The Dos and Don'ts of Internal Podcasting

In recent years, creating a podcast has become a popular marketing and communications tool for businesses, non-profits, and other types of organizations. A common practice is for organizations to source both hosts and guests internally. This makes a lot of sense since these people already know a lot about the organization, but it can raise challenges too.

These internal podcasting tips will help you create the kind of podcast you want faster!

Host

As a best practice when starting out, have the same person host each episode (two hosts together is also fine). Hosting is a skill, so when you’re choosing someone with little experience it helps to give them space to learn and improve by hosting episode after episode.

Choose someone who is interested in the role, and reasonably knowledgeable and excited about the content overall. This will help generate unique interview questions, and the hosts' enthusiasm will draw the listener in. Read Finding Your Unique Performance Voice for more tips on hosting.

With the traits listed above, and opportunities to practice, perform and get more comfortable, you now have a great podcast host in the making!

Guest

Generally, your host will ask the questions and manage the conversation.  If you’d like the guest to come more prepared, consider providing them questions ahead of time and having them note bullet point reminders to each answer. The last thing you want is your podcast to sound scripted, so bullet points are a great way to remember important content without sounding unnatural.

Because it’s an internal podcast, you may consider having the host and guest take turns reading things like scripted ads, or scripted outro messages. Don’t do this! It can add unnecessary stress to your guests and sound clunky. Leave any scripted parts to your wonderful host.

Book enough recording time to allow for some chit-chat before things get started. This will allow the host and guest a chance to relax and maybe even forget they're being recorded!

Honestly, that’s it! You were probably expecting a longer blog post, but really, when it comes to podcasting just keep it conversational and keep it simple!. And, be sure to download this free, and helpful Podcasting at Work guide to get started.

Thumbnail Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash