So You've Been Invited to a Podcast

Now what?

Whether or not the host sent you instructions, there are many things you can do to prepare for your recording.

Here is a list of recommendations for going on a podcast.

Understand Your Own Goals

The goal of the podcast host is to maintain their own professional reputation. This may be to put on a good show, to make you look good (so that you recommend friends), to find the best sound bites, to extract the knowledge you have that they find most interesting, or other personal goals like gathering solutions from people on a specific problem they care about and then making the solutions public. The podcast host may have any number of motivations, and it is good to research their goals and style before going on the show.

One of the beauties of the medium of the podcast is how natural it sounds, like a conversation you are overhearing. There are elements of podcasts you love as a listener that feel really natural and improvised, as if people are simply following their interests and instincts and saying what they think. Finally a breath of fresh air!

However, don’t assume that the most important things to you will come out of you naturally. Do not assume that as soon as you are in the podcasting room, the podcast muse will come and you will speak differently than you have spoken in the rest of your entire life.

Many parts of these conversations are more planned than you might see just by watching. For example, someone who has written a book has already thought carefully about how to best explain their most complicated ideas, noticed what resonates with people during book tours, noticed what questions people ask over and over, and would have had a lot of practice refining how they communicate their message. A lot of podcast guests are people who have written a book that had caught the host’s attention. Therefore, the “natural talking” from such a person would actually be quite practiced!

Additionally, some people naturally enjoy performing and constantly tweak what they say based on feedback from others. They pay attention to audience reactions and adjust as they go. Others never do this at all. Don’t assume that, just because someone seems natural, it’s pure improvisation. Some of it might be the result of deep familiarity with their material, while in other cases, people actively practice how they like to talk about their work.

It is important to think about what you want to talk about on the show, and what you may want to avoid talking about. This is not “being fake” but rather lets you respect your audience by thinking about what you want to be telling them using the medium you have.

Respect the Time Limit

You do not want to be in a situation where you plant seeds at the start of the conversation that you cannot follow up on in the allotted time period. In filmmaking, you do not want to introduce a gun in Act 1 that does not go off in Act 4.

People tend to overestimate how many complex topics they can cover in two hours, especially when they want to explore topics in depth. You won’t be able to present an entire philosophical case in two hours. Think about an average college lecture and how much can be covered—expect a similar amount for a podcast episode, simply because of time constraints.

Know Your Story

A common mistake is assuming the podcast host will know how to draw out your story in a way that makes you look like the best version of yourself.

You should do this work before the recording, ideally with someone who knows how to help you shape your story. This could be the podcast host if they know you very well and are willing to help, but many podcast hosts won’t do this. If you read books about hosts like Oprah, you’ll hear about their “magic” ability to draw out people’s stories. However, most people in podcasting today aren’t Oprah and may have other interests other than extracting your most beautiful story, so don’t expect them to do this for you. In fact, many podcasters now take an approach of simply letting the guest talk while they listen and nod.

Some podcasters do a lot of research, and some do not. Note also that they can’t research things that you’ve never written publicly about or spoken to them about before. If you want to use the podcast to present new ideas you haven’t published anywhere else, remember that the host won’t know about them ahead of time and thus won’t be able to plan questions about that material.

This ties back to Understanding Your Own Goals. If some of your goals are to introduce new concepts into the world, you could think about what existing starting points the host may start with to get to where you want to go.

Don’t expect the interviewer to always fill the time well. Sometimes interviewers—like Joe Rogan—are interesting enough to carry a monologue, but not all will do this. Be ready to take up the time yourself, and check their style by watching their show to notice the ratio of interviewer versus guest speaking and their style of questions.

Many podcasters claim that good or bad episodes depend more on the guest than on anything the host does. Take this as a hint to prepare what you want to talk about because you will know your story better than they could.

Be Proactive With Communication

A good podcaster will ask you any names or words that they should know the pronunciation and spelling of (including your own). Don’t be shy about being proactive with communication beforehand. If there is a book you are working on, or a research project that you will want to talk about or will want them to ask questions about, let them know! Like legislators, they appreciate notes and briefs because it makes their life easier.

Perhaps they might not want to talk about the topic you want to talk about because they have a specific topic they want to talk about instead of yours, but then you will know this information rather than being thrown off guard.

Don’t Play Tennis, Eat Cake Instead

You could treat podcasting like a game of tennis, but it probably won’t go perfectly if you do. It isn’t ping-pong either. They ask a question. You answer. If the audience wanted this they would just go watch actual tennis. You don’t have to just answer their question, hoping they will lead the conversation to where you hope it would go.

If the host knows you extremely well and you know their style and you have talked about your topic together before, you can imagine a white board that both of you are drawing on, with words, for the audience.

But there is another image if you do not know them very well.

Developing a podcast episode is less like scriptwriting, and more like architecture. It’s weaving story through time.

Over an hour or two, different stories, ideas, and information get unveiled, hinted at, and expanded on. The main way that something gets uncovered is through the question, but nobody has to answer the question or stay with the question.

Imagine a room, with lots of little tables, with tablecloths. On the tables are the little cloches that littles cakes are in, with the lids, that fancy waiters lift up for you to present you your food. You can’t see the food inside, but you can point to a table and go to the waiter and ask “what’s that.” That’s the role of the podcasting host. A good host might have an intuition that inside is a good story, but they don’t actually know.

The podcasting host points to things, and then it is your job to do the “reveal.” You can even not reveal the one he is pointing to. “Oh this one? This one that’s all silver? You don’t really want that one right now. You want this gold one right here.”

And this is how a dance starts to develop. When there is chemistry between the host and the guest, there is a dance happening here on this dimension between the pointing and the revealing that both parties seem to understand. This is different from having normal chemistry in real life in that in real life, there are many ways to have all kinds of chemistry — work chemistry, sexual chemistry, play chemistry — and some of these might be useful for podcasts, and some may not!

Your Host is Always On Your Team

If your host asks you “edgy” questions, you don’t have to treat them as such. They may expect you to handle it well given what they know about you, offer a contrary viewpoint as a way to incite conversation, or try to spark a certain kind of conversation to orient your audience. Don’t assume the host is trying to go against you when they do this. Take every question from the host as an opportunity to advance your own goals. Assume the host is on your side, and even if they aren’t, act as if you do. This way, you still present yourself well—whether you’re doing what they want or not. If the interviewer asks something provocative, assume they’re doing this as a favor to you.

Podcasts are their own unique art form. There are many styles. Watch a few different episodes from different hosts, to see how it works as an art form and how you can use it to your advantage!