Don’t Settle For The First Idea …
by Erik K. Johnson
Don’t settle for the first idea. Work and mold your topic.
It is easy to do an interview exactly like you do every other interview. Just like you’ve heard everyone do every other interview. Unfortunately, it will sound like every other interview.
Do something different. Stand out. Make your interview different. Find new questions. Find ways to ask questions differently. Gain attention by being unique.
On her television show, Ellen DeGeneres asks fun, off-the-wall questions of her guests. She will get them talking about crazy topics you don’t hear on other shows. DeGeneres may even compete with the guest in football throwing or put them in a dunk tank. Whatever it is, her content is always different from her competition. Her interviews always contain a ton of laughs. She will always eventually get to the topic the guest is there to promote, like a movie or book. Before she does, DeGeneres will always have a lot of fun in a unique way.
If you are discussing an article, do something different. If most hosts would simply read the article and comment, zig when they are zagging. Grab the phone and call the subject of the article. Interview the author. Act it out. Create a parody of it that is so over-the-top that it becomes memorable. Find that unique way to rise above the rest.
If you continue to settle for the first idea when presenting an idea, you’ll keep delivering typical content. We want to make you memorable. We want you to stand out and get noticed. When your content is vanilla and just like everyone else, you become wallpaper that nobody notices. You also become easy to replace.
Push yourself. Brainstorm until you find something that is great. Then, run with it and make it engaging and memorable. Don’t settle for the first idea.
Podcast Talent Coach 
This reminds me of an interview that a buddy of mine did with a band (who shall remain nameless). It was around Thanksgiving time, so he decided to do a Thanksgiving related parody of one of the band’s songs. He decided to play the song on the air between interview breaks. The band ended up hating the parody and getting mad at the jock for “murdering” their song. Talk about memorable!
Corey … That is great! I never want to make a guest uncomfortable or upset. However, it is really cool that the interviewer took the chance to do something original. It sounds like the guest had no sense of humor. They possibly could have given the guest a little heads-up prior to airing it. I love the creativity.