As business owners starting our own podcast means lots of spinning plates and moving parts. In the pursuit of keeping all those plates spinning, we might forget what it means to be a professional podcaster. This conversation is entirely focused on that.
In this episode you will:
- Learn what it means to be a ‘Professional Podcaster’
- Understand how to avoid some of the basic sound quality mistakes business owners make unconsciously
- Learn to look at your podcast like a radio host
- Take a deeper look at how to feel comfortable in your own skin as a podcaster.
- We answer a question about how to avoid interviews that have been prescripted.
- Rethink your strategy about getting your guest to share your podcast episode.
- Understand how your podcast can get you access to dream business relationships.
- Hear us talk about how to prepare really well for a meaningful interview.
- Learn how you could use simple communication to make sure your guest always shows up.
- Think differently about making sure your guest is prepared for the best interview.
- We talk in-depth about having contingency plans.
All this and more, on this week’s episode of Should I Start A Podcast.
Psst … make sure you listen to the end … I’ll break down this episode to give you 3 small steps you can execute right now to help you take this listening experience into execution experience. Enjoy the show.
After you listen to this episode I would love you to do 3 small steps that will help you be more of a professional podcaster:
- Be serious about your podcast. Keep trying to be better. Commit to that.
- If you haven’t got your microphone situation sorted – that’s what you do first.
- Make your list of in-case Sh*t happens scenarios.
What you pick as your strategies to grow will depend on where you are at in your business. Pick the strategy that is right for where you are at and not for where you want to be.
These are 3 small steps that if you execute, irrespective of where you are at in your business and podcasting journey will make a huge impact on your making your podcast more profitable & more impactful.
If this is the first episode you’ve listened to all the way to the end or if you are a regular, thank you … I love that you are here. Check out our back catalogue on ShouldIStartAPodcast.com, subscribe to the show and give me a review and rating, it really helps us get found more.
If you are a business owner podcaster and want to join others just like you in a group where we share tactics & ideas on what’s working (or not) for us when it comes to using our podcast in the best possible way. For more on that go to wearepodcast.com/group … it is free.
We Are Podcast 2022 – It is happening this year. For the latest announcements on Australia’s first podcasting conference for business owners, join the free group wearepodcast.com/group
If you’ve never heard of our work before, there are 3 things that I think you would benefit from right now…
1. Listen to this playlist of How to Podcast for Business.
2. Get the the Recurring Results Roadmap (if you haven’t already).
3. Check out this video about a business builder who is closing high-ticket clients with his podcast.
Having worked with thousands of business owners to create a podcast for their business, I’ve created The Recurring Results Roadmap for Podcasters™.
It’s a step-by-step guide to growing your business to 7+ figures using your podcast.
Importantly, it removes the guesswork so you know exactly what to focus on at all times to generate that recurring revenue.
The best part? It’s personalised, free and it lets you get started straight away.
Download The Recurring Results Roadmap for Podcasters™ here.
If this is your first time here, this is Should I Start A Podcast. I’m Ronsley Vaz. Each week you’ll hear me, and a star-studded guest lineup, dig deep into the podcasting process. We’ll bring you tactics, tips and tricks to use in your own podcasting journey. We’ll teach you how to build an audience. And we’ll show you how to keep them coming back, show after show.
So if you want to start a podcast, or expand your current audience, this is the show for you.
Here is the transcript of the entire episode for those who like to read …
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
podcast, interview, people, prepared, guests, questions, recording, person, voice, james, read, preparation, book, listen, confirming, radio, point, sound quality, conversation, thought
SPEAKERS
James Whittaker, Ronsley Vaz, Bettina, Sandy Waters, Catharina Joubert, Manny, Holly Shannon, Anna Vocino
Ronsley Vaz 00:08
indicator one, this is launch control. Please advise when preflight checklist is complete with indicator one. Flight is complete. All indicators read Green.
Anna Vocino 00:20
This is should I start a podcast, a show for business owners looking for tips, tricks and ingenious hacks when it comes to growing a business using their podcast. This is your host Ronsley. He’s interviewed more than 1400 people and has been listened to over 5 million times in 133 countries, a TED speaker, author and a podcast purist who believes that we can use our voices to grow our business and our influence, you know, because every conversion in any business always happens in a conversation. And now Ronsley.
Ronsley Vaz 01:03
All right, ladies and gentlemen, we’re gonna talk about podcasting. And we’ve talked about podcasting for Business and Professional podcasters. What does that look like sound like? And I have a bunch of different ideas here. But what I’d love to do is just get an idea from the people here in the room, especially the people on the panel who are on here, but anyone in the room as well. What do you think of when someone says, that’s a professional podcast? What comes to mind for you? What are the different elements that make a podcast professional,
Holly Shannon 01:30
you know, I listen to a lot of podcasts, I was should probably say that was a certified podcast junkie before I started my own. So I’ve seen all sorts of techniques and formulas throughout the years. And to me, a professional podcaster. Once you break away from all of the technical pieces, in part, I truly believe it’s somebody that shows up to that mic with an insane amount of curiosity, and has done enough due diligence to navigate the interview and share what people came there for. But at the same time, keep the nuance that is genuine conversation in play through the whole thing. And to me, when I hear podcasts like that, I will show up week after week to hear it. I’m always aiming towards that. I don’t know if I’ve hit the nail on the head. But that’s my evaluation.
James Whittaker 02:24
I think that’s a good point, Holly, for me, with a podcast, you need to be able to get a little bit of time and to find out whether that person’s legit or not. And if someone’s got really bad sound quality, I just can’t get into it, it stops there. So to me having a professional podcast must have at least an okay, level of sound quality. And then it’s how effortless the host is able to inject things like humor and entertainment and show through the questions that they’re asking and the research that they have done, how well they respect their guests. And when you obviously for an interview style show. And when you do that, and as a listener, it sounds so effortless, but you get a ton of value out of it, rather than it being really crap audio quality, or just stacked with ads, ads, ads, ads, ads, you know, straight away that the host of that show is focusing on Give, give give what are they doing to provide that transformation for their audience, rather than trying to provide that transformation for their own bank account?
Anna Vocino 03:16
Yeah, that’s very true. And like Holly, I’ve jumped all around podcasts as a listener, you know, there’s some that you just vibe with. It’s almost like clubhouse. So when you hear the person’s voice, you almost kind of know it really resonates. And sound quality two drives me nuts. James drives me absolutely a wall batty crazy. That being said, Gary Vee, who I adore, who has wonderful messaging can oftentimes have literally the crappiest sound ever. And it’s driving me crazy. I won’t listen to those ones. Like if I can’t physically hear the person who’s interviewing, I won’t listen to it. I’ll move on to something again, but it doesn’t seem to impede him. And I don’t want to ride him and be like one of those people, but I’m also like, Dude, you’re Gary Vee, get your sound dialed in. But he’s also like, dude, I’m Gary Vee. I don’t have to like, do whatever I want. If you’re not Gary Vee, get your sound dialed in. But let me say this, as somebody who was on television, and who did a ton of interviews to promote whatever series I was on, you’d have to do what’s called Radio tours. And the publicist for the network would get you all ready. And you have to get up at 4am and certify them, at least on the west coast to start with the east coast radio stations and you would do like 30 radio station interviews in three and a half hours. And they would have you on like these 10 minutes chunks. And you do a quick thing and the radio stations knew nothing about you or your show, they did not care. And it became really apparent like almost What a joke it was, you know, and I thought it was a really impractical way of networks to promote their shows. And obviously, I was on shows that weren’t exciting like if I was on like the hit show it people would have been like, oh, yeah, that show we’re glad to have you on so that that doesn’t make a difference too. But I have found being a podcaster that it really informed like I want to be completely knowledgeable and who I’m going to have on and as a producer I overproduced because that my experience with these I’m telling you these radio. Hey, listen to a radio station and who was this and a buck you know, like I was like, shut up. I hate you at these terrible DJs like these horrible radio stations in morning shows, and they don’t give a shit, I don’t blame them. So I learned from that. And then I also, Vinnie, and I had a defining moment, because we’re always very prepared, although you listen to us and we can, like, go on tangents and go off the rails, but we always bring it back in. And we have very good chemistry, but we had on the author of omega, which is called Green brain, Dr. Perlmutter. And at one point, we were interviewing him and you know, we’re always fun and light hearted, but we are asking serious questions and wanting to answer this stuff, but we don’t take it so seriously, if that makes sense. And he goes, Wow, I thought I was expecting you guys to be total fucking idiots. What he said. And we were like, Well, glad we could pleasantly surprise you. Because you can be fun and also knowledgeable the same time but I just wanted to share that so the podcast to me are the ones that are entertaining. Plus, they’re like on their game plus the sound quality all those things I’m
Sandy Waters 05:44
gonna leave now because Anna I work in radio currently and a morning show.
Anna Vocino 05:48
So it was Oh my god. I obviously didn’t mean your station, y’all. I’m just teasing. I’m not wrong, though. You know what I’m talking about? No, you
Sandy Waters 05:56
know what it is? It’s the old school radio guys. Ego I get it. I totally get it. But we’ve evolved now to because now the world is very conversational. And what once worked, then is that what works now. So I find there’s a lot of similarities with morning radio now an podcasting. And in you would probably say this, as well as what makes a podcast sound professional is, like James said, when it feels in sounds effortless. But it only gets to that point when the podcasters themselves feel comfortable. So oftentimes when you start and it’s something that everybody struggles with when they start because you’re is the unknown, right? And you’re trying to mimic, you’re trying to replicate what everyone else is doing. And you’re second guessing your every word and how it sounds and you’re over editing and you don’t feel comfortable yet, in your own skin as a podcaster. So I think once you hit that point, and this is very important for you know, everyone to realize when to just feel comfortable, who am I going to show up? As in this podcast? Who am I? And really think about? When people walk away from my podcast? Why are they connecting to me? Yes, obviously, the message is extremely important. But the message you can find it anywhere, why are they coming to your podcast, it’s because of you. So what about you is going to really resonate and connect with your audience and listener and draw them in as if you are just doing this podcast for them, they are your friend, they are on an equal level than you, maybe they’re even a level higher than you make them feel so special every time. And once you get comfortable with all of that, then it sounds effortless. And then you have real deep conversations. And of course, you’re going to do the research and know what you’re talking about, you’re not going to have to ask it. Like I do. recall some of those interviews being shoved down their throats. And we didn’t give a crap about this. But it was a sales thing.
Holly Shannon 07:44
You know, it’s a slippery slope when you are interviewing talent that has a prescription, if you will, like, for example, I interviewed two different authors, and their whole media team, their PR team sent me a list of appropriate questions. And that just makes like my toes curl, because then I realized that my interview is going to be a formula and be identical to every other piece of content that they show up on every other podcast every other LinkedIn live or wherever they’re doing it. So it’s a really hard thing. Sandy, I’m sure that you’ve run into that, actually, I’m sure everybody here has run into that. And I personally like it to be from what I learned about the person. So I’ve always had to go back and say, Look, I respect that you have all these questions, would you entertain my version of what I’d like to ask or at least some of the roads, I’d like to go down? And if you approve that, I’d like to go that way. I’m sure you guys run into that too, right?
James Whittaker 08:43
I’m gonna say that to me, when I get those talking points and questions, that’s an opportunity for me to make a very, very big difference. That’s where I know, I’m not going to ask any of those questions except for maybe one, because they are the questions and every single other person who has not done their research is going to ask a lot of other podcasts out that hosts out there are going to say, Wow, here are the questions that need to be asked. But if you truly want that person to share the content, and you’ve asked them the same questions over and over again, that they’ve answered over and over again, there’s just no way that they’re going to share that with their audience. So I look at those and do the complete opposite. But I think it’s important to have that on there. Because there are people like people in radio, predominantly, especially people who do the interviews that appear on both radio and podcast, where those ones who just simply don’t have the time to be able to review a whole book, for example, can go in there and have something to at least feel a little bit more prepared. So it’s just a generally the sign of a good quality guest or someone who has a good team behind them when you do get those questions. And it’s an opportunity for you as a podcast host to be able to really differentiate yourself from all the amateurs out there and establish a great relationship.
Ronsley Vaz 09:43
You know what, that’s the reason I opened up this conversation about professional podcasting. I bet that that person thinks that that is professional, because anytime someone listens to that would land up listening to the exact same thing. So the message is the same and it’s Someone put that into this person’s head about how it’s all about consistency maybe who knows. So that turns out to be in that person’s head a professional podcaster. When I thought about professional podcasting, I thought, How does all those things come together? Like what needs to happen for those things to come together? And then I was going on the lines of professional equals prepared, plus trustworthy, plus consistent, how prepared? Are you for the situation? How trustworthy Are you in different ways, and how consistent in terms of how you show up. So I think putting all those things together equals professional trustworthy is a really interesting one, you know, showing up in terms of actually wanting to be there as a podcast is such a huge, trustworthy point. And then consistency is another one. So I wanted to talk about maybe preparedness, and I feel like James might be the king or prepared in my life, James is the queen of prepared. So we might start with James, when you think about a prepared podcast, what comes to mind is stuff that you do before recording during recording after recording,
James Whittaker 10:57
it’s a really good question. And for those who have an interview style show, the chance to connect with really high level people and get them on your show is mainly going to depend on two things, first of all your personal relationships, and or that person having a product that they want to release. And at a minimum, if that person has got one book out, you want to make sure that you have read that book given an A really good read. And I think it’s important to listen to at least two or three podcasts that person has been on. And in the lead up to doing the interview. I like listening to the podcast, because it gives me ideas of what questions are they being asked, like regularly, which is something that I will never ask, you might ask a question where the person felt like they had more, but the interviewer didn’t really go in because they were really focused on their next question, rather than having an organic conversation. And for those people who are just super time poor, and you just feel like you absolutely cannot get through that book, grab the printed version of the book. And even if you just read like the headings of each chapter, and then read the first and last sentence of each paragraph, as well as the headings, you’ll get through a book in an hour. And you will know that book very well. And there is no way that the interviewee will know that you haven’t read that book, cover to cover and absolute worst case scenario, there’s nothing else you can do go and find their book on Amazon and click the Look inside button. And that will give you an idea of about 10 pages that you can quickly scroll through to be able to structure a question that says in your book, I noticed you mentioned that. And that is a way that you can show that you’ve got the respect for that person. So in addition to reading the book, and watching a TED talk, or listening to that person who’s appeared on a bunch of different podcasts help you shape the research that you’re doing to get those questions ready. Another thing that I do is in the lead up to that interview, I am listening to that person’s voice mainly in an interview style if they’ve been on a podcast, because I want this to be like we’ve already been having this conversation like this person is in my head, I want to know their style. I want to know how they answer questions, I want to have that feeling like they’re a friend or part of the family. And that means that you can present it as a clean slate because you don’t want all the goal to happen before you press record. And it means that you automatically feel like you know that person really well even if they have never heard of you. So there’s some of the things that I do on the the preparation side as well as things that you can automate around calendar invites. Letting them know if there’s perhaps regular questions that you include, or something that’s going to catch them off guard. There, just a few things on the preparation side. And I feel like we can’t mention preparation without thinking about what is your intent for having that person to help them grow your show. And that’s going to be the assets that you give them afterwards, which might include them being able to refer you to a friend of theirs, who can then be another guest on your show, which is just a great way to organically build your network. That’s just a few things on the preparation side.
Anna Vocino 13:29
You know, everybody’s workflow is different. My email inbox is the lifeblood of my entire schedule. So if there’s some other way that you’re confirming with me, that doesn’t involve sending it automated email, or texting is good, too. But I like getting that communication, because I’ll have something on my calendar. And if someone doesn’t show up for it, or I’m like, Are we confirmed, or if they’re running a few minutes late, I’m always on the Lombardi time. We’re on time is late. So I try to be a few minutes early, just this clubhouse except, but no, I just feel like it could be confirming that stuff and really communicating with your guests, especially if it’s an important one that you’re really excited to have on. You cannot over confirm like you can over produce your show creatively, but you can’t over produce your show from the perspective of being prepared. Like continue to be prepared and because there’s still going to be stuff that falls through the cracks or Oh crap, you’re still gonna hang up with them and be like, Oh, crap, I meant to ask this one question. And now you have a reason to invite them back because there’s more stuff you want to cover, but we’ve all done it and you want to just basically get all your ducks in a row as much as you can. So you don’t lose your
Ronsley Vaz 14:27
mind. You know, I think we should have a regular spot when you’re here that you do some voices for us because you do some amazing voices and even you maybe he Sandy before No you’re not maybe Oh my god.
14:38
Oh my god. Yeah. Do the radio voice do the do Anna do the old school 80s radio Morning Show guy
Anna Vocino 14:46
or the guy? We’re gonna have to say because we read it. No, you know what, I love radio. Let me explain something. I was on a show about radio. And I gotta say 80% of the people were amazing interviews because radio people were like, oh my god, we’re Finally represented in a show about radio. So they loved having us on and most radio people actually watched it, which is pretty good, considering nobody watched it, but radio people and like 13 year old boys, so I was very excited about that. But then there was like that 20% Right and I get it. Do you guys get things forced down your throat have these idiots on have these people you’ve ever heard of on it? I just tell people were blowing it off. And I was like, Well, I’m gonna blow it right back off because they would be like, Hey, what’s this little show about that? You’re always this little show when I’d be like, it’s about aliens having abortions like, like, I would just say anything cuz I knew that they didn’t give a shit. You know what I mean? So who cares?
Sandy Waters 15:31
Honestly, I did not take offense at all. Anna, no worries at all. I think it’s funny because
Anna Vocino 15:35
I’ve been on so many podcasts of people who’ve left radio who we met from me doing interviews with them to promote the show. So that makes me super happy and still have connections 13 years later, I mean, 13 years ago was a long time ago. So I huge fan of radio, radio Central and anywhere and neither as podcasting. But alcohols are also not going anywhere. You have to put up with them. Yeah, what field
Bettina 15:57
you’re in a circling back around to preparation. And you would probably agree with this too. If you are a different side of preparation that comes to mind for me is sometimes people podcasters overthink again, like script out every word that they say, which is fine, I guess to write a script. But sometimes it sounds like you’re writing a script, and you’re not really showing the true personality of who you are. You know, it’s not conversational. So I would just say yes, of course script out what you have some thoughts and what the podcast is going to sound like. But if you overwrite a podcast, might sound like you’re reading a script.
Holly Shannon 16:33
I don’t know if you guys know this character. But there was a movie called The Incredibles. And there was this character called Edna mole. And her line is, luck favors the prepared. And I will tell you, if I can get my guest to carve out 15 minutes for a discovery call, they can always do it. I respect that, along with the what James said, listen to podcasts, read their book, I do a LinkedIn scrape. If that’s available, I believe that if I do my research, and I make my list of questions, they don’t have to be really long. Maybe they’re just topics, then I’m ready for anything. And in the event that they go off script in some way, they go down some crazy road or whatever, I know that I could probably handle anything that gets thrown at me. So in the wise words of abnormal luck favors the prepared.
Catharina Joubert 17:29
Yes, I once again, I completely agree with everyone. And one thing I’d like to add is if you use something like spod cast, or Riverside or something like that, because this is something that’s happened to me is to make sure that your guests know exactly, they have to follow the link. And that link will take them straight to the interview, because I’ve had cases where people don’t actually realize that they’re used to zoom but not necessarily something like spod cast for Riverside. And then just a thought on the being prepared and scripted. So I also try and do a discovery call definitely, especially with people that have very little information available online. This is not always possible most of the time, it really helps to just understand what we can focus on in the episode to make it as valuable as possible. And I do actually write like a kind of outline, which I send to my guests. They don’t always read this, which is fair enough. But it’s just to show where I want the episode to lead to, and especially the key takeaways, and I find that having like that outline, you can easily then come back to the topic, even if you divert and maybe discuss something that you didn’t think you were going to discuss. So I would definitely recommend having some preparation done, although like a full script is not necessary. And especially if you do video, it’s a bit awkward if you’re there reading from a piece of paper, and I’ve been there, so believe me.
18:51
Hey, this is Elizabeth McIntyre. I’m the CEO of thinkbook, Australia, host of our podcast and leader of amazing humans. I want the inside of we’re podcast members, or as we like to call it, the family. If you are thinking about growing that business using your podcast and your online presence. Come join us on the inside. I would love to meet you, James and Ronsley coaches to get those recurring results in our business. If you want that roadmap, which we all follow to get those recurring results you can download it@roadmap.we are podcast.com. Now back to the show.
Ronsley Vaz 19:30
So it’s really fascinating. I love how everyone focused on these really interesting things from reading people’s books to consuming three other podcasts, asking your guests for other contexts that can grow your show other ways that you can grow your show LinkedIn scrape was a great one by Holly but I loved James’s hack on reading the book in under an hour where you go through the chapters and read the first paragraph and the last paragraph because if you’re an author, you notice that they summarize the chapter in the last paragraph and it do the intro. I got off. That is fucking genius James for the win that was really good. When I think about being prepared for an episode, I feel like it’s still having the 1234 in your head is a good idea. That’s the 1234 is one call to action for that episode, whatever that lands are being to call to engagements and call to action is different call to action is getting your audience to do something call to engagement is asking your audience for what they think about what you just covered. So you’re engaging your audience with your content. So one call to action to call to engagements, three topics to cover. And I think what he was talking about that having those three topics just in the back of your mind, but having three topics to cover, and having four questions to ask. And if you have this 1234 Before you go into any episode, whether you’re recording solo, or you’re recording with a guest or a bunch of guests, or even if you’re doing a clubhouse panel like this. So having that at the back of your mind before you go into an episode helps with being prepared. I would love from Katerina because you mentioned this what things do you let your guests know, to make sure that they can connect properly or they’re doing that connection piece? Right? So the procedure to connect, what are you mentioning to them? Because I think that is a really good point, which I have turned up on stuff and didn’t know how things worked and left because I didn’t know how to work and operate things but Caterina werkstoff Do you have any a procedure to connect with your guests?
Catharina Joubert 21:26
Okay, so I’ve developed this over time with some things not going according to plan. So it’s basically just once you’ve done the discovery call, if you do something like that, or just like a pre call, you have your date confirmation, and fairly roughly two weeks or one week before I send an email that’s clear very clearly gives them the outline, and clearly states the date time and then the link, they also get a confirmation from the site itself. So I use both squad cast and Riverside, I always send the invite from that platform. But then I double check with them with the link. And I also send them a couple of tips for just like sound recording video recording. Just short things that’s always good to have repaired before you actually go into the interview. And then of course, on the day of the interview, I just confirm again, with like a little reminder of the link and everything. So that’s what I do. But even with all of that, sometimes they just go somewhere else, and try to connect on a different thing. So
James Whittaker 22:23
human error is real, isn’t it? It’s crazy. You can be as prepared as you possibly want. And inevitably, people show up with a crappy mic or no mic at all. And yeah, or complain that they can’t access the link cat. I know exactly what you’re talking.
Catharina Joubert 22:35
Yes. Was it Anna who said something about email confirmations like that can never be enough of those. So even if you feel like you’re over confirming rather do that, then have some mixup on the time or where they have to go. Because like James just said document is surprisingly high.
Ronsley Vaz 22:52
Everyone’s point about being prepared. I feel like part of it of the preparation is having a contingency what I call in case shit happens scenario. So for everyone here, what are some of the things that you’re thinking about in case Shit happens? Like what are you hoping that doesn’t happen, and maybe we can find some contingencies to it because there are a whole bunch of stuff that that we’re afraid of happening. But maybe we don’t really give it much thought and then when they happen we’re not really prepared for it. So in case shit happens was the stuff that we need to be prepared for as a podcaster.
Holly Shannon 23:23
Okay, I’m going to share a shit happen scenario. And as luck would have it, how it was rectified. I was doing an interview on clubhouse and had all of my equipment hooked up, I have a road caster pro with my Samsung mic, and I have my phone hooked up with the little lightning cord or I guess it’s called a dongle as well. So had everything all hooked up, ready to go tested, ready to fly. And about five minutes before the interview, my phone fell on the floor, and the little lightning cord bent. And it was no longer acknowledging my phone. And I was recording through there. So it was one of those moments where literally the sweat started pouring down my forehead because you know, I had to unplug everything and beyond clubhouse in real time at that moment to let the guests know that I was struggling for a few minutes, I will say a I got really freaking lucky because she was such a professional at speaking that she just took the mic and started a conversation with somebody in the audience that she knew. So I got lucky there. But the second thing that I realized afterwards that I got lucky is my friend Larry was in the audience. And I back channeled him and asked him if I could pull them up on stage and if he could record it for me, and I pulled him up on stage intentionally because the sound is better up here, just in case nobody knew that and he recorded the whole thing behind the scenes for me and sent me the file. So in the moment I was able to rally and come up with a solution, but I hadn’t thought of what else I would do in that moment in time. So I think it’s always good that I know that’s not the traditional way of recording. I know a lot of people go to squad cast Riverside zoom, whatever. So I would say that the backup plan for that would be to ask your guests to also record on their computers. It’s quick time for a Mac, I’m not sure what it is for PC. But that might be a good backup plan, I think. But there’s probably others in the room that are far more technical than I am.
James Whittaker 25:24
Thank you for sharing that. Holly. I feel like in my experience, and backup plans come from having a bit of a horrible moment, one of the first podcast guest interviews that I had done, I didn’t do as much research as I should have. And so I was not expecting the person who came on to be doing TD answers like very, very short answers. And even with the preparation that I had done that I thought was fairly thorough, we were out of questions in about 20 minutes. And I was like, Oh, my God, even with just with the way that the person was answering them, I was like, oh, no, there’s just, there’s just no way to be able to continue this now for literally every single interview I do I have a backup of about 10 Additional questions just to go into in the event that the person does do TV answer so we can keep the interview going towards you to a longer something that stays true to the other episodes and things that I have done. So that is one thing for me is having backup questions for every single interview as a result of having learned that the hard way.
Ronsley Vaz 26:16
These scenarios are really fascinating, right? I remember doing my first interview in person after 80 interviews, maybe so I’d done them all on Skype at the time. This was 2013 A while ago, but my first in person interview was interviewing the mayor of Ipswich, who is in jail right now.
Ronsley Vaz 26:38
But the point is, it was so different to everything else. Even though I was prepared. I was not prepared to like have those questions and not talk to someone and read the questions the same time. It was just this really interesting dynamic. But being prepared is really fascinating. I wonder whether Manny had something to add to this conversation, Manny?
Manny 26:55
Hey, Ronsley. First of all, I’ve never gone on your show, just for the sake of just taking a chance to go into jail myself. But yeah, you know, it’s funny, just alluding to what Holly both James said, It’s so true. You learn to over prepare because of nightmares that have transpired. And me being from the musical entertainment side, that’s something that can always happen, whether it’s an audio fumble, or whether it’s people speaking in sound bites, like you said, sometimes it’s always better. And I learned the hard way to be overly prepared with respect to questions. And Holly beat me to the punch. For me Audio was a big deal. And as a singer, that’s, that’s my jam. So I’ll have two microphones ready when backed up, I have my road caster, I have my Logic Pro and I have zoom in sometimes I open up a line of conversation with my guests and let them know, listen, if you want feel free to record it on your end, in case you know, something happens on my end where my internet goes out, we can keep it going. And I got to tell you 100% of the time to like Yeah, absolutely. I was going to do that anyway. So that always helps opening the line of communication. And certainly I always prepare at least 10 to 15 questions, and sometimes you could regenerate those questions. Because you’re right, there are certain people that just know how to answer a question without derailing the topic of conversation. I’ve never had that issue because I really love engaging in heartfelt dialogue. And that comes from going off script most of the time. Because in my interviews I usually deal with people in the entertainment industry and we have these experiences and journeys that we talk about so I try to orient my questions and keep them away from yes no answers where they really have to delve deep into the juicy and meaty gritty stuff. So I hope that serves everybody in a nutshell it’s just preparation preparation and then prepare a little bit more and hope for the best sometimes anticipate the worst happening because it does happen. It is what it is. This is show business and there’s a voice of manageable amount.
Ronsley Vaz 28:28
What voice indeed many give us like 30 seconds like a song or something. I would love to hear your voice you see Tom crystal clear your equipment is obviously on point.
Manny 28:36
Oh man. Okay, you know what, I’ll share something that I got me four chairs on the voice. I do the Spanish version, but I think you guys will probably appreciate this one more because of David Coverdale my affinity for Whitesnake, is that cool? And not only know where I’m going, but I should know where I’m
28:55
hanging on the promises with some some yesterday, and I made up my mind. I am wasting no time. But here I go. Here I go again. I was at
29:13
Amazing. Credit.
29:15
Should we throw our fries up on the stage? Now?
Manny 29:19
Listen, you got to backchannel that because I don’t want to get kicked off this clubhouse whole thing.
Ronsley Vaz 29:22
Thanks, Manny. I’m just curious, Sandy, Katherine, and you have anything to add to that, in case shit happens part of podcasting.
Catharina Joubert 29:30
I’m quickly gonna jump in here because I’ve got a few stories. But I’m just going to say one thing and that’s to do with background noise, unexpected background noise. So I’ve recorded in a chocolate factory and next to a river in like minus four degrees, like on location recording, but anyway, so sometimes there are some sounds that you don’t expect and the best thing to do even like online, you have like a dog barking or something else happening is simply to contextualise in the episode if you can’t edit it out. So I thought that was quite a important point to make and something that can happen easily. So yes, that’s what I wanted to add. And then of course, if anything else goes wrong in terms of like something to do with the actual recording quality, then you just hope that your editing skills is good enough to make something worth listening out of that. And that’s going back to the sound quality thing. But yeah, I just thought that
James Whittaker 30:20
those, that context was so big, what a great point. I mean, number of times my daughter comes running in and someone said to me the other day, like, why didn’t you actually just, we could have kept that as part of the interview and to provide a bit of context and a bit of a lighthearted thing. And I was like, wow, that’s a brilliant, brilliant point, rather than getting so stressed about it internally, putting it out there. For some context, everyone understand? Yes,
Catharina Joubert 30:39
it actually makes the episode. Not more enjoyable. But it does add an unique element to it. And it’s funny, because it’s something I just thought about before this conversation is, the more unique elements there are to an episode, the more memorable it’s going to be for an audience. So yeah, I always remember those ones, where things happen that you just don’t expect, but then it’s naturally integrated,
Ronsley Vaz 31:01
super important point, we get caught up with the perfection of everything that it’s the imperfections that make it more memorable. But that was such a huge point. And many I just wanted to say, which was meant to say earlier, I totally forgot, I watched Whitesnake live here in Brisbane acitivity, about six years ago, and that was good, I was expecting more brows on stage. But that wasn’t the case, they were pretty
Manny 31:22
well rub it in, bro, rub it in, because I’ve seen them once in their heyday. And I gotta tell you, for me, it’s just the affinity of music as a whole. That song actually changed my life. It opened up so many doors, and one of the reasons why I have a podcast, for those of you don’t know, I just lost my dad to COVID. And this is my way of continuing his legacy, especially because he was the one who introduced me to the world of entertainment, he put the camera in my hands, which allowed me to become a music photographer to shoot for labels and magazines. And he put a microphone and drums in my hands that allowed me to be on the voice and novelists and all these incredible opportunities. So it was difficult for me. But because of this platform, I’m able to give a voice to those that do not. And of course, like you guys, I’m sure you can all attest to this. You want to share something that’s your truth. You want to uplift and show that you love your community, whatever your avatar is, and just to provide value at the end of the day. It’s just one of those things that I’m grateful for music because it has opened up the doors and multiple multiple facets of my life, man. And I learned from everybody I learned from you guys. As a matter of fact, I loved your title. There were so many rooms open at the same time. I’m like, no, no, that’s nonsense. Absolutely not 2000 People know Oh, podcast for business. Because we could always learn something I don’t you know, I become a good teacher, because I’m a better student, and I sponge, everybody, man. So it doesn’t really matter. And that’s my advice to everybody in the audience. Because that whole context thing that Catherine mentioned, like, holy shit, yeah, she’s probably right when sometimes you’re not as quick as and you’re on your feet, because you’re so concerned about the information and the topic at hand and you forget to incorporate these spontaneous tips and tricks, you know, so that’s always good to keep in the back your mind. So nice one, Catherine. Yeah. And
Ronsley Vaz 32:48
to the point about having to go so having Sophie’s voice on the one of our first podcast that amplify did we had, she was a lawyer and a daughter was maybe four or five years old. And we got her to record the outro. And I promise you that is by far the thing that got her the most amount of listens, or even we get responses saying that people would rewind that outro just to listen to that again. So hey, cat videos on YouTube and these voices for sure different voices on your podcast. Totally help. Alright, gentlemen, and gentle ladies, this has been a little slice of heaven. Thank you for your time. We’ll see you next week. same bat channel, same bat place. same bat time, man. It was great for you your voice and continue the conversation. James brother as always a pleasure. Holly Anna, thank you for showing up here or every weekend. Sandy. Catherine, please show up again. We’d love to have you at this time slot. All right, people much love.
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