“DEAR PODCASTER, WHAT ANNOYS YOU?” | THE 9 COMMANDMENTS OF A PODCAST GUEST

I’ve been the host of the Create Your Own Life Podcast for a number of years. In late 2016, Daniel Gefen and I started Get Featured to help opinion leaders to be great podcast guests. I did a survey on social media to find out what type of content Get Featured could create that would be most helpful; I believe in the model that a company should be producing a ton of quality content as well. Gary Vee explained it best that now we are all “Media Companies,” we are all in the business of educating.
Being a podcaster myself, the topic that really struck a chord for me was “What Annoys you as a Podcaster,” I have a lot of those, so I thought it would be interesting to see what others think. The most responses I got, the more I realized that I had the same annoyances. So this post had a much different final product than what I intended it to be, but what follows is a nine commandments or podcast guesting. Why nine? Well, because ten’s already been done and the other guy is too famous to compete with.
Thou Shalt Respect the Schedule:
“Guests that approach me for a slot then don’t do act like they care — late, skype doesn’t work, etc.” — Jeremy Lesniak
For many of us we run podcasts because we are givers. We want to give a lot of value, and possibly promote our business, but the bulk of us don’t make money off of podcasts. So when we set scheduled time away, reschedules or being late can really be a problem. For my own podcast I do interviews all day, every other Friday. If you’re late, then I’m going to have to cancel you and reschedule you for another date; those interviews are all back-to-back
Calendar links are great and we all use them but if you are going to reschedule send an email first and then reschedule; rather than just rescheduling randomly 4 or 5 times.
Thou Shalt Have the Right Gear:
“People who say they have a good microphone for Skype and obviously don’t!” — Wayne McMullen
For most, this starts with having a microphone at all. As podcasters, people don’t see us, they only hear us so having a microphone really helps and is required by most shows. Just talking into the computer with no mic sounds like you are sinking in an abyss. Though I must admit, I have done some shows with no mic’ing on the guest (yikes) because it was a one-off opportunity.
Thou Shalt Know How to Use Gear:
“Guests who don’t know how to hold a phone/be near a mic and I have to spend hours correcting in post edits for volume.” — Michael Howie
What do my best guests use for their microphone? Believe it or not, it’s a headset from Logitech that costs less than $15 bucks. Inconsistent mic technique makes for difficult listening, so a headset mic actually makes everything significantly easier and doesn’t matter on mic technique. You don’t need to have the latest and greatest tech gadget, just to sound like a pro.
Thou Shalt Remove Distractions:
“A noisy trash truck or edger showing up just as I start recording!” — Dot Cannon
We don’t have studios or if we do, then it’s one really cool and nerdy room in our home. So, we get it, it will be hard to be perfect. However, as a guest, it helps us if you understand how important that it is to be in a quiet place. You may be an awesome guest, but if it sounds like a world war on your end of the mic or you’re picking up your dry cleaning while chatting with us, it makes for poor show quality.
We really value the content we put out and even though our audience loves us, they most likely won’t listen to something sub par. That goes for call quality as well, if you are on the move and not in one place, then it’s hard to get a stable internet connection and give a quality sound. We are not trying to sound like George Lucas sound here, but we do want to sound professional.
Thou Shalt Not Break Promises:
“One of mine is guests saying they’ll “share the shit out of” their own interviews, and not pursuing that promise …better yet not even responding to you when you send them some promo material to help promote their OWN episodes. That pisses me off not gonna lie.”– Bradley Morley
For all of us in the podcasting world, we build our growth on getting the word out and building an audience. Unlink on YouTube, it’s much harder to find us, even if we do a great job at promotion. When we get a big guest or someone that is really enthusiastic to share our episode, it’s exciting to us, because sharing is our lifeblood.
There’s nothing more of a bummer to a podcast host that spends so much time editing and preparing to put a show out that when we send that launch email to the guest we get crickets. This doesn’t just go for sharing but any promises that you make to a podcaster, keep them.
However this is a two-way street and if a podcast host doesn’t publish your episode for some reason, they should tell you, not claim their piglet ate their external hard drive. Well, my piglet actually did, so I guess I’m in the clear.
Thou Shalt Give Direct Feedback:
“Getting feedback from different groups of listeners that contradict each other.” — Jonathan Oakes
This goes mostly for listeners, but many of us ask you what you want so that we can best supply it. It gets to be tough for us when you give us directly oppositional viewpoints. Then, we have to make judgement calls, and we do our best, but we get that we will not please everyone. We take the best action we can for the majority opinion.
Thou Shalt Allow the Host to Host:
“Guests that won’t let you get a word in edgewise (or worse, talk over you).” — Maurice Cherry
I had a 44-minute episode once where I spoke for 2 minutes, let me tell you it was not fun. Most podcasts are meant to be fun and open conversations. Guests that will not allow you to be the be the host is really tough. It’s important to remember that whatever platform you are on that you are a guest, sharing your expertise and the host knows what the audience wants to know; what an amazing opportunity to have your market ask you questions.
Thou Shalt Not Request Repeated Edits to Your Episode after Publish:
I can’t quote myself here but for most of us we don’t have teams and do the best job possible with an episode. Unless you supply us with an image or ask something to be cut, then we are going to make a judgement call.
For some us, it can come down to asking for more things before we publish and taking more responsibility on that point. Going back and making changes can be a tough ask once it’s already done.
Thou Shalt Not Give One-Word Answers:
“Guests who give short answers then stop talking.” — Brian K. Wright
There’s nothing less fun that a guest that doesn’t want to engage. We get little time to spend with some of the biggest experts in the world and it such a downer when we ask the same question several times and get a no-answer or a really short answer.
For most, we are humbled to be in your presence and want the opportunity to learn from you and to teach our audience. The secret is not to check out your YouTube channel or buy your book; if you engage and teach we will buy whatever it is you have to sell. You’re the Jedi, we are just learners here.
Being a podcast guest can be a great way to promote your business when done correctly. For most it’s just an un-knowingness when they have a difficult guest experience. If you want to be the best guest possible then follow these commandments and you will see yourself immediately having more fun, growing your brand catching the post cast bug — once you have fun on one show, you want to keep sharing!
Original post appears commandyourbrand.media
Jeremy Ryan Slate is a top rated podcaster and the host the Create Your Own Life Podcast, found at www.jeremyryanslate.com. He is also the co-founder of the podcasting public relations company www.commandyourbrand.media.