Be Prepared With Questions

"If you go through the process of doing the research and showing up prepared with questions, you may never get to ask any of those questions. And I say it doesn't matter. The fact that you were prepared with questions will make the conversation that much better."

Preparation is key to an unforgettable conversation. This was front and center of my mind as I prepared for my interview with Bob Wise, author of "Dream Chasing" and retired president of Walt Disney Imagineering. By being well prepared I am able to genuinely listen and respond to the nuances of guest's insights rather than just ticking off a list. Read the blog to for more on my approach to preparing for a guest.

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Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Jody Mayberry show. I
received wonderful feedback for the
episode about Dream Chasing with Bob Wise. I
wanted to share my process and why that
turned out to be a good episode. First of all, it was
wonderful because Bob Wise is wonderful. If you haven't read the

(00:25):
book Dream Chasing yet, get a copy. It's a
great book, and Bob's going to do a great episode no
matter who is interviewing him. I have to get that out of the way
first. I can't take all the credit for that being a wonderful
episode. I will say though, I prepared
more for that interview with Bob Wise than any

(00:47):
conversation I've had in quite a while. I think when you're
going to interview someone like that, the key
is research and questions coming up
with questions. Some people don't like to use
questions. I've heard some podcasters say, I don't
like to have questions ahead of time because I want it to

(01:08):
feel like a conversation. And I get that. Hopefully, you
felt that episode, that interview with Bob Wise
was a conversation and it is and it was
because of the preparation I did. For me,
it's not about having a list of
questions and reading those questions. It's not coming

(01:31):
with prepared questions. It's coming prepared with
questions. And here's the difference, prepared questions
mean that I would have a list of 10 questions
and I read those questions off the list without variation.
Yes. You can do that and it would be better than no preparation

(01:51):
at all. That is prepared questions.
Prepared with questions. That means it's
well researched. It means I'm well prepared. I'm ready to
keep a conversation going and I have an idea
of where the answers to those questions may lead
the conversation. I may get surprised

(02:13):
Bob gave some great answers. Some of them I saw coming from
reading the book and listening to other interviews he's done.
Some of his answers I didn't see coming, but that's what
the preparation is for to get there. Being prepared with
questions allows me to have something to talk
about at any moment while also being able

(02:35):
to pounce on anything that just comes up naturally.
And having a list of questions, here's one thing that I've noticed. If
you do not have questions, if you don't
come prepared with questions, then while someone
like Bob is talking, you're constantly just
trying to find, oh, no. What am I gonna ask

(02:58):
next? And you don't really listen. But if you
come prepared with questions, you can fully
listen. And that just brings up better
conversation because you're not looking for what am I going to
say next. On the other hand, if you stick with your
list of questions, you'll likely miss the best opportunities

(03:20):
for great conversation. So there is a balance.
Prepared with questions allows you to listen better,
but also don't stick to just your questions.
So without those questions, I though I think that you you have a
chance of missing deep conversation
about something you're curious about. If you don't have

(03:42):
questions and you're wondering what am I going to talk
about next, You really can't fully listen to
what they're saying. But if you're prepared with questions,
you can really listen to what's being said.
Something will spark your curiosity and you can chase
that down. There's some other pieces to it though.

(04:04):
I think research is a sign of respect. Imagine
if I had had Bob Wise on the podcast and had
not read his book. I read the book one
time and parts of it twice, and it is not a small
book. I'm flipping it open right now. It's more than 400
pages. Dream Chasing is more than 400 pages. I

(04:26):
read the whole book once. I read other parts of it
twice. I watched interviews. All of that
is a sign of respect to Bob Weiss. I just
can't imagine having someone like him come on the show
and have not done my research, have not paid respect
to his 40 year career with Walt Disney Imagineering.

(04:48):
And I took the same approach when Lee Cockrell and I
launched the Creating Disney Magic podcast. We could have started
the show way sooner than we did, but I told
Lee I did not want to. I wanted time to prepare.
I wanted to know as much about Lee Cockrell as I could, and it
worked. That show has been running for 10 years, more than 530

(05:11):
episodes, millions of downloads. I think part of the key
of why it was successful was the time I took
nearly 2 months I took just to research Lee
Cockrell. Now that I've told you all this and how I
prepared for that interview, Go back and listen. I know I
did 2 episodes with Bob. 1, me interviewing him. The

(05:33):
second one, him asking me 3 questions. Listen to that
first one, and I think you'll pick up on
this, how I did it, what I've explained in this episode. Now that
you've heard that, I think you will hear how that
came across in that first episode. It's a great conversation,
I think, and a great example of how it all worked

(05:55):
out. The part where we talk about Karl holds. That came
because of the book. I saw that story in the book. I had not heard
that story anywhere else. I know Karl and I'd never heard that
story and it was wonderful. It's a small piece in the book,
maybe a paragraph, but so much of what we talked
about centered on that page or 2

(06:18):
around Carl Holtz. Mean, that's the story was maybe a
paragraph or 2, but it also spilled into a couple other pages
because it led right into the next story. I think that conversation
about Carl showed that I did my homework. It showed that
I'm curious, and it gave Bob the opportunity to tell
a story that he enjoyed. Had I not done my

(06:40):
research, I don't think the Carl Holt story would have shown
up at all. Also, doing my research allowed
me to pull out a couple of my favorite pieces from the
book and talk about those. In a 400 page
book, what are you gonna do if you haven't read the book? Are you gonna
say, hey, Bob, tell me about your book? You might, and

(07:02):
Bob is a professional and he may entertain that and he may have a good
conversation around that. But I just think the research is a sign of
respect. And if you're interested, I can tell you
how I do my research, how I come up with questions,
but this doesn't really just apply to podcasting. You can
use this if you get the chance to have lunch with someone you

(07:25):
respect or you're going to meet with a mentor. I think
the same method applies. If you get the
chance to have lunch with someone that you really look up to and
you feel, oh, I'm really lucky to get this meeting.
If you go through the process of doing the research and showing
up prepared with questions, you may never get to ask any of

(07:47):
those questions. And I say it doesn't matter. The fact that
you were prepared with questions will make the
conversation that much better. Well, I have some
podcasting courses that I rarely talk about. Podcast
magic, it's about having a great podcast. Podcast
guest, podcast guest magic, it is

(08:08):
about making the most out of being a guest on someone's podcast
and the one I'm working on now. Very relevant to
what we've talked about today. Podcast interview magic
and it's how to do great interviews. If you're interested
in any of those, they're currently not on my website. So
reach out to me directly, [e-mail]

(08:31):
or just go to jodymayberry.com. There's a contact form
right there on the page. And I'd love to hear from you. Let me know
what you thought of the interview with Bob. And did
this episode talking about the process of being
prepared with questions, did that enhance
listening to the conversation with Bob Wise knowing that?

(08:53):
Whether you listen to it again, whether you reach out after
hearing this, I'm just so glad you were here today. Thanks for hanging out
with me and listening to the Jodi Mayberry Show.
He is undefeated in axe throwing against Dan Cockrell.

(09:14):
It's Sugar Jay.