328: How to Be a Great Podcast Guest
22 Jun 2022 · 23 min
In this solo episode of Be Moved, host Sally Z (Sally Koering Zimney) shares a practical three‑part process—Align, Prepare, Perform—to become a memorable podcast guest. She explains why podcasting is a low‑effort, high‑impact platform for sharing stories, building authority, and expanding one’s network, and stresses that success hinges on mutually beneficial relationships between guest, host, and audience. Sally outlines how to align your expertise with the host’s audience, how to prepare by researching the show, noting the host’s name, and mapping key ideas to her Simple Story Framework (moment‑meaning‑move). She then details how to perform on video, stay story‑driven, and optimize the appearance by planning a clear call‑to‑action, offering freebies, and following up with the host after the episode. Throughout, she shares personal anecdotes, mentions her virtual assistant Allison’s role in research and scheduling, and highlights common pitfalls such as neglecting post‑show relationship maintenance. Listeners are directed to download the Simple Story Framework at bemooved.com/simplestory.
Chapters
Hey movers, it's Sally Z with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're going to talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved. This moved me. What is moving You. Hello, hello everybody. How are you? Hope doing great. We are talking today about how to be a great podcast guest, a memorable podcast guest. And the way that we do that is of course by bringing our whole self into the moment. Now I have Hosted many, many people as guests on my podcast, but I've also been a guest many times on other people's podcasts. In fact, this morning I was supposed to do a show about podcasting actually, and be a guest on that show. And this morning I woke up and I was like, I don't think I should do it with my voice and my nose and everything sounding this way. It's one thing for me to do that on my own platform because you know me, this— we have a little longer relationship here. But if someone is hearing me for the first time, this may not be the best situation. I don't, I don't make a habit of, of opting out at the last minute, but for health reasons, I just thought it was the best thing to do. So we are going to talk today about a process that I use to prepare for those podcasting moments when I'm not dealing with this, that I wanna share with you because we all know how powerful podcasting can be to help you share your voice, share your stories, build your authority, connect with new audiences, bring new people into your ecosystem, into your world. And podcasting is generally fairly low effort for the guest and provides a service to the podcast host and their audience. It's a way to be able to show up and serve people. And it's another one of those 3 stages that we have been talking about here on the show. I went live with Jenn Whitmer about the way in which she uses her content when she's podcasting as a guest. So that's a really cool episode. Go check that out. We've been talking about— Elsie and I were on the platform here a few weeks ago, just talking about why podcasting is a really powerful thing to add into your business ecosystem. Okay. My goal is not to be like a world-renowned podcaster, but it is another way for me to show up and serve my audience. And from a hosting perspective and from a guesting perspective, it's an incredible way for me to meet new people and network. So one of the themes that you're gonna hear as we talk about this today is how important relationships are in podcasting. It's a— and in speaking. Okay. There's a reason why these two things are so well aligned. It's a relationships game. When I sit down and have a deep, real conversation with a host about who I am, what I do, my experiences, my stories, we're building a relationship there. Okay, it's like you going out to coffee with somebody, but dialed up a notch and clearly honed in on the topic and the thing that you are going to be offering that audience at that time. So let's talk about the process that I use to prepare. So as a little context and background, my virtual assistant Allison does research for me. She finds different places to pitch me to. She takes care of all of that. Once that gets scheduled, it arrives in my calendar and I go, for instance, like this week I knew I had a podcast episode to record this morning. And so Allison will send me some information about that podcast so that I can prepare. Okay. So it takes a little time. I do not want you to, if you want to really turn this into a relationship, a networking opportunity, something that is mutually beneficial, it needs to be beneficial for their audience. And you want it to be beneficial for you too. It's okay for it to be both. We're going to find ways for it to be both. So. We're gonna use that to help guide us with these, this 3-part process. Okay? We want it to be beneficial for them. They brought you in. It's not all about you in that moment. It's like anytime we show up to speak, it's ultimately about the audience. So we want it to be beneficial to the host. We want it to be beneficial to the audience, and we want it to be beneficial for us. As well. It's a win-win-win situation when you put in a little time to prepare. Not a ton of time, but a little bit. We'll talk about this at the end, but I just want to point out that when I was talking to Jen about the way in which we can use our content on these free stages, including on podcasts, I shared with her my new simple story framework, and this is a content framework that will help you take your stories and your experiences, the points that you want to make, it puts it in a nice little framework and makes it really easy to share. So it's a great simple way to feel prepared for a podcasting opportunity or any of the times where you show up on social media. So I just want to bring this to your attention because it's part of this process of preparation. All right, so the first thing that you want to spend a little time doing is aligning you with that audience, not necessarily your audience, because it's not about your audience right now. We want to find the slice of mutual benefit, so we want to take what your expertise is and think about how it can connect with that podcaster's or that host's intention for their audience, who they are, what they need. Okay. So for instance, Sally Koering Zimney talks about conflict and personal development tools to help us have more peaceful relationships. So her, her business audience are corporate leaders, okay? And organizational leaders. But she may not be talking to corporate leaders or organizational leaders when she's out on podcasts. She might be talking to parents. She might be talking to entrepreneurs. Okay? So whatever audience you are talking to, you're going to try and find that slice of mutual benefit. For you both. So for Jen, if she's talking to parents, she's going to let them know that, that she works with organizational and corporate leaders. Okay. But, but she's going to align her content with a parental audience in that moment. Okay. My guess is there are parents who are also corporate and organizational leaders. So she'll find that slice of mutual benefit in that audience, but it might be a smaller slice than if she was on a podcast, for instance, where she was out, where it's about corporate leadership or it's about organizational leadership or it's about conflict. That is like a win-win-win, really easy alignment between her and that audience. Okay? Sometimes we're gonna kind of find a slice of it. Sometimes that slice of that pie is gonna be a lot bigger. Does that make sense? Okay. So the first thing you're gonna do is know in your head what that alignment is, because once you find that alignment, it's going to help you find the framework of stories and points that you want to make. Now, That work has probably already been done in some way. If they've said yes to you, then that host sees some alignment there. Okay? Or you've done a good job when in the pitch of already creating that alignment, but you need to have that really clear in your head before you sit down in the moment. Okay? You can't just be like, well, I'm going to wing it. It's like, no, you need to know where that alignment is so that you can take your expertise and your stories and your ideas and make it meaningful and beneficial to that audience. Okay. So that's the first thing is you're going to align. The second thing that you're going to do is prepare. Now, this is kind of a no duh. So let me be a little more specific on what I mean by that. When you prepare for a podcast, when I prepare to be a guest on a podcast, I always listen to at least one episode, I need to know what is the vibe of this show? What is the vibe that that person is going for? Okay. I'll admit sometimes I'm booked on a show, I've never heard of it. I don't know who, I don't know the host. I, I don't know anything about it. So I need to put in a little bit of homework in order to be fair to this host. Who is letting you, giving you access to their audience. Okay? You gotta put in a little bit of homework. So you're gonna at least listen to the show. You're gonna go to their website, the host's website. You're gonna look, you're gonna have a sense of who this host is, what their intention is, what they are trying to do. And then you are going to take out a piece of paper and you're gonna write that host's name. On the top of that piece of paper. Because once again, this is about relationships. This is about relationships. Ultimately, whatever happens with that episode, this is an opportunity for you to network and engage and connect with somebody who saw, who sees some value in what you're doing and wants to share it. Okay, that is powerful juju and you want to take it in. And you want to make sure that you are being respectful of that time and attention and energy that they are offering to you. Okay? And when you've got that piece of paper with their name on it, that's what's going to guide you in your conversation. Then, because you've done the work of alignment, and you've listened to an episode, and you have a sense of who this host is, as you prepare, You're gonna jot down a few key ideas and a few key stories that go with those ideas. Okay, now, especially if you're using the Simple Story Framework, you're gonna tie every idea to a story. Okay? So in the framework, we call it moment, meaning, move. Okay. And if you download the framework at bmoove.com/simplestory, all one word, simplestory, you can grab this framework and it'll walk it through a little more in depth. But the idea here is you start by sharing a moment that illustrates the meaning that you want them to take from it. So if there's some points that you want to make, great. That's the meaning. And then you're going to find the moment that illustrates that. Now, if you have a signature talk that you've developed with me, this is a piece of cake, right? Because you've already got, you've already got everything built in this framework. It's just pulled apart a little bit more. It's a little more in depth. Okay. You know, each point you're making has a story attached to it. So you're just going to kind of lift those up. Like, what is the point that I want to make? What is the meaning, to use the framework language, what is the meaning that I wanna make of this moment? And then you're gonna pull in that moment, boop, and there is a piece of content that you can, if it's relatable, if it makes sense in the moment, if that comes up, then you're going to tap into it. Okay? I hope that makes sense. Right? Once you, once you've done this a few times, it's really, it's really simple because you're, you're probably going to be repeating a lot of these things. There's a handful of pillars in your business, right? Pillar content. You find yourself talking a lot about the reason they have you on the show is because they want you to talk about this idea or this concept, right? Well, when you think about that concept, what are some of the key points and stories that you make around that. So for instance, I talk a lot about speaking confidently. I talk a lot about visibility. I talk a lot about stories. I have some key phrases and points developed around each of those ideas and stories connected to them as well. I talk about some other things too, but My pillow. I got too many pillows. We can talk. That's a whole nother thing, team. It's a whole nother thing. Okay. So once you have prepared, in other words, you have a piece of paper, their name is at the top of it. You've jotted down some key moments and meaning that you want to and might be able to illustrate or bring up in this conversation. So you've tilled that soil a little bit for yourself. So you're not walking into it completely cold. You've already done the work of aligning your message and your approach, your expertise with that audience. Okay? So you're already thinking, using that filter, and you're prepared. Now it's time to show up and of course perform, right? This is the fun part. This is where it is ultimately. Whatever you have planned, you're ultimately going to show up and connect and have your focus be on the relationship and the energy and the exchange that you are creating with that person. Okay. Most of this is done via video these days. And when I started, I was just doing audio. And there's something really beautiful about that, I will admit. But most of the podcast interviews I have been doing in the last few years have all been via video. I do them all via video because, it's not a big surprise, but it gives you more content to work with on the backend that you then repurpose and share and use in all kinds of different ways. So know that that is likely. I would expect that you are going to be on video as well. Even if they just pull your audio, when you're on video, it's a way for you to easily connect with the person as well. Okay. So what are some of the things that we need to do if we're going to show up and perform in the moment? Like, just like per— performing for any other free or real stage. We're gonna make sure that we are healthy. Mm-hmm. If you're not, that is a problem, right? The body, the voice, the mind, the spirit. Gotta show up fully. And we're focused on connecting, connecting with that person. We are gonna focus on being story-driven, just like always. That is what we do when we perform. It is a story-first, story-driven opportunity. That's what makes you a Be Moved speaker, is that you're going to really use the persuasive power of story to move your audience. So story first, have those stories in mind. And then really importantly, I want you to be thinking about how you can optimize this experience as you are there to perform. In other words, what is next? What are you moving people towards? Part of your work in aligning you with that audience is thinking about, where do I want that slice of audience that might be really jazzed about what I have to say? What do I want them to do next? And you're going to make sure that when you perform, You are leading them towards something. Okay. I spent years not taking advantage of all of the free stages that I was put on. I was just like, I'm just so grateful to be here. And if people wanna find me, they'll find me. And some people did, some people did, but I didn't make it easy for them. I made it really, really hard. We wanna make it easy for people to walk with you if they're like, Yep. I love this person. I'm totally with them. I can't wait to move on to the next thing, right? If that's you, then, or if that's that audience member, how do we make it easy for them? You're going to offer them something. What is next? Optimize this experience. What is a freebie? A download? Even if it's connect with me on Instagram. Send me a message, or you start a little hashtag thing. Like, there's a million things you can do, but I want you to know what that is before you sit down so that when you perform, you are taking advantage of it. You're making the most of this opportunity, optimizing it. Part of optimizing it doesn't just end in the performance of what happens in the moment. Part of optimizing it is what happens after. Okay? And what happens after includes staying connected with that host, reaching out, saying thank you. It also includes promoting and sharing that show when it comes out. It means genuinely seeing this as not just a one-time exchange. I got what I needed out of it. That's it. But how can you continue to build this as a relationship? That is truly optimizing the opportunity that you have. It's not just a one-time exchange. It's a relationship going forward. So I had Rob Bell on my show years ago, and it was such a— I was like really nervous. I changed everything at the last minute. Because I wanted it to be like a different level of awesome. And I, like, my background was really weird and I don't normally videotape it, but I was like, I'm gonna videotape this so I can do something really awesome with it, which I never really did. And I was so thrilled to have him there. And I knew, I knew, I was like, this is an amazing opportunity to be connected with someone whose work I admire, who's an incredible speaker, who who saw something in me and was willing to come on my show. Okay. And we kept in touch for a while. Okay. Send him an email. He's not very chatty via email because he's a busy dude and I don't think he really likes email. We, I would say we had, we had at least a friendly connection and then I stopped staying in touch because I got busy. And it really wasn't on him. It was, it was me. He said, come join us, join me for this workshop in California. And I, I couldn't swing it. I couldn't, I couldn't go and I just couldn't. And that's okay. But the reason that experience wasn't fully optimized is because I didn't keep the relationship going. Right? That is part of the benefit of these opportunities is it's about relationships and networking and connections and deepening the, this really incredible web of support that exists out in the world. And podcasts shorten that connection and it brings people into you faster when you can show up and not just be a guest, but be a partner for them in that experience. That's truly how you can optimize. All right. I hope this was helpful for you. You can learn from some of my mistakes and how I have not always aligned and prepared and really performed, but to really take advantage of this incredible platform so that you can show up and speak. You can show up and speak your story. So this framework that we've talked about a little bit, the will help you be a better guest. It's going to help you align and prepare and perform. So I want you to grab it if you haven't yet. It's called the Simple Story Framework, and you can grab it at bemooved.com/simplestory. All right, my friends, I hope everybody is having an awesome, awesome week. So glad that you are here.
