#040 - Guest Podcasting - The Surprising Benefits Of Being Underprepared

I was recently interviewed by the fabulous Hayley Maxwell for her Fierce Impact podcast. For reasons I explain in this episode, I'd had to cancel our first scheduled recording session and so it had been a while since I'd completed the interview intake form, and I had no memory of what we'd be talking about (blame the menopause, not me!)What I wasn't prepared for was how good it felt to be under-prepared. It felt SO comfortable. I’m not one to suffer from nerves before being interviewed, but I am normally running through a mental checklist of the points I’ve prepared, that I want to be sure to cover. This was different. There was no trying to ‘shoehorn’ my prepared ‘clever’ answers into the conversation. Rather, I was able to be fully present, listen carefully to her questions, then answer freely, naturally, and honestly.When it comes to guest podcasting, normally what happens is as soon as we start to prepare to be interviewed, we begin trying to second guess the way what we’re about to say will be received.Am I making this sound too complicated? Am I dumbing it down too much? Am I being too serious? Am I being too flippant? Will I offend anyone? Will they think I’m boring?This can lead to us coming across as inauthentic. It’s not intentional, but it IS a thing. I can spot it a mile off in others and it can put me off a podcast faster than anything else. Being over-rehearsed as a guest gets in the way of a natural, flowing conversation between you and your host.Allow yourself to be present, listen deeply and be a REACTIVE guest. Listening intently to the questions and giving your instinctive, honest, authentic answers makes for a powerful interview.If guest podcasting is on your agenda for 2023 then you can apply to be a guest on the Heads Together podcast here: https://form.jotform.com/Moakes/heads-together-guest-applicationIf you’re a podcast host whose audience loves a dose of entrepreneurial real talk, then I’d love to be your guest - reach out to me at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.Listen in to Hayley's Fierce Impact podcast here: https://hayleymaxwell.com/podcast This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gillmoakes.substack.com