Podcast Interview Checklist: How to Prepare Your Guests

A guest on a company podcast gives you their time and expertise. When that guest is a customer, a prospect or a potential partner, the interview is also part of your business relationship. How well you prepare them shapes how the conversation sounds. It also shapes what they think of your company when the recording ends.

This page is a working checklist for whoever runs the show, whether that is the host, a producer or an agency. It sets out what to send each guest and when, the questions to ask before the interview, what to cover on a short pre-call, the recording setup to ask for, and what to do afterwards. A copyable checklist at the end puts it all on one page.

DisclosureJake Jorgovan founded Content Allies, which is mentioned in this article.

Why guest preparation decides the episode

The guest does most of the talking. In a 2021 episode on interviewing, I put the host's share at about 10 to 20% of the time. The rest of the episode is the guest, so the quality of the show depends on how ready they are: whether they know the topic and the audience, have a story or two in mind, and can be heard clearly.

On a B2B show there is a second reason: the guest may be someone you want a working relationship with. In a February 2019 post, I wrote that every one of the referral partners at Lead Cookie, the company I ran then, had at one point been a guest on my podcast. A guest who gets a clear invitation, a short brief and a recording that starts on time has a good first experience of your company. A guest who joins a call without knowing the topic, then struggles with their audio, does not.

Preparation does not mean a script. The aim is a guest who knows what to expect and has had time to think, so the conversation can still go where it wants to.

The preparation timeline

Before you book, check the fit: does the guest's experience match what your listeners come to the show for? A hypothetical example: a show for finance leaders invites a well-known growth marketer. Rather than a general marketing conversation, the brief could ask how the guest's team agrees marketing budgets with its CFO. The angle keeps the episode in your listeners' world.

The steps below assume the guest has agreed and a date is set. Move them earlier for a senior guest whose calendar fills weeks ahead.

1. 1

   When the guest says yes: confirm the details in writing

   Send a short confirmation that covers the date and time with the time zone, the episode's topic and who listens, how long the recording takes and how formal or conversational it will be. Ask the guest to set aside at least 45 to 60 minutes for the recording, as Content Allies' written guide to producing an enterprise episode (opens in a new tab) recommends. Include the guest questionnaire below; its last question asks who at their company needs to review the episode.

2. 2

   About a week before: share the brief

   A brief is the outline for the conversation: a few lines on the guest's background, the episode's objective and the topics in order. Skip the script. Four or five broad topics or questions are enough for a 20-to-35-minute interview, according to Content Allies' article on podcast briefs (opens in a new tab). At the very least, tell the guest which topics you plan to cover. Content Allies' article on interview questions (opens in a new tab) suggests sending the questions too, as a courtesy that helps the guest prepare.

3. 3

   Three to five days before: hold a short pre-call

   A 15-to-20-minute call lets the guest meet the host or producer, walk through the brief and suggest changes. The enterprise-episode guide notes that a pre-call may not be possible with some higher-profile guests, while most others agree to one. If there is no pre-call, send a fuller brief and a short note on how the recording will run. Either way, tell the guest it is fine to pause or restart an answer during the recording.

4. 4

   Two or three days before: send the link and the setup notes

   Send the recording link, a backup plan if the connection fails (a phone number or a second link), and the setup notes below. If audio quality matters to the show and the budget allows, ship the guest a microphone well before this point. That guide, published in 2021, says many Content Allies clients chose to.

5. 5

   On the day: remind, then check

   Send a short reminder with the link, the start time and the time zone. Ask the guest to join five to ten minutes early for a sound check, and use those minutes to confirm the opening question and that they are comfortable.

6. 6

   After the recording: thank them and set expectations

   Thank the guest, tell them when the episode is expected to go live and explain any review step. Once the clips and graphics are ready, send them with suggested captions before the episode is published, so the guest can post on the day. The guide to turning podcast guests into clients and partners covers the follow-up after that.

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Zoom

The approach described in this article, shown as a visual guide.

Research the guest without building a dossier

Guest research is quick. In the same 2021 episode, I said a review of the guest's LinkedIn profile and company website is usually enough. For an author, skim the book's outline or a chapter; for someone who blogs or has their own show, look at a recent piece. Then write down questions you genuinely want answered. If the host is learning something, the audience usually is too.

Plan the opener and the closer, and keep a few fallback questions ready in case a thread runs out. A simple opener is a 60-to-90-second overview of who the guest is and what their business or role is. The guide to conducting a podcast interview covers follow-up questions and active listening during the conversation itself.

Five questions to send the guest

A short questionnaire brings out what research cannot: the stories the guest wants to tell and the topics they would rather leave alone. Keep it to five questions, so it takes a few minutes to answer.

Approvals: settle them before recording day

Approval can come from two sides: your own marketing or communications team, and the guest's employer. Ask the guest early whether their communications, PR or legal team reviews interviews, and if so, who approves, what they need to see and how long it takes.

For your own side, Content Allies' 2021 guide to producing an enterprise episode (opens in a new tab) described how some of its clients handled approval: their marketing and communications departments approved the written outline after the kickoff call, because they rarely had time to listen to a finished episode. A second sign-off can follow once the edited episode and promotion assets are ready.

If your own company uses a guest release or consent form, send it with the confirmation so it is signed before recording day.

The recording setup to ask for

Guests do not need studio equipment to take part. In a 2021 episode on preparing a show's launch, I noted that guests show up with AirPods, or sometimes with no microphone at all, and that their audio is acceptable as long as it is audible. A few requests make the difference between acceptable and good:

• Headphones, preferably wired, so the host's voice does not echo back into the guest's microphone.
• An external USB microphone if they have one, selected in the recording software and kept close. Content Allies' microphone guide (opens in a new tab) puts the right distance at about three to five inches; a microphone a foot or two away picks up background noise and sometimes room echo.
• A quiet room with soft surfaces, and notifications silenced on every device.
• A wired internet connection where possible, with other applications closed.
• A restart of the computer before the call, and the browser or app tested in advance.

Use a recording method that does not depend on the connection, and keep a backup running. Riverside (opens in a new tab), for example, says it records audio and video locally on each participant's device and uploads the files in small chunks during the session, so the recording does not depend on the quality of the connection. When the session ends, wait for the uploads to finish and play the files back before the guest leaves. In the same 2021 episode, I described recording on Zoom and on a second browser-based tool at the same time, so one could cover for the other.

Image

Zoom

The approach described in this article, shown as a visual guide.

For an in-studio recording, ask the guest to arrive 15 minutes early, to wear plain, solid colors if the episode is filmed, and to avoid clothing or jewelry that rustles or clinks near the microphone.

The complete podcast interview checklist

Copy it into your project tool or share it with the team that books and records your guests.

Before the interview

The pre-call, where possible (15 to 20 minutes)

Technical setup

Recording day

After the recording