Hey friend! I experimented with a new podcast episode format…
Hot-Seat Style 🔥 do you like it???
It’s kind of like a round-robin AMA for 7 minutes with one person on the hot seat. It’s fun. It’s human. It’s different. I have been getting a lot of great feedback on it!
Let me know what you think. Oh… I shared first on the first hot seat style episode! 👀
🎧 Episode 302: The Hot Seat with David, Tova, and Martina! 🔥
🎧 Episode 303: The Hot Seat with Will, Rachel, and Sam 🔥
I would love to hear your thoughts on these episodes! I hope you enjoy them too!
13 Things I Learned From 300+ Episodes
You can basically reach anyone and everyone via email. Just about everyone checks their personal email inbox. It’s fairly easy to find or guess someone’s email address too… so shoot your shot and you may be surprised by what happens!
People don’t *really* care how many downloads your podcast has. Obviously, if you have a big show, that definitely helps haha. But people care more about: 1) what your show is about, 2) the number of episodes you have published, 3) if you are interesting, and/or 4) who else has been on your show.
Speaking of which, social proof goes a really long way. If you have a well-known guest on your show, each subsequent outreach email gets a little bit easier.
Try to make it easy for people to say “yes”. I try to make my outreach emails include everything someone needs to make a decision, and ideally includes a few times to talk. Below is an email that I have sent to someone:
A really good way to prep for a podcast episode is by listening to that person be a guest on another podcast…. (thank you other podcasters!)
The first question is so important for your episode. My first question used to suck. Now, I try to ask “what do you love about X?” Asking questions that people are excited about answering is something I have tried to apply to my personal life too.
In-person episodes create better relationships and conversations with the guest, but are also harder to do.
Sending a Loom video in an email is the most effective form of outreach to a potential guest. It helps you stand-out in someone’s inbox and it also helps people understand your conversational vibe too.
Publishing when you say you are going to… is not as common as I thought it would be. I try to treat the guest like a client. If they are happy and well-informed, only good things can happen.
Doing the work and publishing episodes will spark new ideas over time. Some cool new formats and experiments have occurred when I had to figure something out last minute. The benefit of creative constraints is REAL.
Committing to a publishing schedule is so helpful for publishing creative work. Pick a date when you are going to publish something and it will likely happen!
Starting a podcast is a forcing function to reach out to people and learn. This one decision helps create a system for you where your activities includes things that you likely want to do more of. How cool is that???
Creating a podcast episode with someone sparks ways, reasons, and incentives to stay in touch with that person. As an example, I try to update prior podcast guests when I reach milestones (e.g. 5 years of podcasting). Keep people updated about your journey that you have connected with along the way!
That’s it for now!
~ David Nebinski who is no longer on the hot seat haha 🔥
PS: feel free to reply back and share what you are working on!
PPS: Are you a Chief of Staff in San Francisco? I will be at our CoS Summit on Feb 1! Join me!