There is more to podcasting and doing interviews than you may think, besides buying a lot of equipment!
Podcasting costs a lot to set up:
And you have to do a lot of editing to make your podcasts look professional. Here are a few sites you can check up on if you are interested in setting up for podcasting:
Note: There are many other websites that you can have a look at as well. And you have to consider if your country has the equipment available or if your order it over the internet.
But what we are going to discuss here, is the actual podcasting experience…
Doing podcast interviews:
Before you rush into buying the equipment, doing the actual interviews isn’t as easy as you may think.
Getting your act together:
First you must have a charming vibrant spoken voice, so people can hear you clearly. No stuttering or humming and haring.
That means knowing what you’re going to talk about. Getting your facts right before your start. List and streamline your facts in order of the topic’s activity play-out agenda.
And it pays too, to have a good technical team helping to prepare and edit your podcasts and videos, because… you need time to work-up and produce creative stuff, and writing up your blogs.
Selecting your quest speakers:
Research and choose quests according to their expert knowledge and personality to pull off a whacking good show.
And it’s nice if they have written a popular book or done some dynamic and exciting things in their lives, people want to hear more about.
Send them an invitation:
Say you admire their talents and were hoping they could share their expertise on a podcast with you, if it’s possible.
And tell them what topic you would like them to expand on, and what other things they think would help others be better achievers in that line.
Tell your quest how long you intend the podcast and when the podcast would probably take place, if they agree to take up the invitation.
No one will take up your invitation without knowing who you are, what your qualifications are and what you stand for. They want to know if you are professional and can trust you.
Once they accept the invite:
Be clear how you want the interview to be run:
Ask them to make a list of things (topics) they would like to talk about and send it to you as soon as it’s possible, so you both will be `on the same page,’ on the day.
Say what questions you’ll likely be asking: Such as, what started them off doing their thing? Why did they do it? How did they do it? Looking back now, how did they cope? Was there any peculiar instance along the way that they thought was really funny? Etc.
Also ask if they can relate to how they got successful in their field, because people like to hear success stories. It gives others hope that they too can achieve that success. A forthright, honest story `from rag to riches’ is most appealing.
At the actual interview:
Because most things have been planned a head of time, both you and your quest will feel comfortable to go on with the podcast.
Introduce yourself and straight away have a clear introduction as to what your topic is going to be all about.
And introduce your guest and say what field of talent your quest has, and what he or she can share with everyone that day.
Keep your mouth close to the microphone when talking. And when the quest is talking, keep the microphone away from you month. No one wants to hear heavy breathing!
Ask one question at a time. Keep the list of topic questions before you, so you can follow through easily and keep things on track and on time.
Be a good listener, so you don’t miss a precious gem of knowledge that will add more `flavour’ to the interview.
Or on the other hand there could be a sudden unwanted ‘elephant in the room’ you weren’t expecting. If you are fully alert, you can sensitively redirect the topic into safer `waters’!
And manners are important. Don’t keep interrupting when your quest is talking. Let their story spin out naturally. It’s more interesting that way.
I found that out years ago,
When I took a tape recorder and was hoping to record what my parents had done in their lives that I didn’t know about before, and something about their own parents too.
Well, going back and listening to the tape afterwards, I cringed when I heard how I interrupted what they were saying. In my endeavour to direct the conversation onto what I really wanted to know, the conversation became disjointed.
BBC Hard-talk!
And now, when I watch Hardtalk interviews on TV and see how the interviewer keeps rudely interrupting the quest while they are trying to answer questions. It makes me really cross.
It’s so rude and embarrassing. You feel so sorry for the guest.
Why do they ask questions if they don’t want to listen to the answer! Answers that the public are really wanting to hear about too!
