← The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
E621 - Practical Steps for Hosting Great Podcast Guests - Guest to Great, Maximizing Your Podcast Experience
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Hey, welcome to the how to Podcast series. It's Dave. We're doing a three part little mini series around podcast guesting and being the host of a podcast where you have guests. We're going to talk from the podcaster's point of view, bringing guests on the show. We're going to talk about being a guest and what you need to do and then kind of a wrap up summary of both. Glad you're here. It's our little mini series we're talking about. Great. To guests maximizing your podcasting experience. Hey, glad you're here. Okay, so I am the host of multiple shows including this show right here, the how to Podcast series. I have eight other podcasts as well combined. At the point of time of recording, I have around 2000 episodes total and I would say almost half of them would be interviews. So with over a thousand episodes roughly of interview time on the mic with guests, I've developed a few things that I've learned over this period of time. So if you're new to being a host of an interview based podcast, I got a lot of information for you beyond this as well, and I'm happy to share anytime. HowToPodcast CA is my link. My calendar is right there. If you want to Talk Interview Basics 101 with somebody who's been doing this for a while, I'd love to help you. Some of my shows are all interview based and I don't have any solo episodes at all. Happy to share any for everything I've learned and kind of walk through it with you and help you to come up with the right path for you and your show, keep that in mind. But I want to talk to you as a podcast host. Whether this is going to be your first interview coming up this week and you've never done this before, or you've got a thousand interviews in the tank and you want to get better, this episode's just for you. I want to focus on the idea that we as podcast hosts owe it to our guests to do our best to make them look amazing and sound amazing on our show. That's our commitment to our guests. You're going to hear people in podcasting and say, editing is not important, don't edit, just record, post it as is. I don't think we do our, our guests a great service by doing that. Sometimes our guests come on, they're nervous, they're new, they've never been a guest before and they're cautious and they might make mistakes and we can make them sound better. So, so this whole idea of I'm just going to record it and post it as is, I think it's tired, it's weak, it's bad. I personally for my shows, I would say it's bad advice and I would encourage you to do a little bit more work than the most easiest route possible because your guest is going to sound better, your audience is going to be more engaged, you cut out all the fluff, all that extra stuff that doesn't need to be there and you have a better product. At the end of the day, everything is better with editing. Keep that in mind. Hosting great podcast guests I think elevates your episode and builds meaningful connections without draining your energy as a podcast host. In this episode of our little mini series Guest to Great, we're going to be outlining some practical low stress steps for pre interview prep, smooth recording and smart post interview follow up. Let's start at the beginning when we start getting these emails from PR agencies and podcast guests looking to reach out to us. Again. I prefer pod match as a great starting point. We'll talk about that more coming up. But this pre interview prep time is very important and again I'm hearing podcast gurus tell us that this isn't important. And I actually heard one guru say that a pre interview prep is a waste of time. A stupid waste of time was the quote. And that person I would like to say is what I would call wrong because I think there's a lot of value in pre pre screening pre conversing with your guest. It's going to help your podcast to connect better. So that's my personal opinion. You can come at me if you wish, but I think there's a value in pre interview prep. Talk about it. So as you for you as a podcaster, having interview based podcast or you have interviews on your show, start with targeted outreach to attract your the best guest for your show. Create a short personalized email highlighting the benefits of your podcast and why your podcast would be great for a person to be a guest on and keep that as a as something that you can use in the future. Copy paste, but tailor it. Don't just mass email people, tailor the the emails. The reach out the initial contact specific to the guests that you're trying to connect with. A super easy way to find your next guest is to listen to other podcasts. I know that sounds extremely brand new and earth shattering, but when somebody is a guest on podcast, generally if the host is doing their job, they're going to have in the show notes all the Contact information for the guest. So you get to hear the guest and you get to basically pre screen the guest listening to somebody else's show where they are a guest on that podcast. All their contact information is there. You have everything you need. You know they're guesting because they're a guest on that show and you get to listen to how they formulate their answers, how they interact with the hoax. And you can start weeding out people that you feel might be good for your show and maybe who might not be by simply listening to podcasts. So pick podcasts in your genre, in your topic, in your area, from your community that talk about what you talk about. So for me, for this show, I'm going to listen to shows that are podcasts about podcasting and I'm going to listen to the guests if they have them, and I'm going to listen to the host and I'm going to listen to the conversation and I'm going to pre screen before I even reach out to anybody. Hey, I heard you on so and so's podcast. I love to have you come over to my show. I would like to talk about this side of the conversation. I'm not looking to repeat what you did on that show. I want to talk about something new. Can we go in this direction? And I'd love to have you on the podcast. All the information is there. You don't have to go searching for them. Look at the show notes, click the link, reach out to them and invite them on your show and acknowledge the fact that you found them and how you found them. It's really a great step. Super simple. Listen to other podcasts. I know you're busy, I get it. Yeah, so am I. But my podcast is worth the effort. So go listen to them on other podcasts. It works great for me as a podcast host, I one of my shows is Living the Next Chapter. It's an author podcast. I don't read every book from every author guest. I have in three years, 740 episodes. There's no way I can read 740 books in that time frame. So that's, that's a full time job. That's more than a full time job. So I can't do that. So I do my research. I spend about 30 to 60 minutes reviewing their most recent work. I try to pick up on a couple things, some key achievements or if they've won an award, if their book has done really well when their book was released, all those kind of things. And I try to find something Personal, a shared hobby, something they post on their socials, something that if they've posted it, they're probably proud of it. They're probably something we wanted people to comment on. So pick up on that. Go look at their Instagram, go look at their website, go look at their LinkedIn, whatever it is, go to their substack, sign up for their substack, be part of their community and pay attention to what they're paying attention to. And I love the idea of a pre call. Now, not everybody does this, and I understand it's a big time thing to do this for you and your guest, but I have found the moment I stopped doing pre pre calls, the quality of my conversations started to dip. So for me and in my podcast, from my opinion, from my perspective, a pre call has been the underlying reason for access successful podcast episode with my guest. I've seen more success through pre calls than I have without. Now. Your mileage may vary. Whatever works for you, works for you. And I can't influence you any way possible. You need to do what you can do with the time you have. But if you have time, I find that a pre call, it really helps to put your guest at ease. Many of my guests have never been a guest on a podcast ever before. This is their first time ever recording an episode. And I think as podcasters, we forget that we do this so often that it's just almost second nature for us. But somebody coming on your screen for the first time who has no idea what even a podcast is, and you throw them into the recording, 10 seconds in it, it takes a while for them to warm up in the conversation. A pre call solves all that. Pre call also lets you pre qualify your guest for their sound quality. And if video is important for how they show up on camera, you get to see it all without even asking to fill out a single form. And it helps them to kind of understand the tone of the show. You get to talk about your audience, you get to talk about the. The who they're going to be talking to as a guest. I find that if my, I always ask my guest if they have any questions before they come on the show and if they don't ask me about my audience, that's a flag for me. That's a flag because if they're coming on to promote a course or a book or a thing and they don't care to ask about who my audience is, makes me kind of go, hmm, are they here for themselves? Are they here to bring value to my audience? So if they don't ask, I tell them who the audience is so that they know how to tailor their responses and they know how to engage with my audience. So that's my job, to make sure that they know who we're talking to. I think that these pre calls show a sign of respect and it helps your, your guests to be more comfortable and ease with you. And I have not had anybody complain about a pre call with over a thousand episodes. So I know it's a big ask, but I think your audience is worth it. So keep that in mind. And then also tell them when you send them the recording link, how long you're going to be talking to them, how long the interview is going to be. Have the conversation about audio and video. Not all of your guests might want to be on video. You need to know that, make sure you understand how to pronounce their name. All of these things can happen in the pre interview prep so that you don't look like you're unprepared when you go to the recording date. Pre interview prep is paramount, in my opinion, as a podcaster. For a better podcast episode. That's my opinion. I'm sticking to it. That's why I created this show. So there you go. The next part is when we do the actual recording of the episode. I want you to imagine having a house party. You invite all your friends over, maybe some strangers come as well, friends of friends. And you have this house party, right? What do you do? You set out all the food, you make everything comfortable. You have everything in order, you have everything in place. Music's right, everything's cool, right? You set up the vibe for the room. As podcasters, we gotta do the exact same thing. We gotta set up the tone, the vibe for the room. How does this feel? When you come in as a guest on my show, I want you to feel welcomed. I don't want you to feel stressed. I don't want you to see me wrestle with technology, pushing buttons and getting frustrated. I need to know what I'm doing on this end of the mic, on this end of the camera so that you don't feel stressed. When you're fumbling around trying to figure out how to start a zoom call or how to hit record, and you look distracted, your guests, their anxiety level goes up a couple notches. Be prepared, know your tools. That's your job as the host. You set the tone. We talk about this in the podcast as well. We talk about mirroring and that however you show up, your guest is going to either rise to your level or lower themselves to your level. So if you come in soft and quiet and they're a loud, boisterous person, they're going to bring themselves down to match your energy. If you come in really hot and heavy and high and they're a low, quiet person, they're going to come up a little bit. Maybe not all the way, but they're going to mirror you to some degree. So you set the tone. I like to tell podcasters when I work with them, you go through the door first. Don't make your guests go through the door and you follow. You're the leader, so, so lead. Don't let your guest lead you. You lead your guest. So definitely make sure that you have this in place as you're setting up the actual recording of your episode. Create a relaxed vibe right from the start. Begin with some off mic, warm up chit chat, talk again. Even if you've done a pre interview like I do, just catch up with them. Hey, is there anything updated since the last time we talked? Anything you want to make sure we cover today and then walk them through it again one more time. At the beginning episode, we're going to talk to authors. We're going to switch from author focus to reader focus. I'll give you time at the end for us to talk about your website. I have your website on the screen while we're chatting, so I might refer to your website, but I'll set it up so that you understand what I'm talking about. But let them know this is kind of where we're going. Nobody gets on a bus that has no destination written on the inside on the sign above. It's just some random bus. Nobody's going to get on that. They want to know. This bus goes downtown. Great that I'm looking for the downtown bus, not the bus that takes me to the university. People are looking for direction. Give it to them and make sure they understand how the podcast is going to work. No surprises, no gotcha moments. Definitely focus on that. Remind them who the audience is. When you're recording your podcast with your guest, listen actively. Here is where most podcasters, new interview based podcasts and podcasts have been doing this for a long time. This is where the wheels fall off. Podcasters don't listen enough and they're not listening actively. They're fussing around with other stuff. They're, they're, they're playing with things. They're not paying attention to the person. Your complete attention. Phone, put away. Focus on the person When I watch live streams, which I won't call them live podcasts, live streams, the. The host is so enamored by the chat that they forget they have a guest. And it's very frustrating. Oh, Bob. Bob made a comment in the chat. That was funny. Bob. Good one. Oh, yeah. So what were we talking about? If you're distracted as a host, your audience is distracted as a listener. So focus your attention. Pay attention to the person who's given you the honor of their time to be a guest on your show and be present for them and actively listen. I like to aim for a 70, 30% talk ratio between them and you. 70% my guest, 30% me. Not 50, 50, not 60% me. 40% my guest. I've seen podcasters who. It's like 90% the host, 10% the guest, and the guest just sits there quietly while the host goes on and on and on about themselves. And the guest is not even required. Do a solo episode. Don't have a guest if you're going to talk the most of the time. 70, 30 split. 70 guest, 30 host is a good. A good benchmark, I would say, for your interviews and paraphrase their points. This helps so you can come in with. After they finish something and you feel like it's kind of been a longer winded answer, you can come in and say, so what I'm hearing you say is this. Is that right? Okay, so. And then continue from there. This helps to deepen those insights and affirm them and encourage them. Don't let the answer go by without giving some kind of acknowledgement or comment and a response. Don't simply just move on all the time. And also for you as a host, record in a quiet space. We've talked about this before and make sure that you have tested your gear, you understand how the platform works, you understand all the buttons, you know what to do when things go wrong. And when you're done, the interview end on a positive note. Thank them and note one standout moment with them, whether that's in the recording or afterwards. Just you and them and let them know how the episode's going to end. This is great for you. One little bonus tip for you here, and this has come up recently with podcast hosts. When you're interviewing your guest and you ask them a question and they answer, don't comment on the answer that they just gave you without having a question also attached to your comment. So you ask me about where I went to university and I tell you, and then you start talking about the fact that your friend went to that university and you don't have a question. You just comment about the fact that you have a relationship now. So that gives me the door to keep talking about my university instead of answering your next question so you can say my brother went to that school. That's great. So tell me more about how you took your education and you took turn it into your career. Now you've added a question to your comment. Don't leave the comment just there. The comment encourages the person to elaborate even more more than you want them to. Podcast hosts lose control of the episode when you become more of a commentary than a question. So don't forget the question. You can comment, but don't leave a comment hanging there. Always add a question to the end of it to take us to the next point. When you make a commentary, you open the door for long winded answers, extended dance mix answers that really, I don't know, value to the audience. If you're going to comment, always include a question. That's the key to keep the podcast episode moving forward in the conversation, moving in a certain direction. No question and just a comment. You're opening the door to anything to happen. Please be careful with that. Lastly, we look at the post interview and what we need to do as hosts after everything is done. Hey Dave, just jumping in here. I want to do a little shout out to Podmatch. Again I want to encourage you as a podcaster. If you have an interview based show, you should be on Podmatch. Simple thing, you can pay a small monthly fee and people can see your show. Instead of spending money elsewhere, spend it where people are looking for podcasts. Podmatches.com is great as a host of a podcast to have your show on there. Again, interview based show you should be on Podmatch. Definitely encourage you to do that. If you're looking for guests, Podmatch is great. If you want to be a guest, Pod Match is great and it is going to help you to find the right show. There's so many tools built into the Pod Match platform for you as a podcaster. It'll help you create a one sheet. It'll help you to come up with the images that you want to share for you as a guest on other people's show. There's just so many things and you can rate and review your guests and the hosts of podcasts that you've been a guest on. So here's Alex, he came on the how to podcast series episode 310 and it was great to have him on the show. I'd love to have him back in the future. But here's Alex talking a little bit more about Pod Match. I would encourage you to go sign up link in the show notes for you to sign up for PodMatch. And it's part of this miniseries that we're doing around guesting and hosting interviews. And Pod Match is just a natural connection. But here's a little bit more From Alex about PodMatch and I encourage you to go check out podmatch.com and so
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we had this idea for what is now Pod Match, and simply put, it's a service that works very similar to a dating app. Like connecting people for dates. Right. But instead of connecting for dates, you can actually go for podcast interviews. So if you're a guest that like in this case talks about podcasting, which is a little bit meta, but it would connect me with Dave saying, hey, the how to podcast series that Dave hosts is probably a good fit for you because you are a podcaster who talks about podcasts. But that's the whole idea behind what we decided to build. And then just everything in between. It's administrative. Could we remove the friction that's involved to simplify the process? And the whole heart behind that is that we know that what really matters in podcasting is impacting the lives of listeners.
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Link in the show notes if you want to use our affiliate code and support the show, then great. Let's get back to the conversation. This is something that I struggle with because I have nine podcasts. I'm recording about 10 to 12. I'm releasing 10 to 12 episodes a week. I am doing a lot. I host a meetup every twice a week. I'm a guest on shows, I'm editing for other people's podcasts. I spend a lot of time in this chair, the podcasting world behind a mic. And I'm still trying to grow my business. I'm doing all these things. My downfall is the follow up. I know that completely. And if you ask my guests, they probably confirm it. That's the area that I need to develop more. And I'm a team of one. So I don't have all these people. So it's not about automation, it's not about that, any of that stuff. It's about time. I have a full time job as well, so I know that I could do better on this. I am making some strides. I'm trying some new things that I'm not seeing anybody else do to make things pretty well easy to run and something I could teach somebody else. If I do have the time and the finances to hire somebody, then I have something I can offload because I've created the whole process from end to end. So I know this is something I need to work on. And I would encourage you that if you're not good at the post interview action steps, that you make this a priority to do something for your guests. Something, please. Because there's their love of the episode, their love of the recording. And what you've done is something that is. Is a candle that will burn out over time. And the longer it takes you to get to the part where you start promoting the episode, the less engagement you'll have from your guest. I can see it. I know it's happened for me because there could be two months before their episodes live everywhere. And in that time frame, they've moved on. They've moved on to something else. They've forgotten what they talked about on my show. And that's just because I have so many episodes in the can. So think about this. Your post interview actions, they do matter. And if I had the all the time in the world, I would do this much better. And if I only had one show, oh my gosh, I'd be all over this. So I'm kind of preaching to myself here. Just so you know, I'm not coming from a place of look at me, I have everything figured out. No, it's like, look at Dave, he's not good at this part. So just so you know, this is something that's on my radar. I gotta get better at this. But I also want to include this for you as a podcast host to realize that this is the part that seems to be not meaningful, but it really is. This is where your podcast is going to grow by making sure that you connect with your guest after everything is done. Send that quick email. Thank you. The recommendations I've heard on different shows within the 24 hour period and recap a highlight. Like, I loved your story on overcoming and I love that example you shared about this. Break out something from the conversation that really resonated with you and put that in the email. Just like you love having those happy emails that you put in that happy folder. Your guest also appreciates kind feedback from you about how they showed up on your show, how they served your audience, the value they brought to your podcast. They also have a happy folder. And I think as podcast hosts, we need to do a better job of filling up that happy folder for our guests. So think about it. Be thoughtful. Don't just copy paste the last one you did for the last guest. Make it personal. Make it to the episode where the guest was on your show and then what I would say to you is then also consider other shows I've listened to. They talk about this. Sharing a rough edit or key clips for their input. Maybe sometimes people want us to hear and see what you're working on as far as the editing part, but have some kind of contact with the guest around the episode release and then promote together. Tag them in social teasers on social media. You'll get collaboration invites on YouTube. Now you'll get collaboration invites on other social platforms where they're asking for you to share on your your channel the same thing they're sharing on their channel and then vice versa. You should do the same for them. Invite them to collaborate with you around that episode and the social assets that go along with it. Track your metrics too as a podcaster for that episode, like the downloads and the guest promo and what happened and kind of do like a review of your own. Listen to your episodes. I know people don't want to listen to their own voice on their own podcast, but listen to your episode. Are your questions nice and tight? Are you asking a three part question or a single question? Are you asking a question that's clear? Do your guests stumble over the answer because they're not really sure what you just asked them? If your guest is wrestling to answer a multi level question, then stop doing that. Ask a single one and then just wait for the follow up. So don't say tell me about when you went to school and what you learned there. What was your favorite class? What was your favorite teacher? What was your favorite lunch menu item in the cafeteria and how long did you go to that school? That's too many questions. That's too many. I forgot the first ones just by asking you that many. Stop asking so many questions. Ask one. So tell me about where you went to school. The answer Next what was your favorite class? The answer. What was your favorite teacher? The answer. That's much easier to follow as a listener and as a guest than this five minute question that you've forgotten what you've asked by the end of asking the question. So stop. Ask simple questions, straightforward questions. Be thoughtful. It's going to help your English interview be so much more effective. Just keep that in mind. Go through, track the metrics. You'll see when people as a guest promote the episode and you'll see when guests don't. Do your guests have to promote the episode, yes or no? I would say no. There's no have to. Your guest has already given you the time. Your guest has already showed up and recorded. They've given you valuable time to be on your show. Do I require my guests to promote their episode? No, but I give them the tools to do it and I encourage them to show up. So one of the encouragements I would tell you to do if you have your podcast on YouTube, even if it's audio, which you should by the way, I can help you with that, is to encourage your guests to jump into the comments section on YouTube for their episode release. Why the people listening or watching the podcast on YouTube are going to be in the comments commenting about the guest, about the interview. Oh, this author is amazing. I have all their books, comments like that, right? I heard this episode and I went out and bought the book, things like that. Those are good comments. Now enter in the guest who was the guest on the show. The author walks into the comments on YouTube and goes and hey, I saw you bought my book. Thanks. Now the guest can talk to the commenter without me being be there. I don't have to be part of this conversation at all. I facilitated the opportunity to build a bridge between the commenter on my YouTube channel and the person who was a guest. I encourage all my guests show up in the guest portion, in the comments portions of the episode and interact in introduce yourself, comment on the comments and be part of this. Those are your people, this is your content. And do that. Part 2 Every guest should have a playlist for all their episodes where they've ever been a guest. And if you as a podcaster have been a guest on shows, same thing for you. You should have a podcast channel on YouTube. By the way, put all your guest interview spots in one spot so that you can share it with your audience, with your community and I can find you everywhere. Create that playlist and put every episode where you've ever been a guest in that playlist. That's your content and you deserve to have an access to it. A playlist and jumping in the comments. Two great ways to utilize this great content into the future. Don't let this pass you by. You need to focus on your guest, you need to focus on the value they bring and you need to support them through the pre interview, during the recording and after everything's done. That's your job. Key takeaway here. Great hosting as a podcaster, as an interview podcaster is about genuine curiosity and clear structure. Prepare and be smart about your preparations. Listen deeply, don't be surface level. Follow through lightly to turn one one off chats into lasting relationships. Podcasting is powerful and the connections you're going to have through guests on your show going to change your world. It's going to change your world. So there are more podcasts guests right now that want to be guests on shows than there are interview based podcasts. So one of the biggest needs in podcasts right now is for you to start that interview based podcast. So if you're thinking about starting and you're not sure how to do it, listen to the how to Podcast series and reach out to me at howtopodcast CA and let's connect and let's talk about getting your idea out there in the world through an interview based podcast. And to all my past guests on this show and all my other shows, thank you for your time. Thank you for giving to my audience and being such a champion of valuable content through a podcast. I truly appreciate you. Thanks for listening. Hey, thanks for being here. Thanks for being part of the show. We, we offer lots of support for people who want to be guests on podcasts, people who want to be a host and interview guests on your show. And you're like, I just need to sit and talk with Dave for a little bit and figure out my course of action, how I'm going to get started, how I'm going to continue, how to find better guests, how to ask better questions. I've got so many things I'd love to talk about. Go to howtopodcast ca. You'll find my link right there on there on my website. There's a calendar link. You can come on my calendar anytime and as often as you wish. It's there, it's free, not gonna sell you anything. And we'll get together, have a virtual coffee, talk about whatever podcasting question you have. It's my gift to you and I'm happy to do this. I love meeting podcasters. I love talking through and kind of coming up with some creative ways to get around some of the obstacles that you might be facing in your podcast. So if that's you and you're like, dave, I just need some time, can we just get together? Yeah, anytime. HowtoPodcast ca. I'd love to meet you there. Grab a spot in the calendar, send me a speak pipe, send me an email, whatever you got. I'd love to meet with you at how to Podcast CA if you want to be a guest on this show. I'm always looking for guests to come on and talk about your podcast journey, even if you're just starting. Don't even have an episode yet. Come on, get on the show. Let's talk through. Because there's somebody else out there who's at the exact same spot that you're at, and they'd love to hear an answer to the same questions that they have, the same questions that you have. We can do that here on the show. You've been podcasting for 20 plus years. I'd love to have you on your knowledge, your experience, your background, the stories, all the stories you could tell. Come on the show and share your journey as an old school podcaster. Come on. It's the how to Podcast series. We're here to support the podcasting community. Never podcast alone. Go to how to Podcast ca. Thanks for being here. Take care.