So you want to be a better interviewer?

Then check out these 13 tips from a conversation with Andrew Warner, the OG podcaster, that I was part of.

For the uninitiated, Andrew Warner runs Mixergy, one of the most prominent startup podcasts in the world. He has done 1000+ interviews with people like founders of Y Combinator and Wikipedia, among others.

13 Tips for Better Podcast Interviews

You’ll find:

• 4 tips on RESEARCH
• 3 tips on BETTER CONVERSATIONS
• 2 tips on FINDING GUESTS
• 2 tips on EDITS
• 1 each on AUTOMATION and TOOLS to use.

RESEARCH

1/ Make sure you research who you interview, even for 10 or 30 minutes. Focus your research on what you are interested in, and then build your questions around what’s missing – what you could not find in your research.

2/ Get help with research. Use a virtual assistant. (Andrew uses Fancy Hands).

3/ Set up alerts for your guests and when their names show up in the media, hype them up on social media. Again, use virtual assistants for this.

4/ Check guests’ social handles and see what they have been talking about recently and what they care about.

FINDING NEW GUESTS

5/: Look for people who are huge in small communities on a topic that your audience is interested in.

6/ Ask your guests – who else should interview to learn more about this – and when they give you one name, keep going and ask for more names.

FOR HAVING FOCUSED CONVERSATIONS

7/ If a guest goes on a tangent, just say – “I am sorry to interrupt, but….,” then tell why you are interrupting.

For example, your reason can be to keep the conversation focused or to know something about them that they haven’t shared till then.

8/ Say to the guest in the beginning, “In this interview, we will cover this,” When they stray, bring them back using the tip above.

9/ If you are vulnerable, people are likely to open up but keep it balanced and don’t make it a cry baby show.

EDIT OR NOT TO EDIT

10/ Editing makes the process long and tedious, especially when guests are involved. 

11/ To make sure that you don’t have to edit it, own up when you make mistakes while recording and/or put it out in your intake form that shows are not edited, or editing is at your discretion.

TOOLS & AUTOMATION 

12/ Have a form for inviting speakers and advertisers to your podcast site even if you are early in your podcasting journey. 

13/ Pipedrive (CRM), Otter.ai and @Rev (Transcriptions), Krisp.ai (for Background noise reduction), FancyHands (US Based Assistants), Fiverr (For sourcing assistants globally), OnlyPod (Podcast Promotion), and PodInbox (Fan Engagement and Donations).

Hope you find value in these ideas.