Six Unexpected (Life) Lessons from Great Hosts to Prepare You for 2023

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12/29/22 • 22 min

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The Six Biggest, Most Surprising or Useful Lessons our Hosts Identified in 2022
1. The host defines the brand of your show.

2. Hosting changes the host—not just as a storyteller and performer, but as a human being.

3. Great performances are valuable, whether that's a million-dollar signature story in a keynote speech or the captivating storytelling and connection skills of a great host.

4. We must challenge unconscious bias about the kinds of voices that are perceived as acceptable.

5. Narrative isn't simply important, it's the way we experience the world, define our identities, and make meaning. Sharing stories builds empathy. When we revise our own stories, we change our lives.

6. To stand out from the competition, we need to constantly think of how to be "better than good," as Jay Baer puts it.

BONUS: Podcasting is a team sport—not simply because of the variety of skills and tasks involved in producing a great show, but because collaboration with colleagues who make you feel safe enables courageous, vulnerable creativity. We will almost always do better work in collaboration than we will completely alone.
The episode(s) discussed on today’s Sound Judgment:
The Host Defines the Brand with John Barth, Sound Judgment Ep. 2
A Host on a Mission with Quien tu Eres host Pabel Martinez, Sound Judgment Ep. 6

Finding Your Voice with Shelter in Place Host Laura Joyce Davis, Sound Judgment Ep. 5

A "Yes, And" Approach to Cohosting with Pantsuit Politics, Sound Judgment Ep. 3

Cinematic Storytelling with Crime Show's Emma Courtland, Sound Judgment Ep. 4

The podcast Standing Ovation with host Jay Baer: A sneak peek of a Season 2 Sound Judgment episode

The podcast Snap Judgment with host Glynn Washington: A sneak peek of Season 2, Episode 1, coming January 12, 2023
Sound Judgment Ep. 1, “Emotional Bravery on Last Day with Stephanie Wittels Wachs”

Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter, our once- or twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling.

Captivate Your Listeners, Improve Your Hostiness and Grow Your Show in 2023!
What’s it like for you to face the blank page of your script – or that "blank tape" on the mic? As any writer knows, a blank page is intimidating. It can be even harder when we’re using our voice – because we only have 30 seconds or so to hook new listeners. That’s a lot of pressure. There’s a lot that goes into starting your episode with a bang, keeping listeners enthralled throughout, and especially providing enough value that they’ll come back again and again.

Don’t stay stuck! Get a half-price Hook Your Listener Audit now. As a veteran story and program editor, producer and host, I’ll work with you personally to get over the stress of the "blank page" and help you improve your hostiness. You'll send us a link to one episode ahead of time, and in one 45-minute session, I’ll identify several ways that you can tune up your show fast, painlessly, and without any extra cost – so you can get critical acclaim and, most importantly, grow your show. In just one session, we’ll uncover and build on your unique strengths. You'll tune up the sound and promise of your show. You’ll be more likely to captivate listeners. And most importantly, you’ll quickly feel – and sound – more confident! Now through January 31, you can get a personalized Hook-Your-Listener Audit for half price — only $149. We've only set aside a handful of these packages (we give them a lot of time and attention in addition to our face-to-face 45-minutes session). And because they're so affordable, they’re going fast.
Click here to purchase your own HYL Audit now. But...

The Six Biggest, Most Surprising or Useful Lessons our Hosts Identified in 2022
1. The host defines the brand of your show.

2. Hosting changes the host—not just as a storyteller and performer, but as a human being.

3. Great performances are valuable, whether that's a million-dollar signature story in a keynote speech or the captivating storytelling and connection skills of a great host.

4. We must challenge unconscious bias about the kinds of voices that are perceived as acceptable.

6. To stand out from the competition, we need to constantly think of how to be "better than good," as Jay Baer puts it.

Finding Your Voice with Shelter in Place Host Laura Joyce Davis, Sound Judgment Ep. 5

A "Yes, And" Approach to Cohosting with Pantsuit Politics, Sound Judgment Ep. 3

Cinematic Storytelling with Crime Show's Emma Courtland, Sound Judgment Ep. 4

The podcast Standing Ovation with host Jay Baer: A sneak peek of a Season 2 Sound Judgment episode

Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter, our once- or twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling.

Previous Episode

How Top Hosts Hook Listeners in 60 Seconds or Less

Listeners to Sound Judgment know I’m on a quest to unpack how today’s best hosts make their magic — and to define the universal skills and qualities of “hostiness.” What makes some hosts stars, while we don’t remember the rest?
Today, we name and explore the first of these universal skills:
#1: Sparkling, Attention-Grabbing Intros
Compelling hosts know how to grab and hold listeners' attention from the very first seconds of an episode. A great intro, also called a "lede," relies on the elements of:
— Surprise
— Curiosity
— Scene setting
— For interview and conversation shows, stating your purpose
We explore how three hosts, of two narrative podcasts and one interview show, use these elements in dramatically different ways to create remarkably effective ledes.

(Please note: This episode includes the sounds of guns and a brief discussion of some tough topics, including suicide, during my exploration of Stephanie Wittels Wachs’ lede into the Last Day episode, “A Love Story.” The third season of Last Day is about guns. If you’re a host or producer thinking about the tenth anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting yesterday, and how to report movingly and sensitively about guns, Last Day is a model of how to do this beautifully and ethically.)

The episode(s) discussed on today’s Sound Judgment:
Last Day, A Love Story, from Sound Judgment Ep. 1, “Emotional Bravery on Last Day with Stephanie Wittels Wachs”

Crime Show, Paging Dr. Barnes, from Sound Judgment Ep. 4, “Cinematic Storytelling with Crime Show’s Emma Courtland.”

What Should I Read Next, Ep 350: “Book mail keeps us together” and

Ep 351 “Book Club Favorites: LIVE from Bookmarks!”, from Sound Judgment Ep. 7, “Secrets of Hosting Live and In-Studio with the Queen of Book Podcasts, Anne Bogel.”

Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter, our twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling.

Here’s a unique, last-minute gift idea for you or the podcast host in your life!

Make sure you’re doing everything you can to hook your listener with a personalized Hook-Your-Listener Audit. You or your podcaster will share an episode with us. We’ll examine the intro, sound quality, structure, relatability, credibility, pacing and more, all through the lens of hostiness. For the holidays, this 45-minute session, filled with action-packed takeaways specific to your show, is only $149. If your loved one (or you) has resolved to grow their show in 2023, this is a quick and painless way to transform your show – and more importantly, you as a host – from good to great! Get one of the last remaining sessions now through New Year’s Eve and schedule your audit for January or February. The price goes back up to $300 on January 1. What could be a more personal gift? Click here for this special holiday Hook-Your-Listener Audit.

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Help us find and celebrate today’s best hosts!
Who’s your Sound Judgment dream guest? Share them with us! Write us: [email protected]. Because of you, that host may appear on Sound Judgment.

Help lift up indie podcast hosts and producers! Bring untold stories to our ears with this worthy cause

We’re delighted to support the Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund. LWC Studios launched the fund to support independent BIPOC, Queer and Trans audio producers in submitting high-quality work to media/journalism awards and receiving production education and training. Diversifying audio storytelling enriches all of us. Please support the fund in whatever way works for you.

Credits

Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, ...

Next Episode

Snap Judgment's Glynn Washington: Lessons from a Master Storyteller

Before creating the Snap Judgment radio show, Glynn worked as an educator, diplomat, community activist, actor, political strategist, fist-shaker, mountain-hollerer, and foot stomper.
Snap Judgment is heard on about 500 public radio stations in the U.S. and on podcasts everywhere.

Scroll down for takeaways you can use from today’s show.

The episode discussed on today's show

"Zoo Nebraska," a Snap Classic, Season 13, Episode 18.

The story of a chimpanzee and a man whose dream brought disaster to a small American town.

This story details violence against animals. Sensitive listeners, please be advised.

Read more about Zoo Nebraska in Carson’s book, Zoo Nebraska: The Dismantling of an American Dream.

Additional thanks to Patti Ragan from the Center for Great Apes.

Produced by John Fecile and Carson Vaughan, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Additional production by Jesse Dukes and Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Interested in protecting Great Apes? Learn more at the Center for Great Apes

Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter, our once- or twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling.

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Help us find and celebrate today’s best hosts!
Who’s your Sound Judgment dream guest? Share them with us! Write us: [email protected]. Because of you, that host may appear on Sound Judgment.

For more information on Sound Judgment and Podcast Allies, our production and training company, visit us at www.podcastallies.com.
Takeaways from today's show:
1. What you’re doing is taking the listener on a journey with you. That takes intention.

From the very beginning of any episode, Glynn is thinking about how to persuade the listener to go on a journey with him. He’s taking you into a different world, introducing you to the interior lives of the characters in these stories. He wants you to be curious, surprised, to feel things. He asks this question: “What piece of myself can act as an avatar for this journey I want to take people on? What piece of me can do that? That’s the hostiness of it all.”
2. To have hostiness is to be animated by a question – and the question that lights you up will be different than the one that lights me up. Snap Judgment is all about empathy - how to evoke, how to get listeners to walk in someone else’s shoes for a little while. But Jad Abumrad of RadioLab’s animating force was curiosity. What animates you? Stay true to that.
3. To Glynn, the best characters are not the famous and successful. They’re the people who’ve made mistakes; who don’t want to face the ramifications of their actions, who’ve had some hard knocks – like Dick, the zookeeper in Zoo Nebraska who didn’t want his story told. Rarely – if ever – are people villains on purpose.
4. You don’t have to be Batman to have a good story to tell. In fact, you may be able to tell an amazing story about walking across the street, if we learn what it took for you to get from one side of the street to the other, and how high the stakes are.
5. And five...Don’t leave out the washing machine. It’s the ordinary details of life – even when they happen in the middle of a chimp escape – that make stories real for listeners.

Improve your storytelling Check out our popular workshops on interviewing, story editing, story structure, longform narrative, audience engagement, guesting, scriptwriting and more.

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Discover our strategic communication services and coaching for thought leaders using storytelling tools to make the world a better place. Serving writers, podcasters, public speakers, and others in journalism & public media, climate change, health care, policy, and higher education. Visit us at www.podcastallies.com.