So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star
Good hosts make their guests look good.
Bad hosts want to make themselves look good.
If the guest looks good, then the host looks very good.
So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star, or maybe you want to be a Classical Host or be a Host of interviews.
Hosting is hard – and rightly so. It takes years to become a good host, but you can do it and make it work in the streaming world in which we all live.
1. The good Host speaks 10 times less than the Guest.
2. The good Host is sufficiently prepared, enabling her-him to place their list of questions or topic bullet points to the side, glancing at them occasionally as needed to stay on track.
3. The good Host listens to each answer without thinking about the next question, because your guest might saying something interesting, controversial or inspiring. If you’re only focusing on what you’re going to ask next, you might miss the important thing she-he just said. The correct follow up question is probably on your list of questions.
This is ridiculously difficult. (See No. 2.)
4. The Host only interrupts the guest when necessary – the guest is going on and on; the guest has mentioned a term or concept or event that requires a definition or context.
5. The Host regularly “resets” the interview: “I’m ___, and I’m talking with ____ about ____.
6. The good Host does not upset the natural flow of the interview by interjecting jokes or funny asides while the guest is speaking. Interruptions are a tremendous risk.
7. The good Host takes it with a grain of salt when the (famous) guest, their manager or publicist says one of the following: “Great interview.” “Great questions.”
I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. The upside? You will know when they’re being sincere.
Are you hosting an online streaming performance? Radio Host and Producer, Robert McBride (All Classical Portland) says it best.
“If you're presenting any kind of online musical performance, whether singing or playing an instrument, sing or play your instrument at the top of the show! DO NOT spend several minutes talking before offering some kind of actual demonstration of your talent. Of course you have interesting things to say, but please don't say too much too soon. I want to hear you play or sing, NOT talk. And talk and talk and talk. And then talk some more. Spread those comments around and be careful not to lump too many of them together at once, especially at the beginning of any presentation. (Tip from the radio business: if you think you talked for thirty seconds, chances are good it was more like sixty.)”
What Robert said also applies to the Host of the online concert stream. I’ve taken his words and adjusted them slightly.
Do not spend 4 – 10 minutes setting up the discussion, or giving unnecessary background information, especially at the beginning. That’s the “Kiss of Death.” Your event might die at minute 5.
Bring in your guests to talk as soon as possible. It’s not necessary to mention their entire bio or long list of accomplishments. Take 30 seconds. We want to hear what your expert guests have to say.
Interject briefly only if you have something important to say, like clarifying something the guest has just said, adding context, or to ask a follow up question. Otherwise, keep things moving: move on to the next topic.
Another tip from the radio business: if you think you talked for 90 seconds, it’s probably been more like three minutes…maybe even longer.
Again, hosting is hard – and rightly so.
It takes practice and preparation before the Zoom Mic is clicked on and you go live.
“Winging it” rarely works.” I take it back: “Winging it never works.” I take it back: you and your audience are better than any form of winging.
What happened that time you needed to “wing it” in a performance? Maybe you got away with it a few times. But…you practice for your performances…
Ask any successful comedian: 85 per cent of successful ad libs are 100% prepared.
And the biggest myth of all:
“I just want to have a conversation, nothing too formal. I want people to think we’re just having a conversation in their living room.”
Ask any successful Host-interviewer: going in to the interview thinking you just want to have a conversation in someone’s living room never works.
Conversations only happen when you are completely prepared, and you make your guest comfortable to say and reveal what’s truly on their mind. You listen intently, and you’re ready go in a different direction if that’s what’s best. You rarely interrupt or talk over your guest.
When the interview is over, and your guest says, “Wow, that didn’t feel like an interview at all; it felt more like a conversation.” This is one time when you can believe them without any need for grains of salt.
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So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star (The Byrds - 1967)
So you want to be a rock and roll star?
Then listen now to what I say
Just get an electric guitar
Then take some time and learn how to play
And with your hair swung right
And your pants too tight, it's gonna be all right
Then it's time to go downtown
Where the agent man won't let you down
Sell your soul to the company
Who are waiting there to sell plastic ware
And in a week or two if you make the charts
The girls'll tear you apart
The price you paid for your riches and fame
Was it all a strange game? You're a little insane
The money, the fame, and the public acclaim
Don't forget who you are, you're a rock and roll star