Podcasting Q&A

7 tips for conducting better podcast interviews

March 22, 2021 Buzzsprout
Podcasting Q&A
7 tips for conducting better podcast interviews
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

TL;DR
When you have a great interview, it's going to sound like an effortless conversation. You're interested in what your guest has to say, your guest is interested in what you have to say, and everything just flows.

So in this episode we'll share seven tips on how to conduct great podcast interviews and give your audience something worth listening to.

Podcasts with great interviewers


Having trouble finding quality guests for your podcast?

Try PodMatch, a service which uses A.I. to painlessly match ideal podcast guests and hosts together to produce high quality interviews.

Record your podcasting question at Speakpipe.com/Buzzsprout to be featured on a future episode.

Review Podcasting Q&A in Podchaser or Apple Podcasts to let us know what you think of the show.

Sarah:

In today's episode, you'll learn how to conduct great podcast interviews. Welcome to Podcasting Q&A, where you're getting the best tips and strategies to launch, grow and monetize your podcast. Now, when you have a great interview, it's going to sound like an effortless conversation, you're interested in what your guests has to say, your guest is interested in what you have to say, and everything just really flows. So with that in mind, here are some tips on how you can conduct some great podcast interviews, so that you'll give your listeners something worth listening to. Tip number one is to find guests that you're interested in. Now, podcasting is a great opportunity to contact someone that you've admired for a while and have them on your show. Of course, as long as he can speak on a topic that's related to your podcast, finding great guests doesn't mean that they have to be online famous in real life famous or have a ton of accolades. You just want to find somebody who's really compelling, passionate about their topic, and can speak really well. So when you have a guest that you find super interesting, your listeners are going to pick up on it in the way you ask questions, even in the way you're listening, and the way the guest is going to respond to what you're saying. Tip number two is to do your research. Now, nothing turns a guests off more than a host who doesn't know anything about the guest. So do some really basic research, like, go on that person's website and look at their About Me page, maybe their social media profiles, if they have done podcast interviews before, you can even listen to a few just to get a feel for what they really want to talk about and any questions that you may want to ask. Now, that being said, there is such a thing as over researching. So if you do too much research, your conversations might start to get a bit rigid, try to strike a balance between doing enough that you know something about the guest, but not enough so that you still remain curious about that person when you're asking them questions. Tip number three is to practice active listening. Active listening means that you are completely paying attention to what they're saying in the present moment. And if they're on camera, you're looking at them, you're really just focusing on what they're saying, and nothing else. That way, you can pay attention to the guest, they know that you are really interested in what they're saying. And that you can formulate questions on the fly if you need to. Now if the guest is saying something really interesting that you want to get back to make sure you have a notepad handy. So you can scribble down some notes, and then you can get back to it later. Tip number four is to keep your questions clear, and direct. Now there's a reason you invited this guest on is to have them speak on topics that your listener and maybe you are really interested in. So making sure that your questions are really clear and concise, and maybe ones that they haven't heard 1000 times before, is going to ensure that your guest is gonna be more forthcoming with their answers. Tip number five is to listen to great interviews. So go ahead and pull up the interview that you've listened to many, many times before. Or go ask recommendations from your friends. And listen with a critical ear on what makes these interviews so great. Maybe it's the host and their clear and direct questions. Or it's the way that they do follow up questions based on what the guest has said. Now, if you want some great examples of interviews, we're going to leave some links in the show notes. Tip number six is to listen to your own interviews, listen with a critical ear and think about things that you're doing really well that you want to keep doing things that you can improve such as maybe you could have asked questions a different way, maybe some of the ways you're asking questions weren't clear or direct and think of how you can do those differently. So for the final tip, we invited Alex from pod match to share his number one tip on how to be a great podcast interviewer.

Alex:

So to stand out to just become a great interviewer, I found that the number one thing that seems to be the secret for me is doing the prep work on my guests. What that means is really getting to know the guests before I actually hit the record button before I'm actually even having them right in front of me, whether it's remotely or in person is making sure that I really understand who they are. So a great example of this is if they are an author, they're somebody who has a new book out, we're going to talk about that book. I'll actually read the book before I have them on the show. And I think this is such an important thing because most people would never take the time to do that. I'll admit, it is a lot of work. If you can get an audio version, you can get through it fairly quick, maybe while you're in the gym or something like that, I don't know. But regardless, having that done ahead of time really makes you stand out as a host that's really interested in that guests. It shows that you care about what they're going to share. And I find it that really translates well to your audience because they're able to hear not just how well the guest talks about how well you're able to make it flow because you have an idea of the direction and when you're kind of bring it all together right before you're gonna hit record. The last thing that I always recommend to do is don't jump straight into recording or saying, here's the five things we're going to cover. First talk to the other person. Remember, it's to humans, right? It might be kind of nerve wracking to be doing an interview with somebody. But if you can say, Hey, I saw this picture of your kids on Instagram, or I saw this picture of you playing with your dog, and just mentioned that you enjoyed that it really builds an immediate synergy and kind of calms the room, if you will, so that when you hit the record button, you feel like you actually know this person, you have some trust with them. And that translates really well for your audience be able to hear as well. So this is my big tip. And this is something I've done on over 100 episodes of my own show, and I've heard some other podcasters do it. They have me on their shows as well and seems to make a huge difference.

Sarah:

Thanks for listening to Podcasting Q&A. If you have a question you'd like for us to answer on a future episode of the show, head to speakpipe.com/ uzzsprout or click on the link i the show notes and leave a brie audio message Podcasting Q&A is available both video and audio ormat. If you prefer video, please subscribe to the Buzzsp out YouTube channel. And if you d like audio Podcasting Q&A is available in all your favori e podcast apps. That's it for to ay. Thanks for listening and as always keep podcasting

Intro
#1. Choosing guests
#2. Do your research
#3. Active listening
#4. Clear and direct
#5. Listen to interviews
#6. Grade yourself
Alex Sanfilippo