Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Interviewing: 8 Ways to Up Your Skills as a Podcaster

Starting point is 00:00:02 Have you been wanting to start a podcast for a while now, but something's holding you back? Maybe it's fear of putting yourself out there or confusion about the technology. I'm Sarah Mikital and on podcasting step by step, I'll break down how to podcast with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and the confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Let's get started. One of my favorite parts of podcasting is getting to interview other people on topics that really interests me in my audience. I'm quite fortunate because I've gotten to interview people

Starting point is 00:00:38 throughout my career, but I know that if you haven't had a lot of practice, interviewing can feel a little intimidating. So on this episode of podcasting step by step, I'll share eight tips on how to make you a standout podcast interviewer. Tip number one, have a purpose for each episode. What do you want your listener to get out of each show? If you're interviewing them, there should be a point. So why them and what is the conversation that you want to have? If you have a business podcast and you know your listeners want to become better public speakers, create an episode on that and then find a guest who can teach your audience those skills. An episode nine of podcasting step by step, I talk about how to find great guests for your podcasts. Once you've found

Starting point is 00:01:27 your guest and they've agreed to come on the show, spend about an hour researching them and bulleting out some questions. There are some podcasters who say they like to show up to an interview with zero prep so that they can have a more authentic conversation. I completely disagree with this. I think you will ask much better questions if you actually know something about your guest and also their area of expertise. So if you're not an expert of something, you should probably spend a little bit of time getting some background knowledge and knowing what the latest trend is in the industry before you have this conversation. So read your guest's website, check out their latest social media updates, have they been interviewed elsewhere, read those interviews, listen to them if they've been on

Starting point is 00:02:12 podcasts, and during your research, write down the questions that you want to ask. When you're done, you can rearrange all of these questions into an order that will make sense for your conversation to flow. And this outline will be your guide during the interview. You don't need to read the questions one by one, you probably should not do that, your outline will help you structure the conversation, but also give you the freedom to follow your curiosity during the conversation. So you don't have to be super rigid, but having a basic idea of how you want to get from point A to Z is going to help keep you on task. You know, some guests completely meander. And sometimes that's great and you can go with it. But other times you want to reel them back in. And if you have

Starting point is 00:02:58 that structure in place, those bullets you want to ask, you can help reel them back in in an easier fashion. So write down 10 to 15 essential questions that you want to ask. It's okay if you don't get to any of them. It's okay if new ones pop up. But avoid writing down like 100 questions because you're not going to get to all of them and it's just going to be too confusing if you've got like 100 different bullets in front of you. So pick 10 to 15 and pick the ones that you think will be most important for your audience. Alex Blumberg, founder of Gimlet, and a longtime public radio guy, has some really fantastic go-to questions that he uses to pull out good stories from his guests.

Starting point is 00:03:41 These questions are open-ended, and he asked them to elicit emotion. So here are some of his favorite questions. Tell me about a time when? How did you go from being X to being Y? What would the new you say to the old you? How did that make you feel? What was the debate going on in your head? What did you make of that?

Starting point is 00:04:10 That last question, what did you make of that? He likes to use that. If he notices that the guests as something that they want to say, they're sort of holding back, and he wants to pull that story out of them. So I love those questions, especially. Tell me about a time when. So before the interview, in addition to all of your planning and researching, you'll want to reach out

Starting point is 00:04:32 to your guest and one remind them about the interview, but also let them know the format of the show and answer questions like, is it going to be live? Will it be edited? Is it audio only? My guests feel a lot more comfortable knowing that it's not live and I will be editing later. I also share questions in advance if I have some that I think are going to, might put them on the spot and will require more thoughts. So I don't share all of the questions, but if it's something that I think I would get a better answer if they had some time to think, I'll send those questions in advance. And there's some debate in podcasting and, you know, journalist communities, whether you should send these questions or not. I highly recommend sending some questions in advance if you think

Starting point is 00:05:19 it's going to help your guests give you better answers and make them more comfortable. There's nothing worse than putting your guest on the spot. And then there's just like, oh, I have to think about that for a while. And then they might start typing on their computer. And you're just going to have a lot more editing to do on your hand. And even though I send questions in advance, I don't think I've had a single guest sound like they were reading off of their computer. And I'm sure that can happen. For me, that hasn't happened yet. I've always gotten better answers when I've sent questions in advance. Also, for remote interviews, make sure that you let your guests know in advance that they're going to need headphones to prevent audio bleed and give them some tips to get

Starting point is 00:06:04 the best sound quality on their end. So I use Skype and eCam call recorder for my remote interviews because I have a Mac. If you're a PC user, you can use Skype and something called a Malto, but I always let my guests know in advance that they should do their interview in a quiet area with strong Wi-Fi. I let them know that I usually restart my computer before an interview just to give it a little refresh. I tell them to close any applications and windows on their computer that they don't need and to mute notifications. Some podcasters like to schedule a pre-call with their guests before the interview to do a quick rundown, dig for some story ideas, and to find out if there's anything top of mind for their guest.

Starting point is 00:06:48 This isn't an interview and you don't want your guest to give away their best stuff in a pre-interview. This is just a high-level introductory chat where you could maybe spark some ideas. This could help build trust with your guest. You might also learn that they're actually not a good podcast guest. And maybe they would be better suited to, you know, you could write an article about them or something. So those are some benefits of having a pre-call. Having said that, I've never done a pre-call. I think people are busy enough without a pre-chat, but I do outline everything in an email just to make sure that everybody's comfortable.

Starting point is 00:07:28 And then before the interview, so when we're both already on Skype, I will chat to them for a few minutes to warm them up. It's really common for people to warm up as the interview progresses. So as I mentioned earlier, all of your research has paid off at this point. You can ask them a question about something that they recently posted on social media. You could use a standard question that you ask everyone like, when you were a kid, did you ever expect that you would? And then just insert whatever they're on your podcast to talk about. And then you could add, what did you imagine you would be when you were little? People really open up at this question and it usually makes them smile.

Starting point is 00:08:09 You know, some people are pros and they're totally comfortable and it doesn't matter. a lot of people start to freeze when the record button goes on. So just ask a few questions, warm them up, and then you don't need to use those questions. You can cut them out later, but just get your guests comfortable before you really start to dive into the main horror of the conversation. But before the interview starts, make sure you show up early. So before the interview, make sure you're in that chair at least 15 minutes before the interview starts. This is perhaps the most important thing that people miss, and I am guilty of it myself way too often than I would like to admit. You think you have all the time in the world, and then all of a sudden,

Starting point is 00:08:52 your interview is in five minutes, and you're scrambling to set up your tech, and maybe the computer or your software decides to update or do something crazy, do yourself a favor, and ease into your interview with a calm mind rather than showing up completely frazzled, and you never want to show up to your own interview late. That's just super rude to your guest, so make sure you get yourself in that chair with plenty of time, so you're not stressed. I personally like when a host interacts with the guest and adds their own stories to the conversation, though listener preference varies, but in general, it's a good idea for the host to listen more than he or she talks. It's okay to follow tangents, but use your outline to

Starting point is 00:09:39 get you back on track if your guest starts drifting off too much. Sometimes you are really enjoying a conversation and all of a sudden two hours goes by. That is a lot of editing, especially if your show is usually only 30 minutes and you want to keep it that way. And sometimes a conversation can go on for two hours and it's actually not that great of a conversation and you're just thinking, hmm, well, I know that there are like 20 minutes of gems that I can pull out of here. But that's just so much more work for yourself. So if you feel like your guest is just going on and on and on and on and on, ask them a new question. Like, don't be afraid to jump in. Sometimes they feel like, oh my gosh, I'm going on and on and on. So you'll be doing them a favor if you use your outline to help

Starting point is 00:10:28 get you guys back on track. The tighter you keep your interview, the less work you will have later. And before the interview, you should know what your interviewees time constraints are. So do they have a hard stop at the end of the hour? You might have amazing rapport with your guest and start shooting the breeze and think, I could talk to this person all day. And then all of a sudden they say, oh, I have a meeting in three minutes, just so you know. And then you're like, oh my gosh, we haven't even covered half of the questions that I wanted to ask. So make sure you understand what your guest's time commitments are and don't save all of your best questions for last.

Starting point is 00:11:06 Final tip, listen to other interview podcasts that you. love with a more critical ear. So what kinds of questions are your favorite interviewers asking? How are they interacting with their guests? Find interview styles that you like and incorporate them into your interviews. And if you are looking for inspiration, you can listen to Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She is considered one of the very best. Interviewing people is a skill that can be developed. Don't worry if you don't feel like you're there yet. The more you practice, the best better you are going to get, and the more fun that you will have with your guest. Do you have any fun interviews coming up? Send me a message on Instagram and let me know what you've got planned.

Starting point is 00:11:49 You can find me at Sarah Micatel. I would love to hear what you're working on. Thank you for listening to podcasting step by step. You are now one step closer to launching that podcast you've been dreaming about, but I want to get you even closer. I created a free guidebook for you with actionable worksheets called Eight Mistakes New Podcasters Make and How to Fix Them. To find that, head on over to sarahmicatel.com slash fix.

Starting point is 00:12:21 Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com

Starting point is 00:12:36 slash blank no more.

Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Interviewing: 8 Ways to Up Your Skills as a Podcaster

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