4 Questions To Becoming A Better Podcast Interviewee

Figuring out what type of podcaster you want to be is important in establishing your podcast. But have you thought about and established what kind of interviewee or guest you want to be on other podcasts?

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

I am not a strong interviewer, which is, at least in part, why I don't do an interview-style podcast. But I'm pretty good as an interviewee. Recently, I've been interviewed on several different podcasts - and thanks all of you for doing that. And that has me thinking about the art of the interviewee.

Now, astute listeners who are familiar with my work outside of Podcast Pontifications are saying, well, hang on a tick, I've heard you interview people like on 3 Clips by Castos and you're doing a fine job. Well, at least I hope I'm doing a fine job. So thank you for that if, in fact, you were saying that.

And yeah, sure, I've become a better interviewer over time, but that is 100% a learned skill. I over-prepare for every single interview I do. I rely heavily on producers and I really insist on editing, or maybe I even do the editing, to make myself sound as good as I possibly can. But I've a very different approach when I'm the interviewee.

Podcasters guesting on someone else's podcast is a time-honored way to gain exposure for you and for your podcast to other podcasts listeners. It's fishing where the fish are. It's a chance to talk to an audience that is at least tangentially interested in what you have to say and therefore might be interested in your podcast.

Now, it may not be the growth hack of the century as it's often billed, and it's not, but it is a solid top-of-the-funnel activity likely worth your time. That's why my default answer is always yes when I'm asked to guest on someone else's podcast. And no, I'm not going to ask you about your statistics.

I do have a working theory, maybe it's hypothesis at this point, that the better you are as an interviewer, the less likely you are to be a great interviewee. I don't have a lot of data. Okay, I don't have any data to back that claim up, but I do have a lot of anecdotes beyond just myself. And I've seen a few How to be a Great Podcast Guest pieces, and they're fine for someone who's brand new to being on a podcast and behind a microphone.

But that's not you, dear listener. You know how to be behind a microphone. But how do you become a better podcast guest? I don't have a pat how-to answer for you. You know that's not what I do here. But I do have four questions I think you should consider as you work to boost your interviewee skills.

These aren't four questions to ask yourself five minutes before your scheduled guest appearance. No, no. These are four questions that will help you understand what type of interviewee you want to be when you next guest on someone's podcast. And as is the case with many of the questions I present to you here on Podcast Pontifications, no right, no wrong, just answers that're going to make you understand you a little better. So let's dive right in.

The first question, should you have an agenda or should you have an objective?

No, in this particular instance, those two are not the same thing. The difference is somewhat subtle, however, but very key. See if you have an agenda when you guest on a podcast, that means you have a few key talking points or themes you're going to bring up continually during the course of the conversation. No, not on every single question, obviously, but when it's appropriate, you'll tend to bring your answers back to that central, common theme.

Having an objective, on the other hand, when you are the interviewee is much more direct than that. For you, every interview you go on is a means to an end, and the end, the objective, is something quantifiable for you. Now you can't, or you at least probably shouldn't, push a call to action with every single answer you give. Remember the interview has to still be enjoyable to their listeners. But you're not going to shy away from dropping that call to action at every opportune moment.

Question number two, should you prepare or should you go in cold?

Remember first and foremost, it's not your podcast you're going to be on. And second, you want to be a very good guest, which is, you know, great. That's a good thing for you to do. So, which of those two things - prepare or go and cold - is the course of action you are going to take? They both have their merits.

Prepping ahead of time by listening to other interviews on that podcast or reading the About page from the host and understanding, or at least inferring, as much as you can about the audience can certainly aid in the flow of the conversation.  It's also quite helpful if you're the kind of person who hates being put on the spot with questions like what are the last three books you read? And by the way, I'm the kind of person that hates that kind of lightning round question.

But there are merits to going in cold. Your answers and your reactions are going to be much more natural if you haven't done that much planning ahead. You're also going to have to pay attention to each question asked. It's going to help you get out of your head and stop worrying about what it is you did say and haven't yet said. I mean, after all, it was you that they invited to be on their program. The prep work is really up to the interviewer, and if they ask you a question that really isn't relevant, well, they can always edit that out before they publish it, right?

Question number three, should you keep your answers short or should you go long? And now by short, I don't mean single sentence answers. This is a conversation not a quiz. By short answers I mean more direct answers, the equivalent of maybe a paragraph or two if you were to write your answers down to those questions. Answers that are on point and don't meander, at least not very far, answers that don't take you three to four minutes for you to build up your answer to.

Now, going long is the opposite of that. Here, meanders are welcome in the long answering type. As are, "You know, that reminds me of an interesting story..." anecdotes that really answer the question through a well-told story. And because while the answer to the question is important, how that answer is told might be even more important. People who like to answer long, that'd be me, fully expect our long-winded replies to be edited down by the podcaster. We're okay with that.

The fourth question to ask yourself about what kind of interviewee you want to be is this, how accommodating will you be? Or how accommodating can you be? You have a life. You have commitments with others in your life. So you may only have a narrow window of availability when you're, well, available to guest on another show. Or you might have certain days or times when you absolutely cannot carve out an hour to be a guest on someone's show. That's life. And you know that.

And you also know that if the show really wants you as a guest, they can make adjustments to fit into your schedule. I mean, this is podcasting, right? Not appointment-based broadcast media. Or the opposite is do you want to say, "Well, when is good for you?" And move your schedule around as necessary? Being extremely flexible, dipping into your early mornings and even your late evenings, as well as opening up your weekends may open you up to a lot more opportunities beyond your current time zone.

Now, probably requires a reliance on your calendar and setting reminders so that you don't accidentally schedule an interview when you're supposed to be at your kid's ball game. But I don't know. Maybe that background noise was exactly what the other show wants to listen to.

Now, as I said, there isn't a right or wrong answer to any of those four questions. But if you're curious about me, I have an agenda, rarely an objective. I prepare for every interview I'm going to be on, but not obsessively so. I do go long, way too long. And I know, I'm working on that, making my answers shorter. And I'm very accommodating, but I do have some hard no times because I got to get things done.

So I hope that helps.

With that, I shall be back directly with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He's on a mission to make podcasting better. Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes section of your podcast listening app. A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected transcript, both created by Allie Press. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. Find out more at Simpler.Media.