The Stiffest Tree is Most Easily Cracked
I’ll never forget the weather-torn willow tree in the backyard of my childhood home. It survived many northern Minnesota storms in all seasons - just about everything Mother Nature could throw at it other than a proper tornado, thank goodness. (though we spent many hours in the basement during extreme weather events.) Well, this was all in the time of Pogs, Pokémon cards, and the original Nintendo NES…way before podcasts existed. (This concludes childhood daydream)
Anyway, what the heck does the resilience and flexibility of a willow (or bamboo) have to do with podcasting?
As a podcast host, sometimes we go into an episode interview like a stubborn old oak tree. We have our list of questions that we must stick to. While having an outline and/or list of questions can be a great practice and is actually preferred for most podcasts, staying flexible and open to the natural flow of the conversation is so important in podcasting.
A strict list of questions to be answered in a linear fashion is not a podcast episode as much as it is a news story or an interview for a magazine article.
Podcast interviews, with the exception of certain genres, should be conversations. The listener/viewer should almost feel like they are sitting in on the chat.
Some of the juiciest takeaways and most interesting stories come from the side quests that the convo naturally takes.
To play devil’s advocate: Yes, there are some completely fluffy and useless tangents that happen in podcast interviews. That’s what your podcast editor is for. Let them do the chopping in post-production. And of course, it’s okay to use your judgment during the episode and reel things back in if the tangent has taken a turn that would obviously be of no use or interest to your ideal listener/viewer.
And rest assured, as a podcast producer of 5+ years, I can tell ya this is a skill that my clients sharpen with time and practice - the skill of “driving” a podcast conversation, that is.
👉 Ask yourself, Podcaster:
Are you unintentionally shutting out the magic of the conversation by sticking to a rigid set of questions or an outline? Let that convo breathe a bit.
After all, a little breeze won’t knock over your willow tree.
Hope this gives you some good food for thought. Happy holidays! ❄️
-Zack
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