😬 Podcast Mastery: How to prevent a conversational black hole

I'd love to be considered a world-class podcast guest one day and I’ve noticed that the ones who are do something differently…

Most podcasts start the interview by introducing the guest, reeling off all their accolades finishing with…

The result? A conversational black hole 🕳️

It forces us to answer ‘Thanks for having me’ and then we wait for their first question. It’s slow, predictable and pretty awkward.

Unless you come armed ready to skip the niceties and get straight into the good stuff.

Case and point? This 100-second clip from Rory Sutherland’s interview with Steven Bartlett on the Diary Of A CEO Podcast… 🍿

The easiest way to do this is to acknowledge the welcome with a bridge statement. For example…

Three huge benefits to this approach 👇

1. The audience gets value upfront ⚜️
   Which makes you look really good. It can take time for podcast hosts to warm into the interview. By grabbing the conversation from the horns you’re signalling to the interviewer you’re ready to go all in.
   

2. Your message will reach peak listenership 📉

   There’s only one direction that audience drop-off is going and that is down. Controlling the early narrative of the interview gives you the chance to influence who stays and who doesn’t. Especially if you can tap into relatable and relevant topics.

3. Your interviewer will ask a better next question 🥷 
   What the clip above doesn’t show you is that this tactic enabled Steven to ask a question that extracted even more gold from the point that was just made. This is important because the best podcast hosts ask selfish questions. They don't ask questions on behalf of their audience, they ask questions for themselves.

Give it a try on your next podcast and let me know how you get on!

Alex

p.s. I’m bringing together a small group of leaders who want to create a TED-style talk to deliver at conferences in 2024. Reply to this message with the word ‘visionary’ for more info.*