5 Habits of Great Podcast Hosts

So, you’ve decided to start a podcast!

You’ve got an exciting idea, a snazzy name and the best audio set-up you can afford.* Now it’s time to make sure that your hosting skills will keep people tuning in week after week. Your audio “stage” presence and your ability to bring the content to life could be what takes you from “Hey Mom, thanks for being my one subscriber” to “Well, that took off…”.

Conversation is the essence of (most) podcasts. It should be informative and fun; a way to build a community of folks with similar interests.

There’s an art to conversation in general, and there’s an art to podcast interviewing in particular. The audience want the information to be presented in an engaging and easily-digestible way. And they want to experience a free-flowing informative conversation, like they’re having coffee with you and your guest. After all, if they wanted to simply read up on the topic, they would.

Keep reading to learn the five habits that captivating podcast hosts have in common (and you can, too)!

1.     Ask open-ended questions

As a podcaster, you’re a journalist of sorts. You help the audience grow their understanding of a topic by collecting and presenting information, and in the process you try to avoid imposing your own bias on your guests (which can compromise the quality of the information and leave your guests feeling manipulated).

This means asking plenty of open-ended questions and letting your guests speak for themselves.

A quick refresher: open-ended questions typically start with Who, What, Why, When, Where, How or “Tell me about…” and give the person space to express themselves fully. A “yes or no” question is not open-ended. A question with just one answer, like “What did you eat for lunch?” is technically open-ended…but you can do better.

Well-crafted open-ended questions invite conversation. They bring out the guest’s wisdom and insights, help you discover things you never knew you never knew, and create that free-flowing dialogue that makes a good podcast so compelling.

2.     Go off-script…within reason

Most podcast hosts provide a list of questions to their guests in advance. As a guest, it’s nice to have a chance to prepare. As a listener, it’s nice to hear a well-thought-out answer rather than the incoherent rambling of an interviewee caught off-guard.

At the same time, you need to be flexible enough to create that natural, spontaneous conversation vibe and help your guest shine.

Let’s be blunt: some guests aren’t great communicators. They might give answers that are frustratingly short, vague or ambiguous. They might use technical language that will confuse the audience. They might have trouble expressing their ideas concisely. Or they might say something provocative that could land them (and you) in hot water.

As the host, it’s your job to help them convey their ideas clearly. For example:

• If the guest seems really excited about a particular idea, ask follow-up questions. Let your curiosity guide you.

• Listen for key vocabulary that they use, repeat it back to them, and ask them to elaborate on why they use particular terms or how they define them.

• Try to summarize their ideas and ask whether you’ve captured the essence.

• Ask for clarification if they say something that is confusing or could be construed as offensive.

The key is to draw on your guest’s own statements, not ambush them with questions that seem to come out of left field. You need to maintain your guest’s trust in you, so be fair.

This habit will help you dive deeper into the subject and help the audience understand it - which is ultimately why they’re tuning in.The ability to spot those jumping-off points in the conversation and craft good questions on the spot is a skill that takes effort to learn, but it’s a skill that’s well worth developing. And in the worst-case scenario - if your follow-up questions lead nowhere or your guest falls apart without pre-canned notes - you can always cut out those awkward moments in the editing process.

3.     Give context

Keep in mind that it’s a podcast, not a graduate-level seminar. Your audience may not be experts in the topic, and will certainly have less knowledge than the guest. Your job as the host is to conduct background research and be knowledgeable enough to carry the interview. You also need to give the audience enough background information that they can follow along – but not so much that they’ll feel overwhelmed.

Along with introducing the guest, you might start with an introduction and synopsis of the subject (or use open-ended questions to get your guest to do it). But the need to provide context doesn’t end there.

Help the audience out whenever unfamiliar terms or ideas arise in the conversation. Ideally you’ll draw the background information out of the guest with some more open-ended questions (let go of your ego and act like you don’t know the answer). However, if that doesn’t work – say, if the guest rambles or just isn’t a good explainer – you might need to interject with your own explanation. It can feel weird to tell your guest something that they clearly know, so preface it with “For those listening at home…”

Use your judgment here. And if you realize later on that something wasn’t clear, you can borrow a tactic from Alie Ward, host of the podcast Ologies: edit in some charming commentary to give the audience any information they might have missed.

4.     Take notes

Full disclosure: implementing the last two habits takes a LOT of mental energy. So much so, that they can distract you from actually listening to what your guest has to say.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of this: you’re speaking with your chatty friend, and before you finish your thought, they’re clearly thinking about what to say next rather than actually listening to you. And admit it: you’ve also been “that friend”. We all have.

It’s easy to get excited about your next question or to feel anxious about “getting it right,” or both. When you’re preoccupied with those feelings, you can miss important parts of the conversation. To avoid this pitfall, keep a notepad nearby and quickly jot down thoughts as they pop into your mind. Then, let them go. Bring your attention back to what your guest is saying. When the time is right, you can return to your notes and formulate your follow-up questions.

This removes pressure to juggle multiple thoughts and tasks at once…especially when your chatty guest just keeps going on and on (and on).

5.     Let there be silence

This one is last because it’s HARD. Silence can be scary and awkward. But for a podcast host, it’s also an unexpected ally.

The best conversations breathe. There are natural pauses and everyone gets to express themselves fully. Conversely, rushing to fill a silence can prevent connection – and it can make you come across as insecure.

Here’s the thing. You don’t need to respond the second your guest stops speaking! Take a breath to think about what they’ve just said and give them a chance to keep going. Maybe they’re just pausing to think about what to say next. Or maybe they’ll see your silence as an invitation to go deeper, which is when you get some of the really juicy, interesting content.

Remember, awkward silence can be spliced out in post-production. That’s the beauty of podcasts. You know what’s a lot harder to fix at the editing stage? People interrupting and talking over each other. So slow it down, and invite your guest to do the same. The final product will be much more fluid and make for better listening.

And one more thing

Finally - be yourself! Let your enthusiasm and curiosity come through, loud and clear. When you feel genuine excitement and curiosity about your content, when you establish real connections with your guests, and when you can express yourself authentically through your podcast, you’ll have the energy and motivation to keep going.

Like all public speaking, podcast hosting is an ever-evolving skill. It can make you a better communicator and boost your confidence. So practice, learn, and reap the rewards of honing your craft.

*Which might just be the built-in microphone on your computer, and that’s perfectly OK.

Looking for help becoming the host with the most? Stage Light Communications can help you develop your signature speaking style and bring out the brilliance within. Contact us for a free consultation!