88. How to prepare for a podcast interview

If you're asked to be a guest on a podcast - say YES. It's a great opportunity to get your message out and practise speaking. A bit of prep goes a long way too. This episode offers lots of tips for how to set up your tech, work out what to say and most importantly prepare yourself (and voice) for the podcast interview.

Transcript

Hello, hello! Welcome to Episode 88 of That Voice Podcast, How to prepare for a podcast interview. Now, one of my clients emailed me recently and said, "Sal, I've got a podcast interview coming up. Do you have any resources or tips that you can send my way to help me prepare?" And I realized, yes, I have lots of tips, but no, I didn't have any resources. So thought it would make a great podcast episode: a podcast episode about podcast interviews. There you go. That's a bit of a tongue twister to get you prepared. So in this episode, I want to take you through some ideas for how you can prepare. Your set-up, like the equipment, your content, what you're going to say, and of course yourself, how you can prepare yourself. So you're not totally freaking out before you speak.

But first, quick question. Are your speaking skills holding you back in your business or career? Or are they sailing you forward? Are you thrown into speaking situations with no idea what the hell to do? Are you struggling to have influence to get your message heard across the meeting table or through the camera lens? If this is you, I would really love to invite you to join my membership community, Members Only. It is packed with practical tips about all aspects of voice and presentation. I hold monthly events, including master classes, hot seat coaching and open mic, which is your chance to practice your upcoming speech or run something by me. We're on our own Mighty Networks app, so you're off the noise of social media and you get an instant fan club, led of course by me. And if you join yearly or lifetime, I also ship out a welcome gift to you. So, stop flying blind and hoping for the best when it comes to your voice and speaking, join us in Members Only. The link is in the show notes or head to sallyprosser.com.au to join us!

Okay. Let's dive into today's episode.

And in Members Only, we have lots of people who have podcasts and all have been on podcasts. So if this is an area that you want to improve in, then come and join Members Only, you will fit in like a glove. Don't know if that saying works there. I think so. Yes, you will fit into the community like a glove. All right. So before we get into those three areas for preparing for your podcast, the set-up, the content and preparing yourself. It's worth pointing out that the worst podcast interview is the one that doesn't happen. All right. So it's really important to say yes to these opportunities. Reasons for saying no to a podcast interview opportunity would be it not aligning with your values or feeling like you'll get nothing out of it. Reasons not to say no include being too nervous, thinking that you're not the right person to speak on it, feeling like you don't have the right tech. Don't shoot yourself in the foot before you get started!

Say yes, not only is it a great way to grow your profile and get your message out, but it's really good practice for speaking. And believe me, the more you do, the better you'll get. So say yes. All right. So a good podcast host will generally give you a little bit of a rundown of how it works. They'll be telling you how long the interview is for, whether it's audio or audio and video. They'll also give you a heads up on some of the questions. If they don't just ask them, okay? What do they need? Although sometimes you're invited to be on a podcast and you say yes, like you're doing them a favor and then you have to fill out a form. It's like war and peace, just to be honest. So I don't do that to my guests. If you want to be on my podcast and I invite you, I make it as pain-free as possible, but I digress.

I digress. Back to how you can prepare. So with your set-up, you want to have good wifi. You want to have a separate microphone. So please, do not just use your laptop microphone. Use a separate microphone or ear buds are fine as well. Be in a quiet place, a quiet place with soft furnishing. So you're looking at like a bedroom or a lounge room even, but nothing that's too spacious because that will just not be good for the audio quality. If it is just audio, then that's all you need to worry about. If it's video as well, then of course you have to consider your camera set-up. So have you got the light behind the camera? Are you framed? Are you looking at the lens when you're answering the questions? So there are extra things to consider. So they're the main things. Good wifi and good audio.

Now with the content, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Why are you going on this podcast? What are you hoping to get out of it? What is it for? Will it help you grow your profile? It could just be to make good connections. One of the things I love about my podcast is the opportunity to meet all of my guests that I have on. So it's a really good way to build relationships. So there's lots of reasons to go on a podcast, decide what that reason is for you. Then write down some key stories or takeaways that match that. So if you're going on a podcast to promote your business, then what are some key takeaways that you want your listeners to take? And this can be linked to what your call to action is. And your call to action is what do you want the listeners to do? So how can they contact you? Is there a freebie that you're going to give away? What are you available for? Do you want everybody to connect with you on LinkedIn or do you not want a hundred LinkedIn messages? And you want him to go to a website? Work out what that call to action is. So after people have finished listening to your episode, they take that next step.

Now, even if it is audio or video, whether it's in-person or not, it's still totally fine to have a couple of things jotted down. If you would like to, I really believe that notes, like I've said in previous episodes can trip you up, but more than help you. There's more chance of the conversation flowing naturally if you're not sort of relying on your notes. And this goes for hosting as well, you need to listen to your guests and to ask questions that flow on from the answer, rather than just sticking to an arbitrary list of questions. But I find like, if there's going to be a sell, what are your top five tips or your top tip for confidence or speaking, I will have a couple that are written down. And that just saves you on the day going, "Oh, there's so many, I don't know this or that." And you can be quite focused in your answer. So that's the content.

Then the most important thing is to prepare yourself, prepare your voice. So do a little voice and speech warmup beforehand. We've done lots of these in other episodes. So you're wanting to do a nice hum. Hmm. A E I O U. Just getting your voice warmed up in your mouth and your lips and your jaw. Deep breaths. Take some deep belly breaths, listen to some music, put your theme song on dance around the room. Just anything that really helps you feel more calm. And then make sure during the interview you have water on hand. The last thing you want to be competing with is a dry, scratchy throat. It's completely fine to have a drink during the podcast interview. And I'm often drinking while recording these and mine are only 10 minutes long. That's totally fine.

So there you have it. There's not too much to it. The main thing is to back yourself. There's a reason you've been asked to be a guest on a podcast, lean into that. Use your mantras. There's a reason I'm on this podcast. I have something valuable to say. And then just make sure you're set up with your equipment, your wifi and your audio. Have a bit of a think about the content. Why are you going on this podcast? What are some key stories you want to tell or takeaways that you want to give? And then warm up beforehand, mindset, body, breath, have your water there, and go out there and nail it! Now, if any of you have been on a podcast, please email me with the link so I can listen to it. I've been a guest on lots of podcasts and I haven't always got it right. I've stumbled and fumbled and accidentally been on video when I thought it was only audio, and I've not offered a freebie or given any real clear call to action. And I've gotten off the podcast interview and thought, "Oh gosh, I might have squandered that a little bit!" But you know, it's just onto the next one, onto the next one. And I think, okay, that's something I can think about for next time." And I'd really encourage you to join Members Only. If you'd like that supportive community in times like this, when you're asked to speak on a podcast, "Oh my gosh, what do I do? I'm freaking out." You'll have the community there for advice, there to cheer you on. And also there for feedback once you do it. So I'd really encourage you to join us in Members Only. You can head to the link in the show notes or my website, sallyprosser.com.au.

Sally Prosser