Have you ever been in the middle of an interview, and the topic just gets away from you I'm talking about, you are talking. And maybe it's just a subtle mention of one topic. And your guest just grabs onto it, and they just take off running. And then all of a sudden, you look down, and you're like, we've been talking for 15 minutes, about nothing. And I don't know, as the host of the show, how to rein it in how to come back to the topic that
we're speaking about. If this ever happened to you, this episode is for you today. Or if you're just getting started in your content creation journey, whether you're a podcast host, or you host a live stream, or you do video interviews, like you're going to find so much helpful information that I have learned from hundreds of podcasts interviews. So we're going to talk about how to come back whenever an interview goes awry, things go astray, how to get everybody back on track, and
back on topic. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the Proffitt Podcast where we teach you how to start launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we?
One of the questions that I get asked a lot by new podcasters is really, how do I become a really good host? How do I become a better interviewer. And unfortunately, it is one of those things that it just comes with time, you will learn things in the process of interviewing multiple people in your podcast on your live streams and videos like you just become a lot better at it, the more you do it, but there are a few techniques and tips that I can share with you that can help you streamline that process and make it a lot faster. And one of those is how do you get back on track? How do you keep from going down multiple rabbit holes, and then all of a sudden you're in conversation with your guest. And while they're talking, you're thinking in your mind? What was the initial question? What what why are we talking about this? How did this even happen? I don't even know where to go. I don't even know how to get back on topic from here. And this is a problem. Because if you start going down one rabbit hole, and then you realize this has nothing, nothing to do with the topic that we spoke about. Let's talk about this real fast, because there is a fine line between casual conversation that you I encourage people to have on their podcast and irrelevant banter, right, you're just talking back and forth, like you're just on a zoom call having a great conversation and like there's not a lot of value to the listener. That's where the gray area is. And if you start going down this one track of being off topic, it's not going to lead to something that's valuable for your audience. So keep that top of mind, whenever you're recording. If you start going down a rabbit hole, and you're like, oh, we should keep this going. Because it's going to add so much value to the audience than chase that like keep going on that path. But if you're in the middle of a conversation, and you're like, what, what are we even talking about, like this isn't relevant to the podcast, it's not relevant to the audience, it's not even relevant to anything that has to do with a show, then that's when you need to get people back on track. So here are my tips to make that
happen.
Number one, okay, and I'm gonna have all these listed in the show notes. So go to KrystalProffitt.com/episode344, for everything that we talked about today, including some resources that will be helpful. For those of you that are doing interviews, I'm going to blink to some great YouTube videos to help you get started and some other podcast episodes that we have. But number one, I want you to remember that you have the mic. It is your show. So at the end of the day, you are the one steering the conversation and you know if you will, if you want to think about it like being oz behind the green curtain and you're pulling the strings behind the scenes, you want to remember that that whether it's the questions that you ask or the way that you want to lead the conversation and steer things towards maybe one specific topic or ask questions that will encourage the guests to share more about their stories relating to that topic or the information that they have to share about that topic. And some of this, and I'm not a huge fan of this, but I will offer this because I know that not everyone is like me, and everyone is different. I like to offer different perspectives and different kinds of ways that you can go about your podcasting, I recommend if this is something that you worry is going to be an issue with either all of your guests or a very specific guest, you can offer that discovery call, where it's like, Hey, I'd love for you to be a guest on the show. Let's have a quick 15 minute conversation, whether it's just you know, a phone call, or a zoom, call a video, call, whatever, and talk about what you expect, whenever the guest comes on the show like these are my expectations, I would love for you to come into the fold and share your expertise, your value, all the things that you have to share about this one particular topic. Because setting that tone and the expectations. It's a challenge. If you're brand new to this, if you're not used to interviewing anybody, then those discovery calls can be super helpful. Now, on the flip side of that, the reason why I don't like doing this is because I am confident in my ability to host an interview and be a guest in an interview. So I don't feel like it's necessary to do that lead up before a show. That's just my personal take on it. I've had several people that say, you know, I'd love to have you on the show, let's set up a time to chat about expectations and all this and I say actually, can we just Nix that off, you know, having a separate call. And what we can do instead is chat for 10 to 15 minutes before we start recording. And that will set me up because let's just be really honest, let's this is like pull back the curtain on what my brain, I do better if I talk about it right before we start going instead of having a call a week before our actual conversation, because it's likely I'm going to forget all the things that we talked about a week ago, unless I'm taking copious amounts of notes. And I don't really like to do that. Whenever I'm talking to someone, I want to be very intentional and present with someone that I'm talking to. And so that is what I prefer. So either one of those options can be great. So you could have a discovery call a week before the episode is recorded. Or you could say, hey, let's chat for 10 or 15 minutes before we actually start recording. That way, we're all clear on what's being expected of the conversation that we're going to have today and the things that I really want to talk about and bring out and your story and your expertise. Okay, so that is number one. Remember that you have the mic, and it is your show. Super, super important. If you're brand new to podcasting and content creation, I want you to own that. Right from the beginning. You have the mic and it is your
show.
Okay, so tip number two, how to gently cut someone off during an interview. Okay, I've had to do this a few times. It's not as cringe worthy as you believe it to be like, maybe some of you were like, oh, like you just got a little uncomfortable when I said cut someone off. Because you're imagining, okay, let's, let's let you set the scene here, right? You're driving down
the road. And there's someone that's road raging right next to you, and then they swoop in front of you, and they cut you off and they slam on the brakes. And you're just like, oh my gosh, it takes your breath away. You're nervous. You're scared. You're like, what just happened? Oh, my goodness, we don't want to have that experience for yourself, or for the person that is cutting you off. You're cutting them off? Like no, that is not what I mean, when I say cutting someone off in an
interview. It's why I use the word gently at the very beginning, gently cutting someone off. And that does not mean interrupting someone I actually have a few phrases that I use, but it's basically chopping off the end of a story. So you can start in a new direction. So here's a for example, if I were talking to someone on a podcast episode, and then they started talking about a topic that was a great like the beginning of it was a great share and a great part of
their story. But then they went off on some weird tangent in between and you're like, how did we get here? I don't know how to bring this back. I don't even know what they're talking about anymore. Then you say? Oh, like thank you so much for sharing that. But I want to get back to what we were talking about in the insert whatever the topic at hand is, or you could say thank you so much for sharing. Let's
circled back to. So those are two important phrases that I like to use, but you want to turn the conversation back to the topic at hand. Because if you get too all over the place, it kind of does a few things. So one, it makes it hard for you to make that declarative call to action to your audience and say, This is what this podcast is about. If you have 17 different main topics that you covered in this episode, it's going to be hard to say, this is definitively what this episode
is about. But if you call it out, if you say, this episode is a podcast that talks about calls to action for real estate agents, and what they can use in their marketing, that's pretty specific. But if I talked to a real estate agent, and they were sharing with me their marketing stuff, and then they started getting into buying and selling and flipping and doing all these other things, then it gets pretty discombobulated. And it's
all over the place. So if somebody were telling a story, and they finished speaking, again, because we're gently cutting people off, meaning I'm not interrupting them and saying, Okay, that's too much, we're going in another direction. I think it's rude. Maybe that works for other people, like, Gary Vaynerchuk is someone that's notoriously does this, it's his style. That's not my style, I guess it comes from, it's my southern charm. Well, you know, put chalk it up to
that. But I don't like cutting people off. I don't like interrupting people, it is a pet peeve of mine. So what I will do is I will let them finish. And then after they're done sharing, say, oh, man, thank you so much for sharing that. Now I would love to talk about or let's get back to talking about or let's circle back around to, and I'm leading them back to the topic at hand.
And this really plays really well into tip number three that I have for you. And that is you can always edit things, you can always edit things out, you have the control at the end of the day. Okay, so if you do end up going down a rabbit hole, don't be afraid to trim things down in the editing room. If you're like, you know what, we really didn't stay on topic for this. Five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Like, again, let's go what was number one, you have the mic, it's your show. So if you feel like this just does not work in this episode. It's a weird story, or it's just not set like I'm trying to maybe it has all everything to do with your format. You're like, Man, this, this episodes, 45 minutes, I really try to keep things at 30 minutes, I can cut out this chunk right here because it has nothing to do with what I really wanted to talk about. Trim things down, it's your show, you have the final say, in what goes into your episode. So don't be afraid to make those calls. And honestly, this is why if you do get nervous about having, you know, to trim out a bunch of stuff in an episode, have a guest sign a release form. And you'll notice I've talked about release forms here on the show before and I'll link to some stuff that I've done about him in the show notes again, KrystalProffitt.com/episode344. But if you're nervous about thinking, Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have to cut some stuff out, somebody is going to be mad about it, just have them sign a release that says you have the final say and what happens to that content, you own that content. Because if that's what you want to share, then that's what you can share on the show. So you can choose to let the conversation go wherever it may, if you know in the back of your head, you're like, Okay, we're going to have a 60 minute conversation. But really, I'm going to trim it down to the best 30 minutes, then do that. Do that. Look, you have the ability to do that you can decide later. Like, you know what? She rambled on for 15 minutes about this, but there was a five minute goldmine of information that I really want to keep in the episode. Well, then you can do that with your content and just keep those five minutes are going to be super impactful, super valuable to your audience. I will give you a disclaimer. That sounds like a lot of work though. Like it does like as I'm saying and I'm like, Oh, y'all know I don't like to do a lot of editing. Right? If you're new to the show. This may be the first time you're hearing this but I don't like to do a bunch of fancy editing where I'm piecing together multiple pieces of audio. I prefer to use an entire episode like if I'm recording an interview. Unless there's a big fumble and we have like kids interrupting dogs barking and my guest has to stop and say I'm so sorry. I have to go do this. And then maybe we'll cut that part out. But other than that, I just let I let it record, I let it fly. But what I'm able to do and why I don't have to go back and edit so much of it is because I know how to steer the conversation back to the topic. So before it gets too much into a 20 minute long tangent about something that I know is not going to be relevant to my audience, I bring it back. And I say, let's circle back around to the topic at hand, or I want to get back to talking about you made this one really great point, let's go down that rabbit hole. So there are a few different phrases that you can use to make this happen. But bottom line, I want you to learn how to steer conversation where the interviewer doesn't get away from you. And I can tell you, I can talk with the best of them. And I have been known to go down some tangents and rabbit holes whenever I'm a guest on a show. And I am so appreciative when the host says, That's awesome. I want to get back to this one thing you said here, I don't get offended by it. I don't at all, I'm grateful that they are reeling me back in to say, I'm so happy you shared this extra tip that is above and beyond. But let's go back like let's zoom our focus back on the thing that we came here to talk about today. So I can tell you that it's not going to hurt someone's feeling. If you are saying, let's circle back to something or let's get back to it. Or if I listened to the final clip, and it's like, oh, they cut out a little bit of our conversation. I don't get mad about it. I'm just like, oh, man, this is so good. Because it's exactly what their audience needed to hear. It didn't matter. All the things that I said it didn't matter that I wish they would have left everything in there because it was their show. So I want you to hear the different perspectives from being a host and being a guest that you can't really lose in the situation. When you cut people off the end. At the end of the day, if you put all of this information in there, the only person you may be losing is your audience. If you have way too much fluffy stuff. And it's not actionable. It's not value packed. It's not entertaining, it's not educational, like there's so many different ways that y'all are creating content. And I want you to really think about this. If you are not thinking about your audience, the entire time you're recording an interview, you've already lost. Pay. Let me say that again. If you're not thinking about your audience the entire time during that interview, you've already lost. So you have to be thinking, how can I keep this action packed, valuable, tangible, so that my audience either takes action after they get off this interview and they're done listening, or they can't wait to listen to my next interview? My next guests that I have. Alright, that's all I have for you today. This is a great one. This is such a great topic. I always feel like the energy like I'm standing up today when I'm recording. I'm like, Yeah, move it, you should see me like I'm not recording any video today. But I have my hands, gesturing and moving all around. And it's just, I'm on fire today about this topic, because it's something that I wish I would have known in the beginning. All the things that I share with you on this podcast are things that I wish I would have known and really understood whenever I was first getting started, because all of this stuff I have learned either the hard way, or from someone else that has gone before me and told me these
things.
So I hope that you find them super valuable. And again, if you want to know more about tips for being a better host having great interviews, go to the show notes, KrystalProffitt.com/episode344 for all the extra resources that I have to share with you. But that's all I have for you today. So if this is your first time tuning in, make sure you hit the follow or subscribe button wherever you're listening to this podcast. I would love it if you would take a screenshot and tag me share it on your
Instagram story. Share it on your Instagram, and let me know your number one takeaway from today's episode, but that's all I have for you. So as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.