What’s The Story ? Podcast Interview Technique

From a listeners (and podcast editors) point of view, the worse kind of podcast interview is one where the interviewer has no idea on the story that they are trying to tell. As listeners, we want to be told a story, one that we can follow and learn something from. Along the way, good humoured conversation, tales of life experience, information about resources and case studies are all good. But the basic rules of Who, Why, What still apply.

If you’re not structuring your interview, you’re leaving the core content of your final episode to chance. At best it’s trusting to the keen ear and hard work of your podcast editor. So these key points will arm you with the basic ingredients that will give your listeners the context to enjoy the episode.

Grass roots podcasting is all about incremental growth and development. A little preparation and some notes will go a long way to ensuring your content is focused and compelling. Any conversation, or interview can go a number of different ways. So part of the skill of the interviewer is the journalist act of getting the story. You can choose what you feel is the most interesting for you and your audience. So that when the guest goes off at a tangent talking about their upbringing, their health, a guy they once met in the pub, you can assess the relevance and guide them back to the interesting facts that you know your listeners subscribe to your podcast for.

In a previous article, “Word Wars” we covered some of the conversational ticks and tactics that you may find useful.

Who is your guest

No need to get down to their marks at school or where they did their higher education degree. Your introduction needs to supply the most portable version of their elevator pitch. What qualifies your guest to be in that position? “Melanie Bloggs was the most viewed YouTube influencer in Europe when she was 14, and started her first business from her bedroom 3D printing Minecraft figures, 15 years and three businesses later she is the world leading expert on innovation in off site fabrication of next generation high rise buildings”

Why are we listening?

Listeners need a foundation in order to start processing new information. It may be obvious to you and your guest, but giving a clear context will be useful to everyone. This will vary for everyone, but take a moment to focus your “why?” Will we learn something for our own benefit by listening, will be be inspired in our own lives ? Will we laugh ? Will we gain an important overview of the industry, or update our knowledge?

What will we hear ?

Good humored conversation ? Inspiring anecdotes? State of the art information? I once had an inspiring teacher who identified the pursuit of art as an inquiry into the underlying nature of things. Using different tools to explore “what is it ?” and express that in a way that gets beneath the surface appearance.

So, applying this to our Art of Podcasting, take a moment to think about what actually is it that you’re creating. If you can identify what this is, then let your listeners know and they’ll be able to jump right in and gain the most benefits from your production.

The next job is to subtly guide your interviewee so that they tell the story in their own words. More on question formats in the next article.

Photo by Eternal Seconds on Unsplash