Preparing to Be a Podcast Guest

“You can’t script chemistry, but you can prepare for connection.” 

Notable Moments

00:00 – Intro and welcome back to Dennis Snow

01:22 – Dennis’ first question: What makes a great podcast guest?

03:30 – Why good guests understand the value of a story

06:05 – Dennis’ second question: How do you prepare for interviews?

09:15 – The problem with winging it (and sounding like a pitch)

11:45 – Dennis’ third question: What makes an episode memorable?

14:20 – Final thoughts on listening, connection, and staying curious

Want to be a podcast guest worth remembering? Former Disney leader and customer experience expert Dennis Snow returns, this time asking me the questions. He brings three thoughtful and unexpected prompts for me. Together we explore what it takes to be a great podcast guest, how I prepare for conversations, and what I’ve learned from years behind the mic.

We cover the subtle art of storytelling, how to avoid sounding like a commercial, and why being prepared actually creates more space .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Jody Mayberry Show. Last episode,
we had the wonderful Disney keynote
speaker, Dennis Snow, on the show. And as we
do when we have a guest, Dennis has come back to ask me three
questions. Now these questions aren't prompted by me. They're not
promoted by me. They're not planted by me. I don't even know what Dennis is

(00:26):
going to ask, but I do know that I'm very excited that he's
back. Welcome, Dennis. Alright. Thank you so much. I
I appreciate that. I'm ready to go. I'm
I'm ready to put you on the spot with my questions. Alright. Well, let's see
how I do. What's your first question? My first one I mean,
I'm always intrigued by podcast. I've never done one myself. You know,

(00:48):
I've been on podcast, but I've never done one. What is your purpose
with a podcast? What are you trying to accomplish both from the
message you're trying to bring people, but also from a business standpoint?
Okay. So I'm gonna give you two parts. First, the first part
is just to say, you would do phenomenal if you had a
podcast, and perhaps we should talk about that. The second part

(01:12):
is to say, now this particular
show, the Jody Mayberry Show, the purpose behind it
is I was working with some big
names, some great people, Lee Cockrell, Dan Cockrell.
Just I had some great people. I was with Jeff Noll at the time,
and I thought, well And when you say working with them, what does

(01:34):
that mean? Okay. So Lee and I do a podcast together. We do
live events together. We do lots of things. With Dan,
I same thing. Did a podcast with him. We were doing some live events.
We were doing some trainings for companies. And
this show and the reason it's called the Jody Mayberry Show
is I thought most people know me associated

(01:56):
with someone else. So let me do something that
steps out on my own. Yeah. That's brilliant. Yeah.
So and, also, it allowed me to show what
it was like to work with the people that I worked with. This
show has evolved a bit since I started it 300 and some
episodes ago. But initially, that's kind of what it was. It would

(02:18):
show what it was like to work with behind the
scenes on some of that. Now Right. The other shows I
have, Creating Disney Magic, What I Do with Lee Cockrell, that is,
like, the platform to promote his books, his
speeches, the Cockrell Academy, our workshops, our
masterminds. I think a podcast

(02:40):
is the perfect vehicle for people to get to know you
better, like you more, and then hopefully
want to work with you because it is a great
way to show up every week and have something to say and
people feel like they know you. You would be surprised,
Dennis, that people know you from stage. People know

(03:02):
you from your books. They know you from your five minute videos you put on
social media and they all those people that know you from
that are very happy to see you. When someone who's
listened to your podcast for a long time meet you though, it is different
because they already feel like you're a friend.
They're more likely to give you a hug. They are more

(03:24):
likely to bring something up about your dog. And then
you think, how did you even know? And they're like, well, you talked about
that in one of your podcast episodes. It's a completely different
I see. Connection. So is it a different audience that
you're targeting with the Jodie Mayberry show? Yes. In
a in a sense that this, I would say, is

(03:47):
an audience that is so creating Disney magic, let's just
take that. That is lot of people that love Disney listen to that
show. A lot of people that love Lee listen to that show. So
this show, you could consider a compliment to that because
Lee makes various appearances on this show. I talk about the
work that I do with Lee. I talk about the work I do with other

(04:08):
people. But it's also I want people to know
me. So it's not people now
there may be people listen to creating Disney magic and come over to the Jody
Mabry show or the show I did with Dan Cockrell and come over. But
it its own audience in the sense that what
I'm doing here is different than those shows. And this kinda

(04:29):
gives a understanding or a look at what it's
like to work with former executives that
are doing great things. And the other show that I get a
lot of notice with is the Park Leader Show, which is for park
rangers and park professionals and about parks and conservation.
And this, of course, is a much different audience than that one. Right.

(04:51):
Right. You know, when you put together the podcast, you started because
you've got a lot of experience in podcasts. Are there other
podcasts that you look at, you say, I learned a lot
from so and so's podcast. You know, I learned a lot from
this podcast that, you know, especially when you're first getting it
going. So, okay. These are some of the role

(05:13):
models that, I wanna not duplicate,
but take lessons from. Yeah. Two people
come to mind right away that were big for me when I
was starting out. Jared Easley and his show, Starve the Doubt.
That is how is it Jared Easley? Jared Easley. Yes.
And I really enjoyed how Jared

(05:35):
had his show was so conversational. And I got to know
Jared very well. And then that's how I got my start on podcasting
is Jared would invite me to guest host on his show even though I
was terrible in the beginning. But I wouldn't be as good as I am now
had I not been allowed to be terrible on Jared Sho. The
other one, Jeff Brown has a show called Read to

(05:58):
Lead, and Jeff had a
interview style unlike others. And for
example, last episode when you and I were talking,
Dennis, you probably felt or noticed that
I would talk to a listener. And clearly, it's just me and
you here, but I will turn away from you and talk to a

(06:20):
listener. I learned that from Jeff Brown. And Right. And I think
that has just been a tremendous boost to my
show and how I conduct interviews. I'll even do it when
I'm a guest on someone else's show. I'm being interviewed and I'll talk to
a listener. And not a lot of podcasters do it that way. And
I I act like I'm all smart because I do it, but,

(06:42):
really, I learned it from Jeff Brown. Jeff is just one of the best. Very
well. I mean, our it was such a great conversation when we did the show
together, and that isn't always the case. You know? It was
very organic, I guess, is the word, and, I really enjoyed
that. So and I'm probably way beyond three questions. When
you're a guest on somebody else's podcast, what are you talking about?

(07:05):
It depends because some I'm involved in so
many different things that I get asked to come and talk
about various topics. Sometimes, I'll be asked to come
and talk about parks or conservation. Sometimes,
I often I'm asked to come and talk about podcasting
because I've been doing it for so long, eleven years

(07:27):
now, ten years. I've done more than 2,600 episodes.
So I get asked to talk about podcasting a lot. But I also get
be asked to talk about leadership, customer service, many of the topics
you do as well. So it really depends on the
show, and I'm willing to go anywhere and talk to anybody.
I don't care what show it is. I don't care where you live. Now I

(07:49):
might have to change things like if if someone invited me to
grandma's knitting hour, okay, I might have to come up with some
interesting things to talk about because I don't knit, but I'm still willing to
go and talk to grandma.
Well, thank you for putting up with me with, my multiple
questions, but fascinating stuff.

(08:12):
Yeah. Yeah. I I love learning about you. And and,
I didn't realize you lived across the country. I thought you were
nearby here. Yeah. Well, I'm in Orlando so much.
People often make the assumption that I live in Orlando, especially with the
amount of work that Lee Cockrell and I do. Yeah. That
you just it would make sense that I live in Orlando. It

(08:34):
might even make sense if I was somewhere close like
Atlanta or Nashville, but no. Yeah. Well, you live in a beautiful place, though. Oh
my goodness. Three months out of the year, I know you've seen this, Dennis. Three
months out of the year, Western Washington, Port Townsend in
particular where I live, best place in the country. July,
August, September, it's spectacular. Yeah. Yeah. Rest of

(08:56):
the rest of the year, it's gray. It's rainy.
It's, you don't see much sun, and, it's good to have a
dog. Even when it's raining. Even when it's raining, it's beautiful there,
though. It is But next time you're in Orlando, let's get together for a cup
of coffee. We definitely will. I'm in Orlando all the
time, so it probably won't be long until I take you up on that. Give

(09:17):
me a shout. Yeah. Give me a shout. It'd be great to get together. Yes.
And so let me turn this to you for a moment, Dennis.
You get asked to be on podcast. What do
you do to prepare? Because you don't know.
You've learned by now. Some hosts are good, some hosts are not. And
I I still give credit to anyone that's willing to host a podcast.

(09:38):
So and you've gotta start somewhere people eventually get good if they stick with
it long enough. But you know, some are good, some are not. Some are very
prepared, some are completely unprepared. Some have
done research, some have not. So you going
into that not knowing what the host is
going to be like, how do you prepare for it? Well, you know,

(10:00):
sometimes if you get a host that really isn't prepared or isn't a good
now, you know, you've got it down. You know, you know what
my background is and, you know, you the questions that you ask
are are very pertinent. Sometimes you go on a show and they're just
like grandma's knitting hour. You know? They're asking me questions that
I'm not sure. So it's there's a little bit of a, I guess,

(10:22):
a politician strategy where you can
take a question and sort of, with your answer, bring it back
to your key points, you know, that you think are
important to get across. So if somebody asks,
you know, a kinda off the wall question, I'll try my
best to address it as best I can, but then

(10:45):
steer it back to my area of expertise,
you know, of what that you know, so when you know, saying something like,
well, you know, that brings up a good point. When I work with a health
care org organization, they struggle with x y
z and, you know, so try and lead it down that way. But I
guess, you know, overall, I've been pretty lucky with the podcast I've been

(11:07):
on that people have been prepared, not to
the always to the greatest degree. And sometimes the
conversation feels a little stiff, But I think
I've been pretty lucky over time. Yeah. Well, good.
Good. And one of my keynote talks and
a course that I have is about being a great podcast

(11:29):
guest. And one of the points I always make is be prepared
for an unprepared host. Yeah. And part of that is
having your talking points. So if you know I have these three
things I wanna talk about. Yep. It almost doesn't matter what the host
does because you can always bring it back, as Dennis said, like a
politician, to your three talking points. Right. And we can

(11:51):
watch a politician who's masterful at that, and we can watch one that's terrible
at that. That's right. And I think that just comes with practice of of
getting good at it. But you're absolutely right. If you have those
key talking points that you wanna make sure come
across, you can pretty much direct things that way.
If and sometimes an unprepared host appreciates

(12:14):
that, you know, when when you can be very specific
about what points you're going to make even if they tried to take you
or accidentally tried to take you off topic. Yeah. That's right. And it could
be a new host. It could be a host that's never got to
interview someone of your status because Dennis Snow is a big
deal. So so maybe Nobody else was nobody

(12:35):
else was available that day. So So maybe they're a little nervous
interviewing. You don't know. So Yeah. Yeah. Just keep
a positive attitude and do your talking points. Does one
get that course you said about being a good participant
in a on a podcast? Is that on your website? It very
well should be, Dennis. I've never put it on my website. It's called

(12:58):
how podcast guest magic.
And if I will put it in the show notes for
this episode, and I probably should put it available
on my website because it's a great course, and it's something that is
worthwhile to get better at being a guest on podcast.
So thank you for the reminder, Dennis. I will Yeah. I will make that

(13:20):
available. And if you enjoyed hearing Dennis on
this, you will probably enjoy listening to his audiobook. I'm right
that you'd narrate both of them. Right, Dennis? Yeah. Yeah. I well, I I
narrate lessons from the mouse. The other one is narrated by
a professional narrator. Okay. The lesson from the mouse, yes, I
did. Okay. And that's a tough when you narrate your own

(13:42):
book, you find out words that you stumble over. Yes.
I have narrated three books now. Yeah. And it is quite
the process. I love getting started. I love being finished
that middle. That middle is tough. Exhausting, isn't it? Yes. It
is. Yeah. But it was I was really glad to do it. It was
it was a fun experience. Alright. Well, you can check out that. I

(14:05):
know you you can find Dennis on LinkedIn or go to his website,
but if you enjoy him telling stories, check out Lessons from the
Mouse narrated by Dennis Snow. Dennis, I'm so happy that you came back for one
more episode. I look forward to seeing you when I'm in Orlando. You've got a
great story. You've got a fascinating story. Well, thank you so much,
and thank you for listening to the Jodie Mayberry Show.

(14:33):
There's no one listening within CooE. It's Sugar Jay.