2020 is the year of the podcast. Are you thinking about starting one? Or have you already started? After more than 70 episodes of Kertojan ääni, the longest-running creative writing podcast in Finland, I feel like I’ve nailed down the pre-interview preparations that make for a great episode – for you as the host as well as your guest.
Think of this almost like an arts and crafts tutorial. During the course of this article we’ll create a one-sided piece of paper that’ll be your trusted sidekick throughout the interview.
Ready? (Start radio voice) Today’s guest… is… umm… is… umm.
TOP: Write Down the Key Details
When you press record, a special kind of amnesia happens in your brain that makes you forget the simplest things: names of people, books, shows…
Start by writing the key details at the top of the page:
You could have the list on a tablet or your phone, but you don’t want your screensaver to turn on right at the moment when you introduce the guest on the show, struggle to remember their name and start the interview on the wrong foot.
The great thing about paper is that it doesn’t distract you or your guest – and the battery life is amazing.
MIDDLE: Write Down the Most Important Themes
Everybody has their own style when it comes to preparing for an interview. Some like to write out a definitive list of questions, others freestyle all the way through and others do something in between.
I’ve found that doodling some key topics or questions makes life easier in post-production. If you have structure going into the interview, you won’t have to impose structure after the interview by cutting and pasting sections.
Depending on the length of the episode, think of 3–4 main topics you want to cover. For each topic, write down some keywords that’ll trigger the question in your mind. The point is to have a structure you can follow, or come back to if the discussion takes a detour.
Here’s an example for an interview with a YA fiction writer:
Young People and Reading
Situation now
Yourself
Statistics?
YA Genre
History as writer
Why YA
Likes/dislikes
New Book
Idea
Process
Complications
Call-to-Action
Publisher’s webpage
Free trial
BOTTOM: Agree on the Call-to-Action
The last part is extremely important: the Call-to-Action. When you’re talking with the guest beforehand, make sure to ask them what place they’d like you to direct the listeners to. It could be a website, a podcast, an event or nothing at all.
The main thing is that both you and the guest agree on what it is.
Write it down at the bottom of the page, so you know where it is when you start to wind down the interview. Write out possible promo codes and important dates and be ready to spell out difficult URLs.
Managing Expectations for Your Guest
Success is a matter of managing expectations.
Our own literature podcast is not a promotional channel for new books, but we bring on guests to talk about something people will find interesting – and tie that in with their new book.
We also discuss this before the interview with the guest and explain our reasoning. Sometimes the topic is quite far away from the book and the new book won’t get as much screen time (ear time?...) as they’d want. But if they know it beforehand, then all’s good! We can have a great discussion, everybody’s having a good time and we usually end up with the aforementioned Call-to-Action anyway.
Here’s a list of things you might want to talk about with the guest before you start recording: episode length, amount of editing, possible ad placements, publishing schedule and social sharing.
That’s it! You should now have an outline you can use and improve over time. Happy podcasting!
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Note From Tongal: “How to Prepare for a Podcast Interview" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
That's great advice. Thanks for sharing!
