December 23, 2022
Last week, we talked to Andrew Warner, the founder of Mixergy, where he has led 2000+ interviews with other successful founders. He recently took everything he learned from leading those conversations to create a playbook for leading interviews:Â Stop Asking Questions.
At our event, Andrew discussed tactics from his book and how they can help community builders lead high impact interviews in their communities. These can be extremely helpful when you conduct live Expert Sessions or Peer Group Meetings in your community.
But thatâs not all â Andrew also had a cool story attached to each of the tactics he shared, including his first encounter with Tim Ferris.Â
Check out our event recording to hear him tell his stories.
Top tactics for hosting high impact conversations in your community:
- Why you should spend less time asking questions at interviews
- How interviews can help you build your personal brand
- How to get high-profile guests
When you ask too many questions you exhaust the other person and come across as needy. You want to direct the guest and lead the interview with confidence instead.
When you interview people who your community admires, their good vibes will rub off on you. It not only gives you more credibility in your community, but can also help you land great guests in the future.
Look for âmotivated momentsâ in a potential guestâs life - for example, moments when they have something to promote. Maybe they recently released a book that they want to promote or maybe they need to get their story out there to hire great people. In these moments, they are looking to reach an audience and you can capitalize on that.
- How to cope with the imposter syndrome while preparing for an interview with a high-profile guest
- How to get feedback from the community
- How to uncover interesting insights from the guests
Think about a specific person in your community who you can help through your questions. This gives you a higher purpose to latch onto that can help you overcome your fears.
Ask people their problems and goals in short forms - donât ask your community to fill out long surveys. You can also extract insights more effectively through casual conversations, so set those up with smart people wherever possible
Most of us are unfair when we talk to guests. We want them to be vulnerable with us but we arenât vulnerable with them. Don't let them feel like they're the only ones being vulnerable. If the conversation is more balanced then they will be more likely to share more.
đ„Â BONUS: Andrew's Rapid Fire Tactics
- Look for the most shocking thing you can find and put it in the beginning. It makes the audience hooked from the beginning. Find it on their social media or simply search for them online.
- Donât make the guest feel sandbagged with the shocking question. Instead ask them if they are comfortable before the interview. Give them a reason why you want to ask this question - theyâll be more ready to say yes.
- Ask guests whatâs a win for you before the interview starts. If you donât do this they will feel anxious or worried about it the whole time. If you do, theyâll feel relieved and cared for.
Partner Offer:
This event was sponsored by Threado: the command center for your online community.
With Threado, you can measure engagement, get detailed insights and automate your operational tasks from a single dashboard. They were the #1 product of the day on their product hunt launch and will be doing another community drop soon. So, keep an eye out!