91: How to be Better at Interviewing - Sam Harris

Hosting a podcast interview is a lot harder than it sounds. It’s not a simple as having a friendly chat in front of a pair of microphones. If you don’t prepare, you could end up with a boring interview that fails to entertain your listeners and entails you into receiving bad reviews. How do you make sure you host a great podcast interview? Sam Harris compiled his top four tips for killing it in an interview Tip #1 - Listen, Listen, Listen Listen to the guest, don’t fill your head with what you want to say next because, in reality, it will be a response to something they haven’t said yet. Good listening allows us to demonstrate that we are paying attention to the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of the other person (seeing the world through their eyes). This is crucial to maintaining productive relationships, and sometimes the only way to establish communication. Tip#2 - Make Notes but Try Not to have a Load of Questions Don’t pack multiple questions into one unless they are closely related. They can be confusing, especially if the guest has a lot to say. Ask your questions one at a time as you would in natural conversation. Tip#3 - Ask Interesting Questions Basic questions are a no-no Avoid asking basic questions. Asking basic questions make it seem like you don’t know the person you’re interviewing. These are bad: “What are you best known for?” or “What book are you promoting?” Instead, set up good questions by establishing a premise or hypothesis beforehand Tip#4 - Recursive Questions Recursion is a challenging concept. If you're a programmer, then you would have an idea of where I am going. If you don't, I'm happy to explain to you how this goes. Being able to think recursively is very important because solving a problem with recursion is cleaner and easier to implement. It can also be used to break down problems into smaller components — a recursive pattern known as Divide and Conquer. Understanding how asking recursive questions is, this strategy allows you to provide different angles for listeners by opening doors that could lead to a insightful conversation with your guest. Bonus Tip #1- Encourage Healthy Debates Bonus Tip #2 - Find Inspiring Role Models Bonus Tip #3 - Consider your Guest's Feeling Towards a Personal Topic Hoping these tips help aspiring and experienced podcasters alike, but I’m sure I’ve missed something important. If you’re a podcast host or frequent guest, you’ve probably come across something you wish you knew sooner. Feel free to let me know in the comments below and I’ll incorporate your suggestions accordingly! Contact Us You can find out more about us and chat about anything you like Sam: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/samjamsnaps/) Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Sam-Harris-58) Twitter (https://twitter.com/samharristweets) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharris48/) Sam's blog - SamWebsterHarris.com (https://samwebsterharris.com/) Support the Show - Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/growthmindset) Special Guest: Sam Harris.