my show sometime back. If you look at his background, you might think that he isn’t a fit for a podcasting-related show.
But when I did my part of the research I found that there is a lot of value that he can offer to podcasters and hence I brought him on the show. And that episode turned out to be the second most downloaded episode until today.
Background Research
Always spend some time doing background research on your guests. There are a few things that researching can help with –
- Learn if the guest is a good fit for the show
- Make notes about what kind of questions they have been asked and prepare your questions accordingly
- What are topics that they are experts on and how you can use their expertise?
- How is their presence on social media and other channels and will you be able to take the help of their network to find a newer audience and other prospective guests
- How engaging they are in terms of conversations.
- Learn more about their works
Research helps ensure that you are bringing in guests who fit your niche and our podcast’s objective.
Work on how you can use Your Guest’s Expertise
Often times we come across guests who might not look the best fit for your show at the outset.
Their expertise might not necessarily be in the same field as that of yours.
And it is normal for us to think that they might not be a good fit for our show.
But that isn’t how it works.
If you spend a few hours thinking through how you can use their expertise in your niche, you will be able to get guests from the varied background onto your show and your audience will enjoy it.
In the example that I spoke about earlier, Brendan is an expert in Public speaking and is a public speaking coach.
So superficially he might not look like the best guest for a podcasting tips-related show.
But as podcasters, some tips and advice on public speaking can always be helpful. From that perspective, Brendan was the best fit.
And he proved to be an amazing guest with all of the golden nuggets that he shared on the show.
From my podcast’s perspective, guests who are experts in systems, time management, interpersonal skills, etc. are all a good fit.
The only thing I need to do is spend some time to see how they will fit into my show and how can I extract value from them.
Have a Pre-interview Process
When you are starting off, I would recommend having a pre-interview process.
This will help in 3 things –
- You will be able to build a rapport with the guest if the guest is relatively new to you and vice versa
- You will be able to give your guest a brief about the expectation from the interview, about your show, and yourself. This will ensure that the guest is prepared and comfortable for the interview
- Provide an outline to the guest about the kind of questions you are planning to ask them
The only thing you need to ensure is that this pre-interview process is not more than 5-10 minutes.
Pre-wire Your Guests
One of the things that there is a lot of discussions around is – if you should send the list of questions to your guests.
My recommendation is “Yes”, you should.
Even if you don’t want to send the list of questions, you can at least send them an outline of what are the questions that you are planning to ask.
All of us are into multiple things and when we are doing multiple things, it isn’t easy for us to recollect things from the past.
The last thing you would want on the show is for a guest to be lost and sound blank when you ask them a question.
When you send your guest a list of questions, they will at least be prepared with their responses. They will keep a list of timelines and note able achievements that they would want to share on the show.
Your list of questions will help brief your guests about what is going to happen on the show.
This is a practice I follow and I recommend it.
Record Your Intro later
I am not a fan of a 5-minute introduction of the guest on the show while he/she is sitting there staring at the screen.
A lot of guests can feel really uncomfortable with this if they aren’t prepared for it and aren’t sure about how to respond to such intros.
Hence I would recommend that you record the intro later and mix it into your show rather than doing it online with your guest.
There are a lot of varying thoughts around this but this is my perspective.
Minimize distractions
Keep distractions away for the duration of the interview. Mobile phone ringing, door opening, and your pet’s joining the interview can all be distractions and can break the thought flow of your guest.
It can be distracting to your audience as well.
So those were 7 rarely discussed tips for conducting better interviews and creating the best interview format podcast.
Thank you for Joining
Thank you for joining me on the show today.
I hope you found value in these tips that shared about creating the best interview format podcast.
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Recommended Resources for Podcasting
Here are some tools and resources that I recommend for podcasting. These are the ones that I personally use and am satisfied with and hence am recommending them.
- Acast Podcast hosting – Acast is my favorite podcast hosting company. They have excellent customer support, have a pocket-friendly plan, and even have a free option with no limits.
- Behringer Audio Interface – You will need an audio interface if you are using an XLR microphone. This is my recommended audio interface.
- Zencastr – Zencastr is the easiest option to record interviews, both audio-only and audio+video. This is a must for an interview podcast. Go to zencastr.com/pricing and use my code “thepodu” You’ll get 30 percent off your first three months of Zencastr professional.
- Audacity – This is the best and the most feature-rich free audio editing software. It gives you a lot of options while editing your interviews.
- Blue Yeti USB Microphone – My recommended microphone
- Tidycal – My recommended calendar and booking solutions
- Fusebox – Embeddable Podcast Player
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