Interviewing Skills: How to Ask Better Questions and Get Better Answers – PCI 459

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Everyone. I'm Dave Clements, customer relations and

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media specialist. That's a new title. I'm trying

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to get used to that here at Blueberry.

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And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist.

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Today, we're talking about one of the most

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important and underrated podcasting skills,

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interviewing.

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So whether you host experts, creators, or just

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friends,

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how you ask questions shapes the quality

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of your entire episode.

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Definitely.

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Great interviews aren't just about who you have

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on. They're about the conversation that you create.

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You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike

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Dell, Dave Clements, and Mackenzie Bennett from the

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Blueberry team,

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bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips

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and tricks to help you start, grow, and

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thrive through podcasting

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with all the support of your team here

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at Blueberry Podcasting.

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Welcome. Let's dive in.

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Good place to start is with curiosity.

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I know a lot of people think that

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you gotta have all those questions

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scripted out, but I think it's nice to

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come in

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a little raw and just

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not always anticipate what your next question is.

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It's been said time and time again about

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any type of interviews is that listening is

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the most important most important thing that you

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can do.

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Yeah. And you've done way more interviews than

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I have, I bet.

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I did quite a bit. I used to

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do them every week or so for podcast

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insider when I did that for a couple

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years. And

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you really do tend to get, like, a

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flow

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at some point. You know, you you learn

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how

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to ask one question at a time because

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if you ask more than one,

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they lose it in their head.

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You start to follow-up a little more naturally

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as opposed to just

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question has been answered.

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Now question five.

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Right. It's you'll find a cadence, I guess,

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as you go on, but you it's be

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respectful

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to

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your guest is definitely a big part of

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that.

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Something else that's super important is crafting questions

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that open doors. So not really yes or

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no questions,

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lean into

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prompts that invite storytelling

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and reflection for your guest.

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Yeah. You see that a lot with some

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of the best

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interviewers. Like you said, just a minute ago,

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the best interviewers are the best listeners. And

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so you have to be actively listening to

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what is being said because that is going

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to

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create prompts for you. So for instance,

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you're you're listening to someone

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talking about their childhood. Well, maybe some factoid

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stands out and then it can be like,

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oh, hey. Tell me

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about this thing

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rather than

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just following up with your next question

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or

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cutting off that train of thought because sometimes

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you get so many more gems

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from following up like that. And,

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you know, a couple of other questions you

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could ask

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or prompts you could use

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just

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to keep them at the top of mind

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might be, hey. What was going through your

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head when you had this experience?

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Or

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did that experience

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change your approach to whatever the subject is

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that you're talking about?

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Yeah. For sure. Marc Maron just ended his

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podcast after,

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like, sixteen

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years or something like that. Yeah. The BPOF

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with with Maron. Yeah. With Marc Maron. And

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I listened to him for years and he

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was always very chatty. He had a podcast

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for a reason because he's a talkative guy,

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But he was chatty in the sense of

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asking them questions and having an actual conversation

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and going the give and take of a

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conversation and going back and forth. And he

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would go off on some tangent because

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they said something

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that correlated to whatever he had to say,

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and then he would eventually come back to

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it. He was very good at that. He

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had a podcast for a long time for

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a reason.

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Yeah. I mean, being an observational

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comedian,

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like, you build those skills. And, like, he's

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been doing it for decades.

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Yeah. And he's really good. I just watched

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his most recent special not too long ago.

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And

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not only is he funny, he's just very

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insightful.

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And I think those are talents. If you

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want to get better at the interview,

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start watching

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observational

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comedians because that's what they do. They watch

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things, and then they craft stories around it.

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It's a really good suggestion.

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I I love comedians. I I

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wish I I could deliver

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better. Mhmm. I'm always learning from comedians, just

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the way that they interact with the crowd

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or

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things like that. Like, so many good tools

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found in comedians. So if you have one

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you like, you can probably learn something.

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That's a good point. It does go into

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the next suggestion that we have, which is

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silence can actually be very helpful. It can

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be your secret weapon sometimes.

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You don't have to fill every single

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moment

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with a word, with a noise. Sometimes

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the silence is golden.

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Yeah. And that's hard to do, especially when

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you are a podcaster. That's the thing you

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do. It's hard to not go, yep. And

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we talked not too long ago about

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your tone and how you present yourself. And

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I think just stopping and

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soaking in what's being said

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rather than thinking about what needs to happen

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next, because the silence is not just what's

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coming through the microphone or your headphones, but

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also what is going on in your head.

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And as someone who

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is always thinking about the 15,000

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things they have to do in a day,

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it's hard to make your brain quiet, but

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it's a good skill to work on.

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With that silence

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is staying present and not performative. That silence

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can

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lead you into the next thing that your

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guest might say.

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And instead of focusing on a list of

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questions or research that you did ahead of

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time,

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be in the moment and react honestly to

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whatever it is that they're saying. It can

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turn into a story that way as opposed

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to just

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ask an answer.

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Yeah. The and that was

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I was just thinking while you were talking.

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So, obviously, not staying present. I was, but

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I wasn't.

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Like, I did a video not too long

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ago about

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this particular topic,

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and

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one of the points that I thought was

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really interesting

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was this concept of

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summarizing or restating what your guest said before

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you move on. And what that does is,

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one, it makes sure that you are aware

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of what they're talking about,

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but also it reminds your audience

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what they were talking about because we all

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know as podcast listeners

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that

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you're gonna get sidetracked. You're probably doing something

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else while you listen. So having the host,

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like, back up and

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let's recap this as we move into the

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next question.

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That's pretty smart. It was one of my

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favorite little tips that I got from doing

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that video.

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It's a really great idea. I mean, you

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see it in all of television too. Less

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things that are made for streaming,

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but

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especially in reality TV shows where they're like,

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okay. This happened over the this happened right

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before the commercial. Let's recap it

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while we go into this while we finish

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this scene. We cut you off with whatever

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that cliffhanger, and now we're coming back to

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it, and we have to remind you of

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what just happened.

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So I think there's a lot of good

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reason to

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use that tactic.

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Yeah. And I think, like, the last little

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bit of this concept of staying present

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is

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even though you're having a conversation in an

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interview,

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you cannot

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chase every single tangent that comes out between

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you and your guest. So always be trying

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to push it back to this is the

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topic at hand,

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and, you know, you're gonna end up with

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a better product

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that way. Yeah. That's definitely true even for

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someone you're not necessarily interviewing, just your cohost.

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You gotta stay together in that sense.

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Yeah. I'm sure you're doing a lot of

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work this episode trying to keep me on

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track because

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I don't trust myself sometimes. Sometimes I just

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kinda go off on a little tangent in

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my head or

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I think I'm making a point, and then

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I come back and I make the same

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point again, not even knowing that I made

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that point. So Don't we all?

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Don't we all? I think all of our

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brains are a little fried with our phones

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in our hands at all times. Yeah.

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Alright, everyone. That is all for today. Thanks

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for tuning in.

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Yeah. And remember, great interviews come from listening

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more than talking, so slow down just a

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little bit.

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Ask those questions that bring out the best

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in your guests and keep the audience curious

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for what's next.

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And also remember that Blueberry gives you everything

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you need to record, publish, and share your

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conversations with the world.

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Be sure to follow or subscribe to Podcast

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Insider for more podcasting tips, tools, and insights

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from the Blueberry team. Thanks, everyone.

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Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.

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And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com

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share, and read our show notes.

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