How to Host an Engaging Podcast Interview

Following up on our recent article, Cross Promotions: How to Use Interviews to Reach a New Audience.’ Use these quick tips to help you start creating engaging interviews.

Start slow, fun and personal

Begin with a questions to get to know the interviewee and introduce yourselves to each audience. Have fun with it and don’t be afraid to make it personal. This relaxes the atmosphere, starts the conversation on safe ground, and let’s you get a sense of the where your interviewee is coming from. You’ll have more fun and sometimes you get a surprisingly good story too.

Ask what you don’t know

There’s a lawyer’s tip that advises you to only ask witnesses questions that you already know the answers to. We recommend you try the opposite instead. Ask questions on topics where you don’t know what the answer will be. It will be a more interesting and engaging interview.

Make some questions open ended

All interviews require you to ask specific questions that get answered with narrow data points. But often, the most interesting responses come from open-ended questions, such as, “What is your vision for this industry in the next 5-10 years?”

Coax, don’t hammer

We recommend going for an up-close, but soft interview style that either coaxes or connects in a natural level to reveal useful answers. Most importantly through, be yourself, have fun with it and let your personality show through.

Be prepared

Do your research beforehand and know the topics you want to discuss. Be prepared and let your interviewee know what you want to cover then find out what topics she or he would like to discuss – remember, when doing cross-promotional interviews as previously discussed, you want to appeal to both audiences.