Unconventional Interview Questions for Engaging Podcasts

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Importance of Asking the Right Questions in Interviews
3. Question #1: Why?
4. Question #2: What Happened Next?
5. Question #3: How Are You Really Feeling in This Moment?
6. Question #4: Mirroring Technique
7. Question #5: Tell Me About a Time When...
8. Conclusion

Article:

Introduction

Hey, my name is Pat Flynn and I'm here to Make Content creation easier, more fun, and profitable for you. Today, I wanted to share with you my top five questions that you should be asking your guest on an interview, whether that's for a Podcast, a YouTube video, or even a written interview.

Importance of Asking the Right Questions in Interviews

As you very well know, when it comes to an interview, it's the questions that the host asks that can be the difference between an episode that people pass on and an episode that is noteworthy and gets shared. So, make sure you stick around because these five questions will make a huge difference in your career as an interviewer.

Question #1: Why?

Why, why, why? You know, I think we're conditioned to just believe that this question, "Why," is so annoying, right? We typically hear about kids asking us again, "Why, why, why?" I have a couple of kids myself, and I completely understand how annoying it can be. But as an interviewer, this is your most powerful tool.

Because when it comes to the content that you're collecting from the person you're interviewing, when a person answers your questions, they're going to answer with a surface-level answer. It's this question, "Why," as a follow-up that helps them Continue to go further and deeper, which is where the goal lies.

So, don't be afraid to ask, "Why." In fact, your audience is going to be very appreciative because if they don't understand why something is happening the way it is or what a person is saying, then you, on their behalf, are going deeper so that they can understand too. "Why" is also great because it allows for reasoning behind certain decisions that were made too, and I don't think it's annoying at all. Now, obviously, you don't want to just use that one word. Actually, that would be a fun challenge if I could do a complete podcast interview just asking that question "Why" the entire time. That would be really funny. I'll save that for a later date. Anyway, next, let's get to number four.

Question #2: What Happened Next?

Now, this question that you should be asking comes from the fact that a person who you're interviewing is likely not wanting to be rude. And as such, they might stop in the middle of a story or come to a pause such that you, the host, can take it whatever direction you want. I recommend, if you like the story that's being told and you want to learn more, in addition to asking questions like "Why" if that makes Sense, ask this: "What happened next?"

I love this because essentially what you're doing is you're giving permission to the person who's telling the story or talking to keep going further. And this is yet another way to go levels deeper when it comes to the answers to surface-level questions that you start with.

Question #3: How Are You Really Feeling in This Moment?

Number three, I love this one because oftentimes you don't just want to get facts and answers, you want to get feelings. You want to bring emotion. When you can have emotion come out in your interviews, whether that's happiness, sadness, laughter, whatever the case might be, when you bring emotion to the table as the host, it's better off for your Show. It's more likely to be something that resonates with your audience, to be shared, to be remembered.

So, the question I recommend you ask is this: "How are you really feeling in this moment? What were you feeling when this was happening? What was going through your mind?" This is often the moment in certain interviews that I've done when the person who I'm interviewing, in fact, begins to either laugh or even cry. And there have been many cases on my show when the guests have cried. And I don't do it on purpose, although I kind of like it because that means it's real. And if a person on the other end of my interview is crying, likely it's hitting the mark for the person who is listening as well. I've had people reach back out to me and said, "I've Never cried listening to a podcast episode before. I've never laughed so hard." What was your gut reaction when all that went down? Take that, use it. I promise it'll work.

Question #4: Mirroring Technique

Next, number two. And this one actually comes from a book called "Never Split the Difference," and in this book, there is a tactic that an FBI negotiator uses to help get more information from the person who has the hostages and whatever crazy situation might be happening. And the technique is called mirroring. We mirror the person who just answered one of our questions.

The way mirroring works is you simply repeat the same few last words that a person just said when they finish their thought. And by doing that, and actually creating an intonation that's sort of like a question, it's essentially another way to give permission to the person you're interviewing to keep going, to give them that sense that you want to know more about it. And it's very simple because you don't have to make up any of the words, you just have to repeat the same words. So, it might go down like this:

If you're interviewing somebody and you're asking them about their favorite tool of the year, perhaps in 2020 that they've used in their business, they might answer like this: "One of my favorite tools is called ecam live. It's a streaming platform that you can use to even do interviews and bring guests on, and I absolutely love it because I have been going live every day."

You've been going live every day? Yeah, I've been going live for over 200 days on YouTube, and it's been really neat to connect with the audience there.

Connect with the audience? How well, you know, it's live, and so there's a really intimate interaction with the people who seem to be there, and I've gotten to know many of them by name.

Now, you see how this can just continually move forward by just simply mirroring? But by mirroring, that person is essentially guiding the conversation themselves, and all you have to do is just repeat the last few final words in that sentence. Try it in the next conversation that you have, even if it's not an interview, maybe with a spouse or a kid. See what mirroring does. I promise you it's going to unlock some really cool things.

Question #5: Tell Me About a Time When...

Let's finish off with the number one strategy for how to pull out the best information from the person you're interviewing. And I think we all know that the best kind of thing that you can get from somebody is a story. Stories are relatable. People are just fine-tuned, since we're babies, to listen to stories, and in fact, it transports us to that place and makes things more real.

So, your job is to pull a story from this person. I learned this tip from Alex Bloomberg from Gimlet Media and also the creator of the Startup Podcast on a Creative Live that I once watched. And he shared this strategy. He simply said, "If you want to get a story from somebody, phrase it like this: 'Tell me about a time when...'" and then blank blank being whatever the topic is.

"Tell me about a time you ran a Facebook ad campaign and it didn't go according to plan." "Tell me about a time when you went live in front of your audience and the technology failed on you. This was literally yesterday." "Tell me about a time when you wanted to give up on your workout, but you kept going anyway."

I guess technically that's not a question, but in fact, what it is, you're asking for the story. You're giving a person permission to tell the story. And then your job, after all of these questions, is to sit back and listen. Which is often, especially for a podcaster, one of the hardest things to do. Yes, as a podcaster, listening is actually quite hard because you're thinking about the next question. But here's the other tip when it comes to interviewing: Yes, listen, but also, be genuinely curious. All of these tips here relate to this idea of being genuinely curious. That will guide you as you continue forward in your interviewing career. So, good job, use those questions. Let me know what you think in the comment section below. Which of these five questions, in fact, are the most powerful for you and you're going to try out? Have you ever tried any of these? How did they work out for you? Let me know in the comment section below. And again, if you haven't done so already, hit that subscribe button so you can get more information to take your content to the next level. Again, I'm here to make it easy for you, here to make it fun, and here to make it profitable. Thanks so much. I'm Pat Flynn.