Podcasting Best Practices | Guests
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Selecting Guests
If your podcast will include guests, for your early podcast episodes, pursue guests with whom you already have an established relationship--a friendly face on video or a friendly voice on the call will help combat jitters. Choose people for whom you can buy a beer if you forget to hit the Record button until thirty minutes into your conversation. Just because you know the guest personally, though, doesn't mean you can lower the professionalism of your handling of the guest and of the episode.
As you get more familiar with the podcast process and technology, you can cast your guest net wider, but I would advise not going right to the top of your "most wanted" list of guests. These will likely be well-known personalities and experts in their fields, accustomed to being interviewed by professionals who have been in the business for decades. Give yourself a little time before approaching these people. |
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
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Postponing an immediate approach to the A-list guests will give you not only time to hone your podcasting skills, but also social credibility. You will have an understanding of who constitutes A-, B-, and C-list guests in your podcast's area of focus--and by those designations I don't intend to reflect the quality of the guest but rather things such as how widespread their audience is, how much their expertise is valued, how comfortable they are at public speaking, and similar considerations. Once you have a couple of lesser-known C-list guests on your backlist, you can use their names to approach potential B-list guests, including a reference to the C-list guest and a link to their episode. Once you have a track record with several B-list guests, you can use that as part of your invitation to your A-list guests.
This might constitute name-dropping, but it's name-dropping for a good cause, and for an unselfish purpose. It saves the potential guest from having to do an independent assessment of whether it's worthwhile for them to invest the time to participate in an interview with you. If they see that you have already hosted a guest whose name they recognize and whose reputation they respect, it's easy for them to decide that they want to be part of your podcast.
As you work your way up the list, you can create a virtuous cycle by asking each guest at the end of your session if there are other topics or guests they feel would be right for the podcast. (I recommend you do this at the end of the session--and after you have stopped recording--since by that point the guests will have experienced the podcast for themselves and will have a sense of your style, the general nature of the discussion, and so on, and so will be able to make more informed recommendations.) An A-list guest is likely to recommend other A-listers, and so once you have reached the point of having an opportunity to speak with your most desired guests, you will easily be able to find more of the same.
This might constitute name-dropping, but it's name-dropping for a good cause, and for an unselfish purpose. It saves the potential guest from having to do an independent assessment of whether it's worthwhile for them to invest the time to participate in an interview with you. If they see that you have already hosted a guest whose name they recognize and whose reputation they respect, it's easy for them to decide that they want to be part of your podcast.
As you work your way up the list, you can create a virtuous cycle by asking each guest at the end of your session if there are other topics or guests they feel would be right for the podcast. (I recommend you do this at the end of the session--and after you have stopped recording--since by that point the guests will have experienced the podcast for themselves and will have a sense of your style, the general nature of the discussion, and so on, and so will be able to make more informed recommendations.) An A-list guest is likely to recommend other A-listers, and so once you have reached the point of having an opportunity to speak with your most desired guests, you will easily be able to find more of the same.
Another Consideration for Guest Selection
There is another consideration for guest selection beyond those listed above, and that is how comfortable with and proficient in podcast-type discussion the guest will be. There are various ways you can judge this: if you encounter potential guests as speakers at conferences, you can be fairly certain that they will be comfortable speaking in a (virtual) public forum. Seeing them speak, or speaking with them one-on-one, will give you a sense of how smooth a speaker they are: lots of "um's" and "you know's" shouldn't necessarily knock someone out of the running as a potential guest, but factor in possible additional editing time.
There's also the hard-to-define consideration of how dynamic a speaker they are--I've listened to people talk about what kind of accounting software they use and have been riveted, and I've listened to people talk about their scuba-diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef and been bored. You want to find more of the first for (and eliminate more of the second from) your podcast, so always try at least to find an online video or recording of the potential guest so you can get a sense of which they are.
There's also the hard-to-define consideration of how dynamic a speaker they are--I've listened to people talk about what kind of accounting software they use and have been riveted, and I've listened to people talk about their scuba-diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef and been bored. You want to find more of the first for (and eliminate more of the second from) your podcast, so always try at least to find an online video or recording of the potential guest so you can get a sense of which they are.
Interview Confirmation
Once you have confirmed the guest and the time of the recording, send them an invite with the recording information (e.g., Zoom) and separately send them an email confirming our arrangements, topics to be covered, and logistics. (I recommend sending the invite and the email separately because I find that meeting invites tend to go missing more often that emails.) Below is a template should you care to use it!
Subject: The Indy Author Podcast Prep - <Guest Full Name>
<Guest first name>, thank you for agreeing to be a guest on The Indy Author Podcast! I have provided some details for you below--I'm looking forward to our chat.
Logistics
Topic: <Topic>
Best,
<Your name>
<Copy in the meeting access information (e.g., URL, password) from the meeting invite.>
<Provide links to your website / social media sites / etc. so that the guest can easily learn more about you.>
<Guest first name>, thank you for agreeing to be a guest on The Indy Author Podcast! I have provided some details for you below--I'm looking forward to our chat.
Logistics
- The interview is scheduled for <date and time, including time zones (yours and the guest's)> via <Zoom videoconferencing or other platform> (recording both audio for the podcast and video for YouTube). I have sent you an invite with the information for the <Zoom> meeting, and have provided the information below. We will have a chance to chat a bit and get settled before I start recording.
- I will plan to pull your photo and bio from <provide link (or request this material if you can't find it online)>, but if you'd like me to use something different, just let me know.
- We will aim for ~<target duration> minutes.
- Click here for some great tips for podcasts guests from Forbes.
- If you need to contact me urgently, please feel free to call or text me at <mobile number>.
Topic: <Topic>
- <List pre-prepared questions>
Best,
<Your name>
<Copy in the meeting access information (e.g., URL, password) from the meeting invite.>
<Provide links to your website / social media sites / etc. so that the guest can easily learn more about you.>
