Podcasting for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5. Interview-Fu: Talk to Me, Grasshopper

In This Chapter

• Getting prepared for interviews

• Recording your interviews with Skype

• Approaching an in-person interview

• Making sure your interviews are trouble-free

Podcasting is empowering. There's something about a microphone in your hand that gives courage. Suddenly, you're not afraid of anything. Oh yeah, you're "running with the big dogs" now, and like Charlie Rose, Larry King, or Mike Wallace, you're asking the questions to find out what makes your guest tick.

What sets you apart from those big dogs, though, is skill. James Lipton of Inside the Actor's Studio may make interviewing look easy, but make no mistake: Interviews are not easy. It takes skill to host an interview, and hosting a great interview is an art. The good news is these luminaries possessing the gift of gab all had to start somewhere. Podcasting is an excellent venue to hone your interviewing skills, but you're going to want a solid foundation to build your skill set on.

Along with helping you schedule an interview, we help you get ready for it by looking at hardware and software tried and true for us, asking good questions to keep the conversation lively and engaging, and giving you examples of bad questions best avoided. Finally, we impart those always-valuable behind-the-scenes technical tips that make the interview go smoothly.

I'll Have My People Call Your People: Interview Requests

The courage to submit an interview request comes simply from your interest in the ...