Tips For Interviewing A Guest Over The Phone With A Delay

Today's technology means that anyone who has a passion for a certain topic and wants to discuss it with others can create his or her own talk radio show without leaving home. Computer software and mobile apps will allow you to not only record yourself and share the show with others who may wish to listen, but also interview people who call to talk to you. If you're in this situation and are preparing for your first phone interview, you need to have a plan for dealing with a slight delay over the phone — something that can often occur. Here are some tips for managing this challenging situation.

Confer Before The Interview

If you're releasing your talk radio show as a podcast, rather than a live broadcast, you have the freedom to talk to your interview subject briefly before you actually start the interview. This is a good technique because it will allow the interview to remain on point. When you talk to someone new, you'll commonly exchange some simple pleasantries that might be polite, but that your listeners don't really want to hear. It's a good strategy to talk for a moment at the start of the call and then formally begin the interview.

Try To Avoid Brief Acknowledgements

When you're having a conversation in real life, it's common to offer brief acknowledgements as someone talks. For example, you might say, "OK," "Hmm," or other similar sentiments. In a phone interview where some degree of delay is present, this habit can be detrimental. You might make your brief comment during a gap in conversation, but the delay means that the other person will hear it when he or she is talking. This can cause the other person to pause, wondering what more you might say, or simply get off track with his or her thought.

Talk Without Pauses

Some amount of natural pausing can be an effective tool when you're talking. For example, it can allow the listener to consider your comment for a brief moment, or it can be a tool to create intrigue. It's generally a bad idea to pause excessively when you're doing a phone interview for your talk radio show in which delay is present. When you pause, the other person will think that it's his or her turn to start speaking. You may both then end up speaking at the same time, then stopping to let the other person go, and then perhaps even starting to speak again together — all of which is unpleasant for the listeners.

For more help, reach out to a business like STAR WORLDWIDE NETWORKS.


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