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Narrator
Okay, we're rolling.
Dave
Hey, welcome back to the how to podcast series. It's Dave with you, I hope. Doing well. Well, I was bored at work last night, and this idea for a shirt came to my mind and has nothing to do with this episode. By the way, welcome to the show. Yeah, you know how you have those baby on board signs that you see for young parents have in the back window of their car? I'm like, yeah. And then I'm like, wait a minute. What if it was B instead of baby on board? It was baby, I'm bored. Baby, I'm bored. So I made a shirt, and it says, baby, I'm bored, and if you want it, you can have it. It's over at my tea public place where I have all my merch for my podcast and stuff. I know I don't talk about merch here, but. And the idea of you wearing my shirt would be an honor, but highly unlikely that people want to buy a shirt without a podcast on it. But anyways, if you do, I'm wearing one right now. It's. It's. It's fun. Anyway, you can go to my teepublic store and you can get the Baby I'm bored shirt, which I think is funny. I made my wife laugh, so that's a good sign. If I can make my wife laugh, that's good. That's a good thing. So, yeah, so if you want a baby on board instead of baby on board, then you go check out my t. Public how to podcast Ca. You'll have links to my. My merch. If you. If you. If you. If you buy any merch. Okay, here you go. If you buy any merch and you can take a picture of you, like a selfie of you somewhere in the world wearing my merch. Oh, my gosh. I. That would make me so happy. So, yeah, do that. If you. If you have. If. Okay, if you.
Guest
If.
Dave
I know you haven't, but if you. If you do, in the future, I'd love for you to take a picture, take a selfie. I'd like to see who's listening to the show and where you are and sporting your podcast or baby, I'm bored shirt. That'd be fun. Okay, anyways, back to the podcast. Dave, let's get back to this. Now, when you look at the title of this episode, there's two words in here. Ford pickup. And you're like, wait a minute. Dave's. Dave's doing an automotive show now. Dave's. I have a Ford pickup. Oh, here's a. Here's a little segue. It's sitting in my driveway because I need a new alternator or something. I don't have the money. I don't have the money to, to get it towed, to get it fixed. So it's been sitting in my driveway for about four months now. That's a sad story. Tape. Yeah, it's just. It's our second vehicle and yeah, I'd love to have it because every time my wife goes to work, I'm kind of like housebound. I can't go anywhere, I can't do anything, can't go grab the groceries. I can't help around, you know, do the errands. I can't do anything. I'm stuck here. And if I need to move anything, obviously my truck is a great lawn ornament right now sitting in my driveway. So one day when I have money, well, go fix it. But anyways, my Ford truck, I like it. It's a big. It's like a small apartment. Basically. It's. It's lifted, it's got the big weird tires underneath. It was my son's truck originally and. And then he grew tired of it and bought something else and we re inherited the truck that we had given to him years ago. Anyway, so it's this big red truck. It looks like a workman's truck. And yeah, it's a Ford truck. So when I was, I was looking at my truck in the driveway because it's not moving and I'm like, I see on the back of it F O R D. And I thought, you know what? Actually reminds me of something I was reading where here's trying to be a real good segue here. There's actually a four letter word that's an acronym where each letter represents a word. And this acronym is around how to start a great conversation. And I'm thinking, I remember, I remember this acronym and I thought, hey, I should bring this to you in case you've never heard of this before. And then the next time you see a red not running Ford pickup truck in my driveway or anybody else's driveway and you see that Ford, you're in traffic right now and there's a truck in front of you and it says Ford, then maybe this will stick with you. And you'll remember this because it's pretty simple and Ford trucks are all over the place. So you're probably going to be triggered to remember this. Kind of like if I say look for the red car every now, you're going to See red cars everywhere. Having this F o r D format for your next conversation, it might just stick. And if it sticks, maybe it'll help you in those awkward conversations. And person or online primarily for podcasters with your guests that you have conversation starters, you can leverage this F o r D framework and use it for your next conversation. So yeah, well, we should probably put like an old 1960s commercial for Ford pickup trucks here. That sounds like a great idea. So let's do that.
Narrator
They're rolling and they're moving fast. They're the new Ford Trucks 460 with certified economy coming off the assembly lines and onto the highways heading for Ford dealers all over America. They're bringing new style, new toughness, new comfort, new ways to save. For example, this new bigger rear axle for Ford's 2 ton trucks now rated for 1, 300 pounds more payload. Here's a 1960 Ford pickup being fitted with its new plastic foam standard seat cushion. It adds new comfort. New pickup brake linings proved to last 13% longer. Here's Ford's Gas Saving 6, the engine that beat all competition in economy showdown. USA half ton pickup or a giant highway hauler. The 1960 Fords are bringing you the best of the new. But above all, you get economy. You can count on economy that's certified for the first time. Here is truck economy backed by the certified tests of America's leading independent automotive engineers. Tests like this by independent experts confirm the economy of Ford's modern engines and the result is certified gas savings. Tests certified by independent experts establish the extra toughness of the truck Parts that get the most abuse result certified durability. Still other tests such as this one proving that Ford's new wiring is more than twice as reliable provided the facts for certified reliability. Yes, the new Ford trucks with certified economy are here and you can see them at your Ford dealers. Get all, all the facts on certified economy and you'll come out ahead.
Dave
Ah, 1960. That's like nine years before I was born. So yeah, that's old. And yeah, if you want to see the, see the clip, it's. I just pulled it off of YouTube. Go check it out. There's a link in the show notes to go. Watch what I just played for you. And yeah, that's wow. That's how they used to make trucks a long time ago. There's more steel in that truck than there is in anything they make now. Right. Okay, so let's move forward, Dave. Get away from the automotive stuff. Okay, so let's get into this framework This F, O, R D framework for your next conversation. So here's what it stands for. I'll give it to you right away. F equals the word family. O is for occupation, R is for recreation, and D is for dreams. Family, occupation, recreation, and dreams. So when you sit down with somebody for the first time and you don't really know this person or you don't know them well, you're sitting at lunch, in the lunchroom, and you typically will do the. Hey, how was your weekend? Good. Yours? Good. Yeah, Good. How the kids? Good. Yeah, Fine. How's work? Good. Yeah, Same. Right. Weather? Yeah. Right. Okay, we're done. That's it. That's the level of conversation we have with pretty well everyone we don't really know well, because we don't have. We haven't invested any time with this person. And everything's very surface level and quite boring. And what I'm finding is podcast hosts are doing this in their show. Very surface level, very generic, easy softball questions. No depth, no engagement, no curiosity, just going through the motions, ripping through my 10 questions on my sheet in front of me. Start the podcast, do the interview, finish the podcast, and be done. And as a listener, you grow tired of boring conversations. I'm sorry, boring conversations. I'll say it one more time. Boring conversations. Not every conversation is a show. I'm sorry. Just because you recorded it on Riverside or Zoom or however you record your podcast. Just because you recorded a conversation doesn't mean, A, it has to go out as a podcast, and B, that it's a show. Your podcast needs to have some form of entertainment to it. It has to be entertaining and engaging for someone to even invest a moment of their time to listen to. And what I'm finding is people are creating boring content, putting it out as a podcast, and then lamenting that, why is my podcast not growing? Well, it might be that your show is just really, really boring. It might be your questions have left. They just lack any depth. They lack any kind of interest, and they're not. They're not even questions that I would ever ask as a listener of your guest. And it's like, really? Do we need to read their LinkedIn bio? Really? Do we need to spend five minutes pumping up this guest that you brought on your show? I don't really need to know how many different degrees they have. I really. Unless this is a podcast about universities, I don't really need to know where they went to high school back in 1960. I don't. I really don't. I don't need to know they had a lemonade stand when they were five. I really don't need to know that. So let's tighten this up a little bit and let's get a little less boring in our podcast. And I think this family, occupation, recreation and dreams framework, the Ford Framework, is really going to help you in your show to go beyond the simple, easy questions that come to mind in the moment. Let's go a little deeper. So let's break these down and give them their due. That's the Ford method for creating great, engaging conversation starters on how to podcast series. So this mental checklist is something, I think that I'm going to just keep saying it over and over again so it sinks into your brain and finds a little place, a little crevice or crevasse, as some people would say. And this will just sit there for you and again, be triggered by any time you see a Ford anything driving by on the street, you're like, oh, yes, Dave talked about the Ford method. Okay, good. So let's talk family first. This one is one of the starting points. Again, you're gonna get past the, hey, how are you? Good, great. You? Good, awesome, good. And you're gonna get more into something a little bit deeper. So this can be anything, really. It could be something that you just use and you can tweak this as many, many ways as you want. It's just we're gonna use the, the. The bucket of family as an engagement to start a conversation with somebody. So little things like a question like, where did you grow up and what was life life like in your home or who is in your family? Who in your family has had the biggest influence on you today? What do you remember of your grandparents? What did your grandfather do that's interesting right now, it's not just them. It's not just their immediate parents. It's their grandparents. My grandfather on my mother's side, he was an engineer on a train, and he was. He drove a train for years in Northern Ontario. And his train is parked in a small town in Inglehart, Ontario. And I actually lived in Englehart with my family. I was in high school and living there. I got to go stand next to and touch the train that my grandfather drove. I mean, my great grandfather drove way before I was even considered. So like a piece of my family history in my little town from my great grandfather. And it's like, wow, this is the coolest thing ever. Right? So that's a good question. Bring up anything to do with family. People Love talking about their family. If I met you today and said, hey, I heard you got kids, tell me about your kids. On and on and on and on and on you'll go about your amazing kids, right? So family is a great starting point. Forget the weather. Come on, that's pretty lame. Anybody can talk about the weather. You want to do better, right? So your podcast guest comes on, you do a little pre chat with them. I do pre interviews with all my guests and you just want to break the ice with them. You just met this person three seconds ago and now you're supposed to have a conversation. So tell me about your family. That's a great starting point. And try to be specific. Right. How long have you been married? You said you were married on your website, so how long you've been married? Great. And you have three kids, I see on your website. Yeah. What are their names? People love talking family stuff. It's a great start. Turning point. So start with family. It's the F in Ford, F O R D family. Next is occupation. So this one could be a little dry because, you know, one thing you can do is you can kind of tweak this though too. Not just the current occupation that you're the person in front of you is currently doing, but ask them something like, when you were a kid, what did you imagine you'd be doing today as a career? That's interesting. Like, think back to when you were 7, 10, 12, what did you think you would be doing right now? That's a way more important, interesting question than where do you work? Do you love your job? Yeah, me too. Right? Forget that. Ask a question with some thought, with something for people to sink their teeth into and go, you know what, that's a great question. I've never. What did I think for me when I was a kid in public school, primary school, wherever you're from, however you want to say that. Grade 7, 8, 6, I thought I would be a bank manager. Now I have no idea what a bank manager did back then. I just knew that money was in the bank, so that was important. People always went there and people always walked out with money. So I'm like, well, that sounds like a great place to work. I didn't understand how banking it works or nothing. And I wasn't really great with math, but. So I never really went down that path. But I thought I was going to be a banker. A bank manager too. Like I managed the whole bank. I was going to manage people. Well, now I manage my own finances with my wife's help. And that's about the extent of that dream never really came true. But you can ask occupation based questions. What drew you into the line of work that you're doing right now? Like, how did you, how did you go from where you started to this? What part of your work makes you forget to check the time? That's a great question that I've used in the past for, for, for people. And to break that, break the ice with a guest. So talk about what they do. People love talking about their family. They also love talking about things that they do, especially if they're in love with what they do and how it translates into their own satisfaction in life. So leverage the occupation side as the O in Ford. See, I've talked about family. That's F. Occupation is the O. And the next one, recreation, it's the R in Ford. So I can hear the non Ford people right now going, dave, can you do a Chevy version of this? Well, I'll see what I can do. So the next one is recreation. This is where you can talk about anything to do that has nothing to do with work. If you're not. If you could skip occupation altogether and just jump to R if you want to. It's. This is just a framework. You can do whatever you want. Just pick one of these and let it be your thing. But at least there's four options in front of you. Recreation, it's not about work. It's about what do you do when you have downtime, what lights you up. You get to really understand the person. You know, they collect Hot Wheels. Oh, really? They rebuild cars, they like to go antiquing, they. They crochet, they play pickleball. I don't know. There's something about our downtime that's an indicator of our passions because we are very careful with our downtime. We don't have very much of it. We work a lot. So when we do have time. For me, I'm a musician. I've been playing guitar for 46 years. That opens the door to conversation. 46 years. A, how, how old are you? And B, wow. Yeah, I've got nine guitars just like I have nine podcasts. It's like a trend, I guess. And yeah, I play four different instruments. Guitar, piano, bass and drums. And I've been playing in studios and on stages and I've been, I've heard my stuff on the radio several times. I've played with some pretty big acts and some really tiny ones. Big shows, little shows, everything. Got a lot of interesting stories about being on stage and yeah, anyway, so I love music. So recreation. Ask things like when you're not doing this, whatever it is, what do you love spending time on? Or what do you do just for fun with zero pressure to be productive? You don't make money at it. It's your hobby. It's just for you. If you had an hour, 10 hours to spend on yourself, what would you do? Recreation. It makes people think it's a great reset button too, because we don't get asked about this often. We get a lot about what's your name, what do you do where you're from. Right, Boring. Except for your name. Boring. So family is the F, occupation is the O, recreation is the R. And lastly D. What are your dreams? This is something again, we don't get asked very often, especially not in social circles, not in a pre interview, not in a podcast, not. Not. We don't ask our partners this and nobody seems to ask us this very often. It's like this, oh yeah, I should ask you about your dreams. What is the thing that you're just like, what's your finish line? Like, where are you heading? What's your dream in life? So you can ask things like, if everything worked out perfectly in the next few years, what would it look like for you as far as your dream and fulfilling your dream, your passion, your purpose in life? What's your dream? Or what are you quietly working toward that most people don't see? Hmm, Right. There you go. What are you quietly working toward then most people don't see? Try this in real life. Try these questions, maybe ask yourself. My suggestion for you when we go through the forward method here, family, occupation, recreation and dreams, is to pick one letter to start. Just pick one. You don't have to do all four. That might be overwhelming. Pick one. Listen closely, then follow the thread that people give you when they respond to one of your four asks in a question format. If they light up over recreation, then stay there. Don't move to one of the other ones. Stay there. Their eyes lit up like, oh, finally somebody asked me about what I like to do other than work. Then stay there. Stick with that. Don't jump to something else. If their eyes shine when they're talking about their long term goals and lean into their dreams. If they you ask them about their occupation and give you short answers that might not be their thing. So then jump to family or recreation or dreams. You can play with these four. You don't have to do them all. You can. Might just start with one and finish with one. But what a great way to get past the generic boring. Who are you? What do you do? Where are you from? Come on, we can do better. You can do better. And your podcast will be better if you ignore and avoid these simple, easy questions. And for all things podcasting, please stop asking AI to give you your questions. You have this thing attached to your body called a brain. It's in your melon, there in your head. Use it. Be creative. Ask your guests some questions. Do your research. Stop disconnecting yourself from your podcast. And I know AI is such a great tool and everyone's so infatuated with it, but you know what? You have this brain. The more you use it, the better it and stronger it gets, the less you use it. You turn into wall E movie floating around in your chairs and you haven't moved in decades. It's time to leverage that brain of yours. ChatGPT is not you and you're not ChatGPT. So please leverage your brain. Stop asking AI to do all the work for you. It's time for you to pick up and do some work yourself. It's time to step up. So here's an example of all four of the forward suggestions in one conversation. Say, so I walk up to you at an event. You got your drink, I got my drink, and we're meeting each other for the first time. So I come up to you and I'm like, hey, how's it going? Do you have your family here in the area? I have family. Right? Second question. What kind of work do you do and how did you get into this occupation? Check. Next, what do you, what do you guys do for fun around here? Recreation. Check. Hey, question. What's something that you've loved to do next in the next year? If time and money wasn't an issue, what would you do? The key here is ask open ended questions, not yes and no answer questions. Listen more than you talk. Reflect back what you've heard. Repeat what people say. It shows engagement and gently move them from light questions, family and work to more, deeper questions like dreams. This builds trust in a conversation. Before hitting record on your next interview, I want you to use the 2 to 3 of the Ford questions in your pre chat to relax your guest and find good story material during the interview. Keep the Ford in the back of your mind as a map. If the conversation stalls and you're like, oh no, we just hit one of those little spots where we've kind of bottomed out in our conversation and I don't know where to go next? Grab one of these four letters and use this in a curious way and ask a kind question of your guest using the Ford method. The key idea here is that Ford F, O, R, D is not a script. It's not a framework that you have to follow verbatim. I have to do the F, and then I can go to the O, and then I can go to the R, and I finish with the D. No, it's just four examples of how you can engage your audience, engage your guest, engage your podcast and keep the conversation moving. Use it to move past the how are you? Questions into the who are you really? Questions. This is how we move our conversation forward, forward, forward. Let's use that. This is how we move our questions forward.
Guest
Word.
Dave
I just made that up. And we get a better response, a better, better show. Right? Again, remember, not every conversation is a podcast. Not every conversation needs to be posted to the Internet. Not every conversation is intriguing and engaging for someone who doesn't know you and doesn't know your guest. Not every conversation is a show. So make it a show, make it engaging, make it different, and use these things that are going to help people. And you can also use them from your own perspective back to your guest if the conversation stalls. Now, I did an interview with an author. Conversation hadn't stalled at all. But I brought out one of my examples from my life for my recreation side around music. My author is a. It writes short stories and does like 15 short stories in one novel. So each chapter is its own individual story. So I asked him in the conversation, so when you do these stories, how, like, how do you know how to organize them in your book? So here's my question, and here's his response. And I'm going to just take a little clip of that and throw it in here. And I want you to hear what I'm doing in real time. This was not in my notes. I didn't even know I was going to go there. But I brought my recreation side of the Ford method into the episode and I did this before I recording this episode. So in this real, in real time, in this moment, I'm remembering it going, wait a minute, I did this myself. So here's the clip just so you can hear it. And I have a link to the episode if you're interested in this author, he's great. But how to take 15 short stories and, and arrange them in a way that makes sense for the audience? Here's my question, and take note of my guest's response, because it caught him off guard and opened him up to something that he did not anticipate in the conversation. So here's the clip from the show. Interesting. Like, I'm listening to you talk about this and I'm. In my context, I'm not an author, but I'm a musician. And. And what we do on an album, what we do in concert is we assemble our songs in a logical way that takes people on a journey from beginning, middle, end. We want to start big in concert, but on the album, we might want to start softer and take you from kind of a more thoughtful approach to more celebratory at the end. Like you. You have this freedom of how you arrange what you do in a certain way that feels the outcome you're trying to get to. Right. So we put a lot of time and effort into. Why is song one, Song one on the album? Well, it's because we want to evoke this, invoke this kind of response from our audience by hitting play for the first time and go, wow, right? And same thing in concert, we want to have that first note to be the thing that makes people come rushing into the room and go, oh, it started right. That's kind of the idea. So I'm. I'm listening to you talk about this and going. There's a real interesting parallel from my world to your world and how we both do approach these similar. The similar idea of how we kind of arrange this and for the sake of the audience. It's interesting.
Guest
Yeah, it is interesting. So my. My granddaughter Bridget has her. Her musical project is called Best Wife. She's a Toronto indie singer, songwriter, performer, and she started to drop. She's had a number of EPs, won a couple of awards, and she's putting out her first LP this year. And I think there's like four singles that are me dropping month by month.
Dave
Nice.
Guest
Until it comes out. So it's interesting because I've never had that conversation with her. Interesting probably because she's never done an LP before, but I'm going to ask her, I'm going to say, so how did you come up with the sequence? Like, how did you decide what song A is and song B and what one you wanted to finish with? I'm from the vinyl era, so I would have said, so what went on side A and side B, but there's not that.
Dave
No.
Guest
Although I think she is going to do a vinyl for this one, so that's kind of cool. But, yeah, thanks. I'm going to end the discussion with
Dave
her as Podcasters, whether you're having an interview or not, as human beings, going to events, and maybe you're a little shy like me. I'm the type of guy that hides in the corner. You're gonna have to come find me, right? I just being in front of a bunch of people I don't know is not scary. It's just exhausting. And it's not something that I look forward to. It's not on my to do list. It's something that I have to do, not I really want to do. The more I do it, the better I get. But at the same time, I'm pretty shy and quiet and. But if you come around me and you start talking to me, oh, yeah, we're best friends. So look out for people like that at your next event. Sitting in the corner, they got their glass in their hand, they're kind of looking down at their phone. Go sit right beside them. Hey. And then pull out your Ford F O R D. Right? Family, occupation, recreation and dreams, and use it with that person who looks disengaged, a little fearful. If you're that person who's an outgoing person, comfortable in those settings, don't ignore the people who are there and who are quiet because they're there. They're not. They're not comfortable, and they're starving for people to come and talk to them. So ignore hanging around with all the other people who love being there and super excited. Go focus on the people who are quiet because you just might find some of the deepest friendships you'll ever have in somebody who's quiet. Speaking as somebody quiet, we're pretty faithful to people who reach out to us. Just so you know, use this Ford method in your next in real life opportunity through your podcast, through your pre interviews. Because you're going to do pre interviews, right? I'm going to convince you pre interviews during the recording. All of these examples are opportunities for you to leverage this framework. And the next time a Ford truck, car, anything, SUV drives by, sitting in traffic and you see F O R D on the back, you're going to remember family, occupation, recreation and dreams and use that. And then tell me through my speak pipe at how to podcast ca. Leave me a voice message and say, dave, it worked. It worked. I used the Tell me which letter and there's here was the situation. Here's what I did. Here's what happened. I'd love to hear your response. Hearing your voice makes me super happy. F O R D, Family, occupation, recreation, dreams. Go start your next conversation. It's a great way to pick up. Oh, pick up your conversations using the Ford method. I hope it works for you. I know it will. Now you got to go do it, though. Stop thinking about it and stop using simple questions. You're better than this. And your podcast listeners, they're asking for you to do better. So try harder and don't farm out your intelligence to a computer, please. We need you. I don't need your prompt. I need you. I can prompt. I don't need your podcast if I can prompt it myself. I'll just replace you. So don't be replaceable. Be you. Be creative. Keep podcasting. Need help, let me know. Happy to help. Take care of. So here at the how to Podcast series, we love to hear from you. You might think that we get a lot of feedback and we don't. We don't get a lot because people just feel like, why bother? Like, why Does Dave really care what I have to say? And I do. I actually do really care what you have to say. I love your input. I love hearing from you. And we've started, started a survey for our listening audience, which includes you right here, right now. And I'd love, love, love for you to head over to HowToPodcast CA and you'll see our survey right there on our website and take a few minutes, come through, answer the thoughtful questions we're asking of you to make the show better. Not just for you, but for everyone. Your feedback is really gonna help shape the show and I selfishly just want to hear from you. So if you're thinking Dave probably already knows what I think. I don't. I really don't. I'm not good at reading minds. My wife will confirm that completely. So I don't really know what you think of the show. I don't know if you like it, if you like how long the show is, how long the episodes are that Dave's doing. 365 episodes in a year. Oh my gosh. Like, I would love to hear from you and get your thoughts on this very show right here. So head over to HowToPodcast CA, click on our survey link. It's also in the show notes for every episode in the most recent episodes and I'd love to hear from you. So as a listener of this here very show, your feedback can make this show so much better. So much better. And I'm not drowning in emails and voice messages and speak pipes and buy me a coffees right now. So I'm putting the ask out to you right now, as a listener of the show and you're still here, that you take a moment, head over to our website, click the link in the show notes for any episode, and go to our survey and let us know your thoughts about this show, how it could be better and what you love and what you're like. Dave, can you stop doing this? That would be really helpful. Thanks for being here and being part of the how to Podcast family. See you over at howtopodcast. CA talk soon. Thanks for being here. Bye. Hey, you're still here. Awesome. That's great. Okay, so this is a little bonus stuff that I do at the end of the podcast. This is stuff that most people aren't going to hear because they've already left, they've already exited, they've gotten their car, they've already gone home, they're gone to a restaurant, they've gone out for drinks. You and I are still here. So I want to honor you for sticking around to the end of the podcast. That's so meaningful to me. Helps the podcast grow. How does it help it grow? Because whenever you listen to the end of the show, it's a signal to whatever app that you're listening on that this podcast is worth promoting. It's worth telling somebody about it. Because when people come and stay to the end, that's not common. That's quite rare. So you are rare. You're unique. There you go. So, yeah, thank you for doing this. So I wanted to do a little bonus episode, like, content at the end, answer a question, and only you'll know about this, so nobody else will know. So anyway, keep this to you, right? Just for you. People ask Dave, when you do those little clips like you did today, you had that Ford commercial and you had a clip from your own show in the podcast here, how are you grabbing those clips? Like, where. What tool are you using that allows you to capture. So what I'm using is a thing called Wondershare Demo Creator. Wondershare Demo Creator. I. Yeah, reach out to me if. If I put the link in this. Well, okay, I'll put the link in the show notes. But people are like, what is that? Only you'll know why that link's in there. So keep. Again. But it's called wondershare Demo Creator. It's a paid platform that I use. I. Because I do a lot of reviews of people's podcasts, podcast feedback, ca. I review people's shows, and I've been doing this for almost five years now. And people will send me their podcast and say, Dave, can you give me some thoughts about my show and how I can improve? So what I do is I because I don't have the original recording on my end, I do these little clips from their show using wondershare Demo Creator and it allows me to hit record. So whatever I can see and hear on my screen, I can record it. So I'm not downloading their podcast and all that. I can capture any audio off the Internet with wondershare Demo Creator, so that's what I'm using. And it's a great tool. When I coach as well, I record my client and I have them talk and I record them and then we review them in the moment. Here's what you look like when you talk. Here's what you sound like when you talk. It's a great tool, wondershare Demo Creator. So that's really good. And if you ever want to capture an image of anything, I use another program called the Snipping Tool, and it's great. It allows you to take a picture of anything that you see on the screen. And again, I will put a link for that in the show notes as well. But again, it'll mean nothing to everybody else because they're not here and they have no idea why that's in there. But you will, and that's my gift to you and my appreciation for sticking around. So Snipping Tool helps me to capture any image that I want off the Internet off my screen. It's a great tool and wondershare Demo creator for audio clips. Anything I can hear on my screen, any website, any place. It's a great way to do that. So if you need any help with either of these tools or anything else. HowToPodcast CA I have more tools, but I don't always share them. Only for the people who stick around. So have at it. Take care.
The How To Podcast Series – E631: How FORD Can Help You Pick Up 4 New Conversation Starters For Your Next Podcast Interview
Host: Dave Campbell (Ontario, Canada)
Date: March 20, 2026
In this energetic solo episode, Dave Campbell introduces podcasters to the "FORD" framework—a simple, memorable method to create engaging, non-boring conversations with podcast guests. Drawing inspiration from the iconic Ford truck logo, Dave walks listeners through using Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Dreams as conversation starters, aiming to help hosts ditch surface-level questions and foster authentic, memorable dialogue.
Notable Quote:
"I was looking at my truck in the driveway because it's not moving and I'm like, I see on the back of it F O R D. And I thought, you know what? Actually reminds me of something I was reading... This acronym is around how to start a great conversation." (03:33)
Notable Quote:
"Your podcast needs to have some form of entertainment to it. It has to be entertaining and engaging for someone to even invest a moment of their time to listen to. And what I'm finding is people are creating boring content..." (09:10)
(12:54–25:00)
Dave thoroughly explains how each letter can guide more meaningful conversation:
Ask guests about their family background, key influences, or unique family stories instead of generic “how are you?” Small talk.
Notable Quote:
"People love talking about their family. If I met you today and said, 'Hey, I heard you got kids, tell me about your kids.' On and on you'll go about your amazing kids." (14:53)
Move past dry “What do you do for a living?” queries. Instead, dig into why and how a guest found their career, or what they dreamed of becoming as a kid.
Notable Quote:
"Ask them something like, 'When you were a kid, what did you imagine you'd be doing today as a career?' ...That's a way more important, interesting question than 'Where do you work?'" (17:54)
Explore what guests are passionate about outside their work. Hobbies reveal personality and build rapport more than job titles.
Notable Quote:
"There's something about our downtime that's an indicator of our passions because we are very careful with our downtime. We don't have very much of it." (20:05)
Ask about goals, ambitions, or quiet projects—topics rarely discussed but full of potential for deep connection.
Notable Quote:
"What's your finish line? Like, where are you heading? What's your dream in life?" (22:08)
Sample Transcript:
Dave (27:45): "I'm listening to you talk about this and...I'm not an author, but I'm a musician...we assemble our songs in a logical way that takes people on a journey..."
Guest (28:44): "Yeah, it is interesting. So my granddaughter Bridget has her musical project..."
Dave’s delivery throughout is upbeat, conversational, and direct—with a dash of humor and plenty of real talk aimed at podcasters. He champions authenticity, preparation, and good old-fashioned human curiosity over AI-generated scripts or formulaic interviews.
"You’re better than this. And your podcast listeners, they're asking for you to do better. Try harder and don't farm out your intelligence to a computer. We need you." – Dave (34:00)
For more practical podcasting tips and to join the community, visit HowToPodcast.ca.