Reading a script, word-for-word on your podcast is the fastest way to disconnect from your audience.
In this episode I share how to prepare for your record so you don't need a script, how to keep your delivery natural even if you've got notes and how to make sure you know where your going without having to write everything down, word-for-word.
What you’ll learn
Why scripting your episodes isn't a good idea
The simple notes system I use to make sure I'm prepared but not wedded to a script
How to make sure you're in the moment so you can record the best possible episode
This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Wangal people, of the Eora Nation.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present.
Transcripts
Voice Over:
Got dreams of being a professional podcaster but have no idea what you're doing. This is impossible. That's about to change. A new kind of school. Welcome to the PodSchool podcast.
Rachel Corbett:
Hello. Welcome to the show. Today I've got a question from Joe who says, how detailed should the scripting be for your podcast? Great question, Jo.
And the answer is not detailed at all. Ideally, reading a script is one of the easiest ways to disconnect from your audience, even if you're really good at it.
And you will still not be as present as you are when you are talking off the top of your head.
And your audience, even if they can't a hundred percent discern why you feel disconnected, like they're not thinking to themselves you're reading, they will subconsciously disconnect from you.
And I have heard a lot of people, over all of my years of coaching people, I've never ever heard anyone who I can't tell is reading without looking at them. It's very sometimes subtle, but even people who are good at it, you don't 100% get away with it.
And you really need to think about your podcast like a conversation. And you wouldn't read a script in a conversation. This is particularly important if you have a co hosted situation.
And I've worked with some early podcasters who've scripted together and then when they get in the moment. Now this is always a nerves thing, right? You just, you want that security blanket of a script. What if I forget what I'm talking about?
I don't feel confident and that's totally understandable. But the script actually makes things so much more stressful because if you lose your place, you're stuffed.
When you got a lot of words on a page and you look up for a moment to look at your co host and you look down and can tell you right now you're not going to have a clue where you left off. So it can make a really stressful situation in the studio.
And then if you've got a co host and you've scripted something and you've practiced something, but it goes off piste, and then your co host like, well, hang on a second, we were supposed to say that it can just derail everything when you are on your own, obviously you don't have that complication, but you still want to be talking to your audience when you're by yourself. Like you would be talking to a co host if you were sitting with somebody else and you can't do that. Or when you're focused on a Page.
So my advice is always to go in prepared a hundred percent. I'm not saying you shouldn't be prepared, but if you need notes to keep you on track, then really clear basic bullet points is the way to go.
And I will always.
I used to, whenever I would go into a studio, I would take in with me a piece of paper and it would have massive bullet points like I'm talking about. Someone would think to me might themselves, are you blind? They would be in massive font. I would bold or highlight the word in that sentence.
That was the trigger word for me. So ideally I'm planning my episode. Now when I'm planning my episode, I might be stream of consciousness writing that episode.
I might be sitting down and thinking to myself, okay, this is what I want to say and blah, blah, blah. And I might kind of gather my thoughts not in a script, but more in a sort of just a brain dump.
And then my second go through, I'll go through and pull out. Okay, well this is the key point that I want to trigger that idea. This is the key point that I want to trigger that idea.
And then I'll go through again and like almost make those lines three words. Or just highlight the trigger word.
Because ideally when I'm in the moment with somebody or when I'm recording, this is particularly important if you're doing video, right? Because in the past you could just look down at your notes and you sort of see where you go.
But if you're doing video, you've gotta be looking and you can't be cutting the video 50,000 times to be trying to cut something together. So ideally you need to be able to talk to your audience into the camera and make sure that there's not a million edits to get that right.
So if you've got a piece of paper there that has just some key bullet points on it and a word in each line that's just gonna trigger you. You can really simply glance down and, and keep on going because you'll be like, okay, I know what's I've got to cover there.
So I'm going to look down, I'm going to have a look at that and then I'm going to keep on going.
And that can just help you to keep the natural rhythm of your conversation as opposed to being stuck in something that you are so wedded to that it is rigid and will make your job so much harder. I think that feeling that a script is a security blanket, I understand it, I get it.
But let me tell you, if it is a stressful thing to have because it just means you are so rigid and so immovable in the moment.
And then if you lose your train of thought, at least if you are looking at your bullet point list, you can go, okay, I need to bring it back to that in a minute. If you lose your train of thought in a script, you're almost at the point where you're like, I've just got to go all the way back to the beginning.
And ideally, if you're recording by yourself or you're recording with a co host, if you, if you need to pick things up in the moment, that's fine. That's what editing is for. But you just want to pick up what you've just done and then move on and keep going.
You don't want to have to go all the way back to the beginning and start again.
So, great question, and I totally understand why it's one you're thinking about, Jo, but I would just encourage you to try as hard as you can to move entirely away from scripting your episodes and to really think about, how can I tell this story, how can I share this information, how can I engage with my audience just with a few trigger words that will help me tell this off the top of my head so that I can really be talking to them and not talking to the page.
Because as soon as you talk to the page, that's when your audience is like, even if they can't tell you reading, they're like, something about this doesn't feel like, I don't feel like they're right here with me. And that can be a really simple reason that they turn off. And you don't want to give anybody a reason to turn off.
So hopefully that has helped you and just given you the confidence to go, I don't need a script. I can do this. And if you need to practice, practice, practice, practice. You can practice as many times as you want before you release an episode.
Nobody needs to know. So just make sure that you give it the time till you feel comfortable and then you'll get to the point. As long as you've got something.
If you need something on a piece of paper, no dramas, but you will feel much more confident having something that's easy to reference and that can give you the bare bones of the structure of what you're doing, but isn't going to get you into a pickle if you lose your place. And then you're like, which word was I up to? Very stressful, very stressful.
I'VE seen people really, like, get, you know, almost on the verge of panic attacks in studios when they're doing that. And you're just like, okay, feel this, because then you'll never want to feel it again. And then let's get rid of the script.
If you've got a question, you can just head to the description of the episode. You'll also find all the info on how you can work with me there. Thank you so much for tuning in. And you know what?
I did an episode the other day about ratings and reviews and how I don't ask for them on this show. So you know what? I'm going to just say, why don't you leave me a rating and review?
If you're enjoying it and you find these tips useful, that'd be really lovely and I would love to see it. There you go. That's a bit of a no. No. I've asked you to do about 50 things in that outro, which technically isn't what you're supposed to do.
But you know what? I think you can handle it. I got a good feeling about you for sure. All right, see you later.
