Improve Your Interviews With Open-Ended Questions - EP 98

What kinds of questions do you ask your podcast guests? The most engaging podcast episodes—the ones that make for the best conversations and the best listening—are the ones that contain great stories. As the host, you're always aiming to draw all those details and deep disclosures from your guest. So why does getting the full picture sometimes feel like pulling teeth?

Mary recently taught her nine-year-old daughter how asking more specific questions will get her the answers she wants, and that conversation prompted this episode's exploration. An open-ended question—the kind that requires a more thorough answer than "yes," "no," or some other short word or phrase—is always going to elicit a stronger response. In return, you as the host don't have to work as hard; your guest's fascinating story, the whole reason they're chatting with you, stands a much better chance of tumbling out of them with the passion every podcaster  (and podcast listener) is looking for.

Ask yourself these impactful interview-question questions:

• What are the best W5 question prompts to ask in your interview?
• How can you utilize storytelling statements to deliver more engaging episodes?
• What should you look for in past episodes to start asking better questions in the future?

Links worth mentioning from the episode:

Episode 32, "Bad Interviewing Habits" - https://www.organizedsound.ca/bad-interviewing-habits-episode-32/

Connect with Mary!

• Leave a voice note with your feedback at https://www.speakpipe.com/VisibleVoice or email [email protected]
• Get the full transcript of the episode at http://www.visiblevoicepodcast.com
• Read up on more secrets with the Visible Voice Insights Newsletter https://www.organizedsound.ca/newsletter
• To learn more or work with Mary, check out https://www.organizedsound.ca
• Link up on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/marychan-organizedsound/
• Engage on Instagram @OrganizedSoundProductions https://www.instagram.com/organizedsoundproductions

Show Credits:

• Podcast audio design, engineering, and editing by Mary Chan of Organized Sound Productions
• Show notes written by Shannon Kirk of Right Words Studio
• Post-production support by Kristalee Forre of Forre You VA
• Podcast cover art by Emily Johnston of Artio Design Co.

Transcript with Audio Description:

[MUSIC IN - GHOSTHOOD FEATURING SARA AZRIEL "LET'S GO" BEGINS]

MARY: How do you ask questions? I guess specifically on your podcast, maybe when you do interviews, how are those questions being asked? I know it's still quite a broad question, but have you ever gone back to your episodes, listen to them again to review how you have been asking questions? And if you want to get even more specific, I'm actually talking about open ended questions versus close ended questions. 

So today I'm going to explore those types of questions with you and show you how open ended questions can make your interviews and your podcast more enjoyable. Not just for you as a host, but maybe as a guest as well if you're on someone else's show, but more importantly for your listener. 

This episode actually stemmed from my conversation with my daughter. So, you know, lots of real life experience can come onto the podcast as well. And this idea of what it's like to pull stories from someone by asking them the different types of questions. So, how does your curiosity with these open ended questions play a significant role in your interviews? So there you go. The next generation of podcasters, through my daughter, is already teaching me about something that I can share with you on this very podcast. 

This is episode number 98 on the Podcaster's Guide to a Visible Voice. 

<< WOMAN SINGS: So so so so let's go >>

MARY: Hey, welcome to the show. And yeah, things in real life this happens in radio all the time. It's just called show prep.

[MUSIC ENDS]

What's happening in your life as you go about your day that can help impact what you do on air. So in this case behind the mic on your podcast. And there are some real life situations that go on in my life that go behind the scenes on this podcast which you might not always know about, but this one I'm gonna share very much all the details of how I realized that this conversation that I had with my daughter is, I'm going to translate here on this episode today about open ended questions for you to ask during an interview with your guest. 

And in fact I talked a lot about bad interviewing habits actually, that was episode 32 if you have not listened to that one. So definitely go back to that episode. It is a great companion to this one. Lots of details there on episode 32, bad interviewing habits. But briefly for this episode, a close ended question essentially closes the conversation very quickly. This type of question will either get a yes or no type of answer and if you don't want to elaborate more, you don't have to. It's really quite the conversation killer. But I know, when people come on a podcast, they're actually here to share stories. So even if you do ask those close ended questions, they will elaborate a bit more. However, it will be more enjoyable if you have open ended questions. 

But back to the close ended questions. As an example, do you like chocolate? It's going to be a yes or no answer. Yep, chocolate's good. Or maybe a little bit more expanded, right? You don't have to go into details but you're like, maybe, it depends, I don't like milk chocolate, I like a dark chocolate. But then that's, that's really it until you come up with a follow up question. And there's a lot more interview techniques to go into this. However, if you start with an open ended question, you don't have to do as much of the hard work, you're already asking for more, all in that one question. So the guests can't just say yes or no. What kind of chocolate do you like? What are your favorite chocolate bars? Why is that your favorite chocolate bar, right? These type of questions are very specific and they can help the listener jog in their mind a story they want to share. And it makes your job just that much easier. 

[MUSIC IN]

So as I alluded at the start of the show, my nine year old daughter sparked this idea for the episode. And if you've got some young ones in your life, like most kids, you might know that they do ask a lot of questions. And most of these questions are close ended aside from the ones that always ask, but why, but why, but why? Those kids already are on the uh, open ended question train. However, my daughter does ask a lot of questions and not always the and why. Sometimes they are just emulating the adults in their lives, right? So for example, sometimes I'll say to her, did you have fun at school today? Or she doesn't always eat her lunch. So I'm like, did you finish eating your lunch today? Did you play with so and so, or who did you play with? And they'll just list off a bunch of names, right? So these are very much close ended questions and it gives a very short answer or one word answer. 

So what parents or you as a podcaster, you know, what you want are actually stories, not short answers. In this audio format, you need the stories to shine. So for them to share in conversation, whether that is your guest, or your child, or a young one in your life. For them to share, and also so that it's not so hard getting those kids to talk to you, right? So like I said, this whole thing started when my daughter asked me actually about specifically working at a petting farm in my teens. Now think of my daughter in this story, in this scenario I'm going to share with you as the podcast host and me as the guest to help you relate. Okay? 

So I'm going to share this little conversation that from my memory, what I remember she said, it kind of goes something like this. My daughter says to me, do you have any stories from when you worked at the petting farm? Yes, yes, I have lots. And then she'll say, okay, tell me. I'm like, oh, which one? As I guest I'm like, wow, I got so many. Which one do I pull from? I can't just think of a story off the top of my head. So I ask her, what are you actually curious about? What do you want to know? And she's like, did you do anything gross or did the animals do anything gross? I'm like, well, yeah, I scooped poop for a living when I worked at the petting farm. 

And I kind of just ended it at that. I'm like, yeah, of course, of course there was lots of gross stuff. And I didn't really elaborate on that more either. So, she got a little frustrated with me. But do you see what's going on here? She wasn't getting any stories. She was wondering why she had to keep asking questions. She just wanted me to tell a story. But I was just answering her questions and her questions were close ended. I mean, I could have easily picked a story, right? I'm a storyteller. That's not hard for me to do. But I'm always of the mind about what does my listener actually want to hear or, or learn? How do they want to feel with the story that I share? And I kind of go through that with my daughter to show her, hey, if you ask those questions in a different way, you'll actually get the response that you want. So I taught her about being curious, being very specific, and the art of open ended questions. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

So if you actually listen back to that little story that I just shared, they were all close ended questions. They always started with did, did you this or did you that? Another version could be like do, do you this, do you that, right? They would be yes or no or very, very short answers. So I asked my daughter what type of stories was she actually hoping to hear and if she could re-ask the question starting with either a what, when, or why, or sometimes even how. This comes from my radio days where I learned about W5. Maybe this was even like English class days in high schools, probably, but it really was like a journalism thing. In radio, W5 stands for who, what, when, where and why, and I say and sometimes how. Because in the interview process, how is also very crucial. 

However, in this scenario, in the interviews, I usually only like to pick three of the W5 because of the specificity of storytelling. I want to know more about the what, where and why so that you can paint a picture of the scene. Who usually just gets a one word answer, right? Like my previous question to my daughter, who did you play with today? And then she just lists off a couple names. So not very specific in terms of getting a story out of you. Back to my daughter's original follow up question. She wanted to know more about gross things and very specifically when I was like, what do you mean? Poop, of course, right? What 9 year old doesn't like talking about poop? So I asked her, okay, you want to know about poop when I worked at the petting farm. So I asked her to rephrase it with an open ended question using that W3 method. What, where, and why? Pick one of those three and ask me an open ended question. 

So she thought about it for a second and then came back to me with something like she wanted to say, when did she. When did you get pooped on? But then she was like, well, you didn't say when, so what was the time that you got pooped on? Because I guess she was sure that I would have been pooped on working at the farm, right? But that question alone sparked a story in me. It was just like, like, bam, aha. I know, ooh. And I went off. But that's a totally different topic when discussion for another time. But if you want to know about how a turkey pooped on me, you'll just have to email me or leave me a voice note to find out that whole story. Okay? 

But back to podcasting. The point is the very specific question that was asked got a much better, very specific story out of me and the passion out of me. When I was sharing that stor. It wasn't something that I was just going to regurgitate, but it was something that I was like, oh, oh, you're gonna love this one. And that's when you really get the energy and the engagement and the listener is gonna love that story and you as the host will love that story as well. So now my daughter is always asking me open ended questions or storytelling statements. 

[MUSIC IN]

Storytelling statements are something like tell me a time when, or paint a picture when, right? These statements are very direct and they're meant to tell and share a story. And so my dinner table these days with a nine year old are actually quite fun. She's always saying to me, tell me about and then blankety blank, fill in the blanks, right? Mostly it's, tell me about your day. And then we go around the table asking each other about their day. It's quite fun. We get to share stories and I get to practice my podcast interviewing skills without them even knowing it. And I get to actually hear about her day, which is a plus in the parenting world. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

So that really sums up the episode. What has your experience been when asking questions in an interview with your guests? I dare you to go back, maybe just to your most recent interview episode, review it, listen to it again, or also, this is where transcript can come in handy. When you look through that transcript, take a look at how you asked your questions. Are there patterns that you're seeing? What are they? What are those patterns? Are you using the same words you know, are you using the W5? Are you using the W3? Perhaps there is also a pattern in your guest answers. Are they usually answering with yes as their first words out of their mouth? I've heard a lot of interviews done that way where they always just say yes, yes, yes. And then they get on with their thing, but it's only because the interviewer had asked a close ended question. 

So if you don't want your guests to also sound repetitive, always ask an open ended question. And you know what, with this episode, if nothing else, tell me about your day is what my daughter always asks me. Also works really well. If you need to test your microphone or recording levels with your guest, you know they're there, they just showed up to the recording studio room online and you can just ask them about their day to see if their mic is working and check their recording levels. So tell me about your day. 

[MUSIC IN]

So there you go. If you want, you can tell me about your day by dropping me an email at [email protected] or as always, a voice note would be lovely. I'd love to hear from you. Go to my website, VisibleVoicePodcast.com and there is a purple button that says send voicemail. You drop me a voice note there and don't forget that you can pull from that curiosity piece that I lightly touched on. When you're curious, the best follow up questions can come from, from that. And when you make them open ended questions, your conversations are really going to fly. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

So on the next episode. This is actually going to be my last guest episode of this series before my summer break. And it is of course leading up to Canada Day. Being Canadian, I'm going to bring on from the Pod the North newsletter, Kattie Laur. Pod the north is a great podcasting resource. So if you don't know about Kattie, she is hyper focused on Canadian content in podcasting, which is so rare in this space. Actually in the industry, when another Canadian sees another Canadian, well, at least for me, I always get surprised and delighted when I meet or see another Canadian podcaster. So I know we're all out there. But I think it's because we're so homogenized being North American that it feels like we get lumped into America as a whole. And at least it does for me because I grew up in Vancouver, being so close to Seattle, everything was very U.S. Centric. And the podcasting landscape is also very U.S. Centric, especially here in North America. 

So, whenever I can highlight a fellow Canadian, I will do it. And since it is leading up to Canada Day, Kattie will share her experience not only with Pod the North, but also with her very Canadian podcast, Canardian, gossiping about Canadian hometowns. I love her show, actually. So we'll be talking about how being hyper niche works in podcasting and why Canadians should stand up proud to differentiate themselves in this media landscape. We'll chat with you then.

<< GHOSTHOOD FEATURING SARA AZRIEL "LET'S GO" BEGINS >>

MARY: Thank you so much for listening to the Podcaster's Guide to a Visible Voice. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you'd share it with a podcasting friend. And to reveal more voicing and podcasting tips, click on over to VisibleVoicePodcast.com. Until next time.

<< WOMAN SINGS: Let's go >>

[MUSIC ENDS]