In the last week I've been interviewed and conducted interviews. One of those podcasts was Entrepreneur on Fire  (iTunes)and the other was Urbanism Speakeasy (itunes)Podcast. In today's show I share tips and insights from both sides of the interview.
Podcast Clip of the Week - Your Audience Is Excited When They Find Your Content [3:28]
In episode 5 of the "My Digital Life with Rob Greenlee" podcast (website, iTunes), host Rob Greenlee (who has been on the show before), talks with Nicole Simon, Author, Social Media and Podcast Consultant at nicole-simon.eu from Berlin, Germany about the global aspects of podcasting. In the clip you hear how Nicole felt the first time she discovered podcasting.
Member Spotlight - Cool People Podcast [5:23]
If you're tired of hearing the same people being interviewed over and over, check out the Cool People Podcast hosted by Robert Chazz Chute. Rober has interviewed some "outside of the box" people. These include: a judge at a marijuana competition actors authors an erotica author who was a judge feminist porn they talk drugs in America, Middle East politics, if your a cool person you might like it. Check it out at coolpeoplepodcast.com (itunes).
Tips for Doing a Podcast Interview - Being the Host [9:42]
I was Entrepreneur on Fire podcast with John Lee Dumas. John does a DAILY podcast. That is a lot of work. These are all interviews. That is a TON of work. With this in mind, John needs to run an efficient ship, and when I was asked to be on his show I was really impressed with his work flow.
 John invited me to be on his show two months in advance for a show that will air one month after it was recorded.
By inviting people months in advance, you have a smaller chance of people being "booked."
John's Invitation Was Straight and To the Point
John's invitation was short, respectful, explained what his podcast was, explained why I was a good fit for the show. It also explained the "tone" of the show (it's all about inspirational stories). It provided statistics of his audience (about 225,000 downloads a month), and provided information to show John as a credible source.
John also let me know how long the interview was, so
John Sent Me a List of Some of the Questions that He Would be Using
By sending me the questions ahead of time it let me be prepared so the interview had great content. It turns out these were not ALL the questions, but it gave me an idea of what type of content fits his podcast.
I previously worried that providing the questions ahead of time would leave me with an over prepared guest who had memorized their answers. I have changed my mind. Provide some of the questions ahead of time. This leaves you room for an honest conversation later during the interview. After all, you don't want the interview to be ruined because you guest is somewhat slow on their feet. For some people this is a nerve wracking situation, and allowing them to be prepared is going to result in better content.
Automate the Scheduling Process
If you want to take some of the hassle of scheduling interviews, there are services that allow potential guests to pick the time that suits them best (again stress the time zone you are in so they know ahead of time). Some examples of these include:
Vcita.com
timetrade.com
John uses meetme.so to automate his schedule (I use Vcita  (affiliate link)- which has a Wordpress Plugin). While you can send requests and such via Google Calendar, this tool really takes the headaches out of the scheduling piece.
Send A Reminder
If you're scheduling months in advance, there is that chance that your guest forgot to put it on their calendar. John's system automatically reminded me, and John sent a personal email making sure we are still on (very cool). IN that reminder, be sure to touch base on the time zone that you are using for the interview. Most scheduling systems have this automated.
Times Zones Will Come Back To Haunt You
When you are setting up the interview time, times zones can co