Lessons
Lesson Info
Booking Guests
Booking guests. I'm gonna just touch on this briefly. Starting small, when you're launching a podcast, and you want to book guests, it's really important to not want to get Michelle Obama tomorrow. It's like you really do need to start small. And so this is another lesson I learned from Seth and he's used this throughout his career in a bunch of different ways. But basically if you're starting an interview podcast don't be ashamed to have your first guest be the little kid down the street. And then the second guest can be your sister. And then the third can be the person who you are at your office with. Maybe the fourth guest is a local figure of note. Somebody who like you definitely are not just friends with and feel comfortable with but finally you can make that step of maybe a notable person and then like eighth or tenth or 20th guest once you have a podcast, once you have something to show people, then you book somebody who you really aspire to talk to. So the point of this is don...
't feel defeated by having to start with the little kid down the street. That's totally normal and that's necessary to take the steps to booking somebody else. Somebody bigger and more famous. Guest Outreach. I used to be a booker for a TV station at Minnesota Public Radio and I booked three hours of live radio everyday. And so I've made really every mistake that you could possible imagine in the guest booking arena. But basically these were my main takeaways. Always introduce yourself. That seems self-explanatory but tell people what you do, who you are. Describe as succinctly as possible the podcast what you're asking them to be a guest on. So there's a lot of, honestly I've seen booking emails where it's kind of like I work on the podcast at Kimbo and you don't explain it. So definitely take some time to explain it. This is the most important part to me. Explaining, making sure you explain to the person you're reaching out to why they're perfect for your show. It shows that you did some research and guests love that. So definitely make sure to personalize it. Always explain that you'll be recording the conversation. In the case of the live radio I didn't explain this to people cause it was live, but I think mostly for the podcast you guys will be producing these will be edited conversations. So encourage people to understand that they can go back and do a retake, it's a low pressure environment. And I find that that really makes people more comfortable. And let them know how much time they'll need cause some of these people obviously will be busy and it's very considerate and nice to say we're either gonna do a 15 minute interview, plan for a 45 minute interview or if you need the to come to a studio give them an expectation of how much time it'll be. Mainly just don't mess up their name. That's really the worst thing you can do. And as I said, I have done this on many occasions and I've had people write back and be like you obviously are careless and don't care about the show and I don't want to be on it. I definitely learned this kind of the hard way. Keep it as succinct as you can. Don't be discouraged if people say no. People are definitely gonna say no for a variety of reasons. Don't take it personally. And be intimidated? I feel like a made type... Don't be intimidated. (laughter) Be intimidated? Okay, don't be intimidated. That's the last tip. Don't be intimidated. People love to do this. So this class I was telling you about with the 400 students over the summer. They were people who had never had a podcast before. They reached out to their ideal guests. This was an exercise that I forced them to do. I was like just email the person you never think you'll get and so many people who they reached out to were like, sure, I'd love to be on your podcast. People love to have an opportunity to basically talk about themselves.
Ratings and Reviews
Ladonna Armstrong
This was the first course I took on Podcasting and I am really glad I chose this one. It was just enough information to get me excited and take the leap! Thank you so much!
user-1fd54d
This was the first Creative Live course I've taken and it was such a clear and quick overview which has really motivated - thank you so much!
Nigel Rawlins
This is a fabulous, professional introduction to starting a serious podcast. Alexandra's expert knowledge shines through and well worth listening to.