How To Prep Interview Guests?

Our clients always ask us, how much should I prep my interview guest?

Christina: Keep in mind that some interview guests are really organized, and they really need to know everything, they want to know exactly how it's all going to work. Other people are much more spontaneous, and they prefer to go with the flow. So first thing, it's really important to understand who is your guest? And how much did they need to feel comfortable?

Aaron: But don't over prep them, give them a few questions. Let them know what the takeaways from the podcast are going to be, you know, help them feel comfortable. It's more about the comfort level of the person being interviewed. It's not about, okay let's give them every question, and let's have them map out what they're going to answer, then it becomes canned, then it becomes less engaging.

Because what then happens is that they over-prepare, or maybe they'll bring notes and they might even end up reading of their notes, which you do not want.

You want it to be more of a conversation, so what I like to do for my interview guests is to say, "Here are some questions I may ask, Here's the general flow of questions that I may ask". But what I'm more interested in prepping the guests for is how the interview will actually work and then how is the podcast going to look like when it's published. Just so they have a really clear understanding of how it's all going to work, what is expected of them, and what's going to happen to the podcast afterwards.

Aaron: When you're organizing the call, give yourself an extra 10 or 15 minutes at the start, to have that conversation, where you get into the flow of talking to the person. Don't just get on, press record, and then start asking questions. Going like that from a cold start is always going to make it more difficult for you as the host and also for the person being interviewed.

Christina: So we'd love to hear from you, "What tips do you have for making your interview guests feel comfortable?" or "How much do you prep them?" Comment below we would love to hear your thoughts.

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