Welcome to my podcasting for companies page.
Here I want to talk about what makes a good podcast and why it’s important to have a journalist conduct the interviews for your channel.
In my opinion, good podcasts are all about good interviews.
What do I mean? The interviewer should be a conversationalist who genuinely listens, who is really curious about the subject, and who helps the source convey his or her ideas in a compelling way with good questions at the right moment.
What is strategic interviewing?
Like I say on my strategic interviewing page, good interviews are those in which the journalist finds out all the audience needs to know and does so in a way that leaves the interviewee feeling good and able to shine.
Strategic interviews are not attacks – neither frontal nor subtle. They are not for use in political theater. Ideally, they are conversations.
When an interview is strategic, that means it was conducted in a sophisticated way, was organized around story, and was motivated by a sincere desire to learn and/or help the subject clarify his thoughts.
A quest to understand? Or the interviewer's own stage?
5 interview pitfalls
- The interviewer smiles a lot with a knowing, uppity look
- The interviewer gives too much irrelevant information about him or herself
- The interviewer’s questions are long and convoluted
- The interviewer’s questions are designed to show his or her own knowledge of the topic instead of the ineterviewee’s
- The interviewer’s questions are really statements masked as questions
Rhea's interview approach
One of my interviewing role models is Bill Moyers. I am a big fan of his work and techniques.
In my interviews, I try to :
- Interview in a structured way. Tailor my questions to my tentative story outline.
- When someone is getting vague, I use a short interjection that is a question:
- Because?
- Example, please?
- What do you mean by that?
- What does that mean? (Differs the above)
- Repeat back to the source. “I understand you to say…. and then provide my own summary”
Rhea's Corporate Podcasting Services
Podcast & Radio Interviews
On-Camera Interviews
On-Stage / Event Interviews and Moderation
In-person interviews – Knowledge and Process Capture
Takeaways from a recent podcasting course with Craig Kopp
Style tips
In your interviews:
- Make flow happen.
- Get in performance mode.
- Understand that the interview is your story.
Practical matters
- 15-20 minutes is the sweet spot length for an audio interview.
- If you have a quality recording from the beginning, you won’t need fancy editing/cutting techniques
- Leave in a few ums and ahs – we’re all human after all.