3 Tips for Running a Great Podcast

What you should do before you record your first episode

I just filmed my first interview for my podcast. Leading up to the interview, I wondered how it would go. To my surprise, it went really well.

There were specific things that I did leading to my first interview that heavily contributed to its success.

Set a Filming Time

Whenever you are interviewing someone, there is always the hassle of nailing down a time best for both of you. Now, imagine if you are interviewing one person a week!

That is a lot of back and forth with emails trying to schedule all of your interviews.

Therefore, choose a filming time! It should be a time that you know you can keep consistently.

Once you have a guest, you would like to have on, you can let them know the time of filming. I like to ask if they can meet at that time and if not to provide 3 alternative times to meet.

Most people can meet the time, which cuts out so much work for me.

Why it helps your podcast?

• You do not waste your or your guests' time finding a time.
• You have predictability in your schedule from week to week.
• You can implement planned prep time to create better podcast episodes.

Draft a Pre-interview Questionnaire

Before I sent out any information to my first guest, I made a pre-interview questionnaire. This was a simple document I drafted including some key information about the podcast, confirming the time, and asking some questions that were important prior to the interview.

Some information I included requested that the guest wear headphones during the interview, the podcast will use both the video and audio components, and when to expect a link to the meeting.

Here is a list of the questions I asked:

• Please provide a headshot or image of you for promotional material?
• What is your preferred name and pronouns (please also share the pronunciation)?
• What is your current position (s)?
• Are there specific questions that you would like to be asked during the interview?
• Do you have a call to action you would like placed at the end of the episode?
• Please include links to your website, YouTube channel, and social media profiles/handles below.

When informing my guest of being invited on the podcast, I simply included this document to capture all the information. In the email, I would suggest 2–3 open dates and ask them to respond with the answers to the questions and their choice of dates. Therefore, when I received a response, I had everything I needed to proceed with the interview.

Why it helps your podcast?

• You spend less time asking for information and drafting your invitation emails.
• You have the basic information and can practice your guest’s name pronunciation ahead of time.
• You have a list of potential questions to ask.
• You already have all the links that you will need to include for your podcast.

Send a List of Questions Before the Interview

As a podcast guest, one thing that causes me anxiety is not knowing what questions they will ask me during the interview. The worst thing is getting asked an uncomfortable during the middle of a podcast interview and attempting to answer it.

Therefore, to ease my guest’s nerves and my own, I email one week in advance with all the questions that I plan on asking. In this email, I ask my guests to respond if there are questions they are uncomfortable with. This allows me to remove these questions from my list before the interview even begins.

Why it helps your podcast?

• It will prepare your guests for your questions and can give well-thought-out responses.
• It eliminates potential awkward situations that can arise from uncomfortable questions.
• It prepares you for your podcasts a week before the recording or filming date.

Make Your First Podcast a Success

When you are starting your podcast, there are so many things you need to keep track of. To make things easier for you and your guests, there are ways to simplify booking guests and preparing for your interviews.

To make your first podcast episode a success, make sure you complete these things before your first interview:

• Set a recurring podcast recording time.
• Develop a pre-interview guest information sheet and questionnaire to make it easy to give the same information to all your guests.
• Make sure you sending your guest specific questions prior to the interview.