How do you begin your podcast interviews?
There are many ways to introduce your guest.
For most shows, the wrong way begins like this:
“Steve. We are really excited to have you on the podcast today. Tell us a little about yourself.”
What the heck am is the guest going to say?
“Um. Yeah. Hi. I'm Steve Stewart and I live in St. Louis. My wife and I have been married for 18 years and my daughter just got her driver's license. We have a dog named Cooper who just loves to chase squirrels.”
So. What's your follow-up question gonna be?
Yeah. It's going to be a lot of unnecessary chit-chat unless you take a hard left and drive the conversation where it should be going.
A simple tip for avoiding a bad introduction
Until you come up with your own way of introducing your guests, remember this simple tip:
Consider this: How do you thank your guest for appearing on your show?
“Thanks, Pat Flynn, for being on my show”.
So, if you don't have a good open to avoid unnecessary chit-chat, flip your closing statement around and say,
“Pat, welcome to the show”
Get to the meat quickly
Even if your show is focused on getting to know someone's origin story, or to know them personally, you will want to get to the meat of the conversation right away.
Studies have shown that talk about the weather or an unrelated topic (like a regular season game on a non-sports podcast) cause more people to hit the SKIP button.
Your listener came to listen to your show, not about the guest's previous night at the movies.
Avoid hearing the same origin story AGAIN
One more tip about introducing guests to your podcast:
If you are having someone on to talk about a specific topic, but they are known for their rise-to-success story (think Pat Flynn's LEED exam blog and ebook), then tell that story yourself in a short introduction.
Joe Saul-Sehy from Stacking Benjamins says,
“Intro your guest YOURSELF like they're the biggest radio bad-ass to ever appear on a podcast. It helps your listener engage, gives your show an upbeat mood, and helps save your guest from sinking themselves and your show with a first-minute sales pitch.”
This eliminates the need for the guest to tell their story AGAIN, and gets right into the topic of the episode.
Host: “Hi Pat. Welcome to the show”
Pat Flynn: “Thanks Steve. It's great to be here”
Host: “Pat, I was reading your book “Will it fly”. What I found most interesting was the chapter about….”
Suddenly you are talking about the book and not how Pat Flynn got to become Pat Flynn.
(You do know who Pat Flynn is, right?)
Take-aways:
Your guest is appearing on your show for a reason.
Prop them up with #madd credibility in the show introduction so your audience isn't left wondering, “Who is this guy and why should I care?”
Then get to the meat of the subject with your guest as fast as you can.
To avoid a bad guest introduction, simply say “Welcome to the show”.
Your audience will thank you.