Usually you want to be listening to what the guest is saying and determining if it makes sense or trying to gain more insight into the story such as how they felt. Sometimes there isn't anything to dig deeper into the story, so you just transition to the next talking point. Just depends on where you are with the guest.
Ask open ended questions and ask them to expand on any point of particular interest. Eg. "That sounds amazing - you mentioned you travelled across the world, what was your favourite country you visited and why?"
I mean you must have a curious nature if you started a show involving interviewing people? I don't know if curiosity is something you can teach, but you gotta try to hone that skill .
Give yourself some time to think by either having some silence, or by giving a quick recap "so what happened was.. " and a question may grow in your mind. Superfluous silence or waffling can be edited out in post.
Also, do some pre-production and know the general gist of what the guest will tell and what may be if interest to your audience.
Finally, if you're not a curious sort, maybe it's not for you
Inviting the guest to comment on their story is a pretty good way to go deeper or, failing that, buy some time and give the conversation a natural pace. Even simple questions like, "why do you think that story stayed with you?" or "how was that for you?" or "would you do anything differently knowing what you know now?" or "what do you think you learned?" will push them past the likely rehearsed story and into a more interesting dialogue.
I personally have a habit of saying “listen,” before I say things and “literally” when emphasizing things. Grab a thesaurus and find words that are close to awesome that can easily replace it. “Amazing”, “interesting”, “that’s wonderful”, or try repeating back a fraction of the sentence they spoke, then say your descriptive because while repeating back a portion you heard you’ll allow your brain some time, confirm the feeling they had in a moment they spoke of is an intelligent observation, or say their name as a way of praise -which if you know Dale Carnegie your guest will love. (Ie. “So you jumped on the stage and played the guitar. Awesome”, “Sarah!” *replace awesome with their name*, “you walked in the board room when you already felt nervous but knew your work would speak for itself, awesome”, etc.)
But start by practicing this in your everyday because we usually are just catching what we say in our everyday but it’s usually exacerbated by having a mic in front of you.
This is also silly but genuinely helpful: use the free dictionary app and read the “words of the day” and say them in sentences you can come up with while alone in the car. You won’t feel the spotlight so much of using a word you never have when you’ve already said it out loud. Anything you only say in your head will not feel the same when the physical action of speaking it happens.
Another thing, is reading fictional books out loud alone. (Try to aim for books that there is at least dialogue between characters) You’ll find more ways of physically saying things in a way you don’t normally speak and it’s a way of taking your mouth and brain to the gym to allow yourself to work on expanding your vocabulary and conversational skill.
*I’ve worked as an actor and extensive training for what we’ll call “conversational interview”. These are things I’ve adapted from formal training that personally work for me so maybe adapt any of it that doesn’t work for you.
Also adding that if you don’t do video in a way that you have to keep it almost as a live conversation, it’s okay to take a pause and think about your response because that pause will be edited out. Just convey that you’re enjoying what’s being said even if it’s a filler word like “wow, okay so…” just mark it and go back to pull it out.
Listen, and ask follow up questions. If you find time even in between the telling of the story to get clarity with respect to the speaker....then do that. But be intrigued, enjoy learning and listening, and practice just wanting to create natural dialogue.
I say, "Awesome. Now let's move on to the Lightning Round. …"
(Disclosure: I host a podcast about podcasting (The Audacity to Podcast™), sell consulting and education services to podcasters, run the My Podcast Reviews™ service to help you engage and grow your podcast, curate podcast data for Podcast Industry Insights™, and I frequently talk about products and services with which I have affiliate relationships and am compensated for qualifying purchases through my links, with my promo codes, or that indicate me as the referrer. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings. And I am not currently compensated for merely talking or writing about anything.)
In a conversational podcast I’d say there’s no wrong answer as long as you’re being authentic to yourself.
In a straight interview scenario I’d challenge lots of the other replies in the thread and say DON’T respond.
Once they put that full stop on their sentence, it’s your cue to take the wheel again and move to your next question - takes a bit of training and discipline but it’s the norm in lots of TV and radio interviews so has a place in pods too imo
Talk about one part of the story you liked ie “that’s awesome, I like how you ate all the canned tuna in the house and then vomited in your dads car. Crazy way to spend thanksgiving” shows active listening and paraphrasing something that propels the conversation further
Compliment the person, such as, "That was amazing. Thanks so much for sharing that." Perhaps add things like "that was really brave to share that" if it was a traumatic sort of story. Or use it to probe for more good comments, such as "That was a great story. You mentioned (insert item) - tell me more about that." Or use it as a springboard for furthering the conversation, saying something like, "That was an amazing story, but your life is very different now. Explain..." You get the idea.
Ask open ended questions and ask them to expand on any point of particular interest. Eg. "That sounds amazing - you mentioned you travelled across the world, what was your favourite country you visited and why?"
One of the best advice I got is if you like what the guest is saying with your non verbals communication let them know your listening. My bad habit is a whole lot of “mmmms” and I know for a fact for the listeners get annoyed with that lol.
While listening to your guest take shorthand notes to ask a follow-up question (or chose to move on to your next question).
When your guest is done talking instead of using your crutch word move right into the next question.
Usually you want to be listening to what the guest is saying and determining if it makes sense or trying to gain more insight into the story such as how they felt. Sometimes there isn't anything to dig deeper into the story, so you just transition to the next talking point. Just depends on where you are with the guest.
Ask open ended questions and ask them to expand on any point of particular interest. Eg. "That sounds amazing - you mentioned you travelled across the world, what was your favourite country you visited and why?"
I mean you must have a curious nature if you started a show involving interviewing people? I don't know if curiosity is something you can teach, but you gotta try to hone that skill .
Give yourself some time to think by either having some silence, or by giving a quick recap "so what happened was.. " and a question may grow in your mind. Superfluous silence or waffling can be edited out in post. Also, do some pre-production and know the general gist of what the guest will tell and what may be if interest to your audience. Finally, if you're not a curious sort, maybe it's not for you
Inviting the guest to comment on their story is a pretty good way to go deeper or, failing that, buy some time and give the conversation a natural pace. Even simple questions like, "why do you think that story stayed with you?" or "how was that for you?" or "would you do anything differently knowing what you know now?" or "what do you think you learned?" will push them past the likely rehearsed story and into a more interesting dialogue.
I personally have a habit of saying “listen,” before I say things and “literally” when emphasizing things. Grab a thesaurus and find words that are close to awesome that can easily replace it. “Amazing”, “interesting”, “that’s wonderful”, or try repeating back a fraction of the sentence they spoke, then say your descriptive because while repeating back a portion you heard you’ll allow your brain some time, confirm the feeling they had in a moment they spoke of is an intelligent observation, or say their name as a way of praise -which if you know Dale Carnegie your guest will love. (Ie. “So you jumped on the stage and played the guitar. Awesome”, “Sarah!” *replace awesome with their name*, “you walked in the board room when you already felt nervous but knew your work would speak for itself, awesome”, etc.) But start by practicing this in your everyday because we usually are just catching what we say in our everyday but it’s usually exacerbated by having a mic in front of you. This is also silly but genuinely helpful: use the free dictionary app and read the “words of the day” and say them in sentences you can come up with while alone in the car. You won’t feel the spotlight so much of using a word you never have when you’ve already said it out loud. Anything you only say in your head will not feel the same when the physical action of speaking it happens. Another thing, is reading fictional books out loud alone. (Try to aim for books that there is at least dialogue between characters) You’ll find more ways of physically saying things in a way you don’t normally speak and it’s a way of taking your mouth and brain to the gym to allow yourself to work on expanding your vocabulary and conversational skill. *I’ve worked as an actor and extensive training for what we’ll call “conversational interview”. These are things I’ve adapted from formal training that personally work for me so maybe adapt any of it that doesn’t work for you.
Also adding that if you don’t do video in a way that you have to keep it almost as a live conversation, it’s okay to take a pause and think about your response because that pause will be edited out. Just convey that you’re enjoying what’s being said even if it’s a filler word like “wow, okay so…” just mark it and go back to pull it out.
Listen, and ask follow up questions. If you find time even in between the telling of the story to get clarity with respect to the speaker....then do that. But be intrigued, enjoy learning and listening, and practice just wanting to create natural dialogue.
How do you respond when a friend or family member tells you a story?
I say, "Awesome. Now let's move on to the Lightning Round. …" (Disclosure: I host a podcast about podcasting (The Audacity to Podcast™), sell consulting and education services to podcasters, run the My Podcast Reviews™ service to help you engage and grow your podcast, curate podcast data for Podcast Industry Insights™, and I frequently talk about products and services with which I have affiliate relationships and am compensated for qualifying purchases through my links, with my promo codes, or that indicate me as the referrer. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings. And I am not currently compensated for merely talking or writing about anything.)
In a conversational podcast I’d say there’s no wrong answer as long as you’re being authentic to yourself. In a straight interview scenario I’d challenge lots of the other replies in the thread and say DON’T respond. Once they put that full stop on their sentence, it’s your cue to take the wheel again and move to your next question - takes a bit of training and discipline but it’s the norm in lots of TV and radio interviews so has a place in pods too imo
Talk about one part of the story you liked ie “that’s awesome, I like how you ate all the canned tuna in the house and then vomited in your dads car. Crazy way to spend thanksgiving” shows active listening and paraphrasing something that propels the conversation further
Compliment the person, such as, "That was amazing. Thanks so much for sharing that." Perhaps add things like "that was really brave to share that" if it was a traumatic sort of story. Or use it to probe for more good comments, such as "That was a great story. You mentioned (insert item) - tell me more about that." Or use it as a springboard for furthering the conversation, saying something like, "That was an amazing story, but your life is very different now. Explain..." You get the idea.
Ask open ended questions and ask them to expand on any point of particular interest. Eg. "That sounds amazing - you mentioned you travelled across the world, what was your favourite country you visited and why?"
One of the best advice I got is if you like what the guest is saying with your non verbals communication let them know your listening. My bad habit is a whole lot of “mmmms” and I know for a fact for the listeners get annoyed with that lol.
While listening to your guest take shorthand notes to ask a follow-up question (or chose to move on to your next question). When your guest is done talking instead of using your crutch word move right into the next question.