Preparing your Episode
- How to prepare for an episode?
Why prepare?
- Writing presentation texts
- - Do's
- - Don'ts
- Gathering information
- Finding guests
- Preparing for your interview
- Ambiance - Backround noises
How to prepare for an episode?
Every episode should be well-prepared to become succesful, but before you go and push the record button, you first need to create a format in which all your episodes fit. You can learn how to create a format at the Creating a format-section.
Why prepare?
Without preperation, nobody can really guess what will become of your episode. You might miss out on your final goal or talk about all the things you didn't want to say in the first place. So, create a show outline in advance: With this piece of paper before you, it is easier to stick to your story.
Writing presentation texts
Develop an introduction that will quickly explain and highlight the purpose of your podcast. This section should be roughly 2-3 sentences in length. Usually a radio show host reads this part of the podcast over a music bed. This introduction can be reused at the beginning of each episode to build your brand.
Your writing style should be conversational with friendly language, limiting the use of jargon or industry specific words in order to accommodate your listeners. Try not to sound rehearsed but natural, like you are talking to your friend. You can check your text by reading it out loud: To yourself or to someone else.
- Make an overview of the topics in that particular episode for your introduction
- Use a lot of examples in your explanations, so your audience will stay focused
- Don't use jargon words without explanation them to your audience
- Don't make sentences too long. Better is to make more short sentences
- Avoid words like best, greatest, and newest if you are not 200% sure about your information
Gathering information
So how do you get the information you need for your podcast? Well that depends on your topic of course! I can't help finding specific information about your subject, but here are some internet research tips you might find very useful:
- Use Google: it is still known as the best search engine Check the Advanced Search page to search very specifically. You can choose a language domain name, and file type for example.
- Really KNOW what you are looking for exactly! Try to find it by using as many search words that could bring the right information.
- If that doesn't work, search for the website you expect to find the information. And search the specific information you need on that website (because search engines didn't find the information) Sometimes it is very useful to search within a certain website. Just type:
- If the page you are looking for doesn't exist anymore, see if there is a cached version (to be found in the second or third line beneath the website title.)
Finding guests
How to get the right person for an interview? Well, you probably have one or two people in mind that are able to answer your questions. Pick the person who is able to give all answers to your questions, but also check if this person is clear in his explanation, if it is nice to listen to him/her, so your conversation won't be boring.
Preparing for your interview
If you are preparing your interview, make sure the person that is interviewed is well aware of the things you are about to ask. That doesn't mean you should give your guest your question list! That will only make your interview really dull and rehearsed. But try to walk through the basis aspects of the interview once, so the interviewee can prepare him/herself.
As for the questions: Never ask questions that can only be answered by YES or NO. This only leads to a conversation built on a question-answer question-answer-structure. It is really important to have a question list, but only use it as a back-up. Try to REALLY listen to every word your guest says, so you can immediately react to anything interesting he or she is saying! But make sure you come home with the answers you wanted in your setup!
Ambiance - Backround noises
If you are preparing your episode, think about backround noises in your podcast. You probably don't know what sounds you are going to use yet, but try to think about that in your preperation.
If you are about to record something in a space that has a lot of backround noises (because you thought it would be nice for your ambiance), think about the editing afterwards. It is often better to record the noises and speech apart from each other, so you can easily seperate these sounds in the editing room.