Learn how to be a great podcast guest on video and audio with Christine Baratta, Director of The Situation Room Studios and Editorial Content at the Global Situation Room.
From tech checks and platform compatibility to audio quality, lighting and backgrounds, this video covers essential tips for avoiding delays, sounding professional and looking polished on camera. Perfect for guests who want to impress producers and shine on both podcasts and social media clips.
These tips are part of "Best Practices in Audio-Based Storytelling."
This session was part of the PRNEWS Pro workshop "PR Content Creation and Storytelling."
Watch the full session at this link.
Full transcript:
[CHRISTINE BARATTA]
So what to expect with technology because podcasting obviously...we know it's audio, but in today's world everything's on video, and YouTube is like the number one place for podcast discoverability, so a lot of podcasts are now setting up and and doing their podcast on video... and even if they don't have their podcast up on YouTube they are still putting clips on social media. So there's always most likely gonna be a video component.
So one of the biggest tips I can give people is prioritizing the audio quality so a lot of people...and this happens a lot where they log on, and it's right before the interview's supposed to start...there's been no tech check, and so it's gonna delay significantly...your recording, and so if you're dealing with a host who's on a tight schedule...if there's more than one guest, and there's a holdup, that can just cause you know delays and things so you just don't want to do that and the producers will remember..."The guests called in they weren't ready, there were all kinds of issues."
So usually the producer will ask you to do a tech check either prior to the interview, or maybe even a couple days before, and the things you wanna check for to make sure your microphone, your camera the platform you're using, uh the browser you're using is working smoothly. For instance, the Riverside podcasting platform only runs on Chrome, so a lot of people may not have Chrome, and so if they try to log in on something else it just won't work, and it will cause delays, so just making sure that you have all these components and everything running smoothly in advance will help a lot.
Recording in a quiet, carpeted room if you can. A lot of people will be in a big room, without carpet. It can create an echo and just doesn't sound great on the recording.
The headphones are...which I have right here...those are really really important, because people think, "Well I can hear you, I'm just talking to you like I'm talking to you now," but with multiple people on the line, and if your recording space isn't isn't the, you know, most ideal sometimes...it will create, you know, an echo. Also the host or the guests...other guests...their lines can bleed through your line, and so it's just really hard in post-production for an editor to clean up kind of these audio issues...so using headphones is really really important. And I can't tell you how many times we've had...we've done interviews where people...people show up, they don't have headphones, and we can really hear the echo, and so we have to wait. They leave, and they go find them, and you know, so everyone's just held up, so just try and have all these things ready to go.
Once you're logged in for the interview, just make sure you have a strong Wi-Fi connection. I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes we've had people call in from cafes, or you know, outside, and there's wind blowing in the background...things like that. So just make sure you do have a strong Wi-Fi connection that's stable, and it's a quiet space that you're in.
Another big thing is lighting and your background. You should sit facing a light source. You can use natural light. You could use a ring light...just make sure your background...doesn't have a lot of clutter. If you have a logo...if you want something to be on-brand...make sure that's behind you. Make sure that there's some appealing visuals behind you, because as I said before, the clips could be shared on social media. And then make sure you're framed properly, and you're in the center of the camera.
Produced by: PRNEWS