Starting a podcast is one of the most effective ways to build a personal brand, but you need to know how to interview people to find success in this space. Anyone can ask questions, but it takes deeper conversational skills to capture an audience’s attention.
A podcast host’s biggest challenge is to ask questions that spark an exciting dialog. Take a look at this list of podcast questions below to get some direction for your podcast.
1. The Meaningful Question
The best podcast interview question you can ask will get at something that matters to the guest. A good question teases out the expertise of your interviewee and prompts them to share their knowledge and experience with the world.
The point of a podcast shouldn’t be to direct the conversation where you want it to go. Instead, it should probe your guest to take the discussion to places only they can go. Then once you ask a meaningful podcast question, let them take hold of the conversation while keeping them on track with intelligent follow-ups.
2. Tailored Questions
When preparing questions in advance, think of open-ended questions that prompt a detailed response. Unique questions will spur exciting dialog and give your audience interesting takeaways.
Stay away from questions that you already know the answer to. Especially avoid inquiries your guest has answered many times before unless it’s part of the natural flow of the conversation. Also avoid overly personal questions that may make your guest uncomfortable.
3. Spur of the Moment Questions
You should certainly prepare a list of questions, but be ready to go off-script. Sticking to a rigid set of questions is the easiest way to ruin the flow of a conversation and bore your audience — and perhaps your guest. No one will come back for more podcast episodes if you don’t entertain both your listeners and guests.
4. Researched Questions
Know who you’re speaking to. Do some background research to learn who they are, what they’ve done, and most importantly, understand what they’re known for. If your guest wrote a book, take the time to read it. If they’ve published research, study it. Or, if they’ve accomplished something incredible, learn everything you can about it and them.
When you intimately understand your guests’ background, the best podcast questions will suggest themselves to you automatically. You’ll think of questions that inspire them to open up about their passions, interests, and the things they are uniquely qualified to explain.
5. Goal-Based Questions
It’s essential to give your guest the chance to speak, but it’s equally important for the podcast host to keep the guest on topic. Start with a question that leads into the intended subject. Then try to keep your follow-up questions in line with the original goal.
For instance, if your podcast is about personal finance and today’s topic is consumer debt, don’t ask your guest about stock investing. It’s okay to stray off course somewhat in an organic conversation, but keep to the main thread.
6. The Icebreaker Question
It’s a good idea to start your podcast interview with an introduction about the guest. Tell the audience who you’re speaking to, their accomplishments, and why you have brought them on to speak. Next, let your guest give the audience a more intimate picture of the person on the microphone.
Patrick Bet-David, who hosts Valuetainment Interviews and the PBD Podcast, has interviewed high-profile celebrities such as Mark Cuban and Mike Tyson. Bet-David often asks his guests to tell him who they were in high school. It’s an unusual question that makes the interviewee think, and it gives the audience more insight into the individual and their character.
7. Listener Questions
Having a rigid, hard-set line of questioning is a sure-fire way to create an unengaging, boring podcast conversation. Great podcast interview questions are grounded in the active discussion.
If you ask a question like “what was your biggest failure in business?” listen to the details of their response and build your next question around your guest’s answer. That will keep the conversation engaging for your podcast audience.
8. A Signature Question
Many of the best interviewers have a recurring signature question that they always ask. Sean Evans, the host of Hot Ones from First We Feast, has a segment called “Explain That ‘Gram” where he asks his guests for context about interesting pictures on their social media feeds.
Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory always makes sure to give his guests a chance to plug their content by asking where people can find them.
The Perfect Question Doesn’t Exist
It’s not possible to pre-prepare the perfect question for your podcast. The most important thing to remember is to engage in the conversation. Listen to your guest, and let your curiosity guide the flow of your discussion.
