One of the things I enjoy most about having a podcast is being able to reach out to someone whose work I admire, or who has written a great book or article, or connecting with someone who has become part of my online network, and inviting them to have a conversation on the show.
The interview format is not the only format in podcasting, but it’s very popular.
As a host, it has the advantage of, in a way allowing you to pass your responsibility for content creation over to your guest. By adopting the interview format, you always have fresh content on your show, and you can focus on having a conversation, which is something most podcasters enjoy!
Guests can add variety to your show in different ways:
- You can have literally different voices on your show
- You can expose your listeners to a range of different opinions
- Different episodes can have different energies, which creates diversity for listeners to hook onto
- Guests can help to build your audience; by bringing in new listeners, some of whom might even become subscribers to your show.
I recently ran a session for a network of coaches on the first steps to setting up your show. One of them asked, how do you craft the questions for your guests?
“Use your best coaching skills,” I replied.
A coach’s job is to draw out a person’s thoughts, aspirations and conclusions. Most of this is done through asking questions. We use open questions to help them formulate their thoughts, we ask for clarification, and we recognise those seeds of the thought that can be further elaborated.
That’s a good mindset to step into, even if you’re not a learning and development professional.
Here are some other things you might want to think about as you prepare for an interview with your guest, and as you guide them through the conversation.
Come up with about five questions that are specific to your guest.
This number is usually enough to get you started. Use the questions as the starting point for a conversation. As your guest replies, listen out for those points you might want to dig deeper into.
Listen out for concepts that might be familiar to your guest, but not to your listeners, and draw those out.
Some podcasts have stock questions they ask every guest. Skilled interviewers can adapt these to the guests on the go, so that they’re always relevant. However, I have been on more than one show where I was asked stock questions that weren’t relevant to my situation.
The first question
Having a stock question to start your interview means you always know how to “break the ice” and gently introduce the guest to your regular listeners.
Here are some examples of a first question:
Bernie J Mitchell, serial podcaster starts one of his shows with, “What are you known for and what would you like to be known for?” As a guest, I found this to be very energising.
Lisette Sutherland often starts Collaboration Superpowers by asking her guests what their workspace looks like. This makes perfect sense because her focus has always been on remote workers, who design their physical work environment to suit them best.
J Thorn in Writers Ink often starts his interviews with a non-writing related question, which might seem random to the listener, but is specific to the guest.
I don’t have a stock first question, although maybe I should come up with one! My first question often creates context for the audience. For example if we’re going to talk about a book, I might ask for the explanation of the core concept right at the start, or if I’m talking to someone who has developed a product I might start with when they first noticed there was a need. Most times I go straight into the main topic of conversation.
The very first question
Actually, the first question you ask your guest should be asked before you press Record. After a few minutes of banter, I always ask my guest if there’s anything they need to know before we start recording. Sometimes they want to know for how long we will be recording, or they might ask for more information about the audience.
(Asking them what they need to know, rather than telling them lots of things, means that those guests who are comfortable jumping in don’t need to listen to information they don’t need.)
The last question
Having your last question ready helps to wrap up the conversation. Popular stock questions are, “Can you give us a book recommendation”, or “How do you see this evolving in the future”? And of course regardless of the topic of your show, you might want to ask your guest: “Is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to tell listeners before we wrap up?”
As an aside, “Where can people get in touch with you?” is often the last question I ask guests. However, I’ve had to edit this out a few times, as guests start to list lots of social media places, online stores where people can find their books, websites, etc. When this happens, I edit it all out so that the conversation ends on a much more interesting bit, and then I give listeners all their contact details myself.
The very last question
The same as your first question, your very last question could be asked once your recording is over. If you’re looking for more guests, ask your guest to recommend someone else that might be suitable for your show.
Preparing your questions
Sometimes we are so excited about talking to someone, and we’ve been following what they do for so long, or we’ve had so many conversations with them off mic that we come up with many questions to ask them.
Other times, either due to lack of inspiration, or lack of knowledge of our guests’ area of expertise, we might struggle a bit more. In this case, it might help to go back to the five Ws for inspiration:
When
Where
Why
What
How (which has a W at the end!)*
*ok, maybe this one should be Who, but I rarely use that one during interviews.
During the conversation
I very deliberately use the word “conversation” here, rather than “interview”, as personally I enjoy shows where the host gets really involved in the topic as well. Of course this is not always possible, but it’s good to recognise when this might happen and go with it.
As you listen to your guest, follow your own curiosity, and follow your listeners’ curiosity.
For example, if your guest says something like, “we made some mistakes along the way“ and then moves on to tell a story, go back and ask for examples of those mistakes.
Or, if someone is talking about how they put their first team together and they say “we did some exercises to get to know each other“, you can ask them to share specific examples, which will not only enrich the story, but also provide some inspiration for your business.
“The question you want to ask next lies within the answer that someone is giving you.”
Ref. The Art of the Podcast Interview
Be ready for their questions.
Occasionally I’ll be talking to a guest, and after sharing their opinion, they will ask, “Is that your experience, Pilar?” Or “What do you think about that, Pilar?”
In all honesty, I love that they give me the floor, I am a podcaster after all – I love talking into the microphone. But sometimes it does take me by surprise and can take me a while to understand what’s going on. As I said, it doesn’t happen often, but it’s worth being ready for, and embracing it.
Be ready to ditch your questions
With guests I’ve recorded with before, or people I have a lot in common with, I often get to about 40 minutes, or even an hour, without having covered half of what I had prepared.
In those cases, I ditch all my good prep and trust that the content we created is the content we were meant to create.
Prepare and enjoy
Preparation when working with a guest is key. It’s particularly important if you’ve never met them before in real time. It’s not just about gathering information to allow you to formulate your questions, it’s also about getting a sense that you know what they’re about before you meet them.
During the interview, as well as listening to them, you’ll probably be assessing the audio, looking at the clock, looking through your notes to see what comes next, etcetera. So it’s important to feel prepared in order to be able to juggle anything that comes up.
When I started my first podcast, Spain Uncovered, I used to script the segues between the questions, so I wouldn’t have to think on my feet as I moved from one topic to another. I don’t need to do that now, but if you’re not used to interviewing, it might help.
Don’t forget your listeners
Find those moments when you can highlight something to your listeners, or remind your guest that there is a group of people listening to you. You don’t need to do it often, but it can help build a sense of togetherness for your listeners, rather than feeling like only you and your guest are having all the fun.
Keep learning
Finally, like with every new venture, working with guests will become easier.
Listen out as you edit your first shows, to see what works best. Do you interrupt your guests, do you give them enough guidance, do you create enough space for them to come up with stories?
Also listen to other people’s shows with a podcaster’s ear. What works best? What do they say that helps their guests be at ease? How do they talk to you the listener during the conversation? Do you feel involved?
If you’re looking for a few episodes to listen to, why not have a look at some of these conversations with guests I really enjoyed:
Building a routine and building a network when working from home.
The challenges of adopting asynchronous communication.
And I really enjoyed being interviewed by fellow co-host Helene in Facilitation Stories, episode 19.
Finally, do share your great guest questions by commenting on this post!
If you are considering starting a podcast but need that extra push to get going, join the next 3-week podcast challenge and get feedback on your episode plan and guest questions.
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