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by
John Longenecker
OnAirBest.com
 With
the growing blogosphere of contributors, entrepreneurs,
marketers and spokespersons, there are some who have become
expert authorities in their field and who have paid
enough dues by now to look at talk radio as their
next platform move.
Some are a natural and sound great
from the start. Others hesitate and put it off another year, and
still others don't prepare at all, thinking they can noodle it
out as they go... when they're ready. Talk radio is looking for
great guests, and preparing beforehand can make the move for
your brand a lasting one in making a difference in the lives of
others.
The first objective in becoming a good guest expert for your
aims is to understand that your ability to compose a compelling
article or to deliver a moving speech do not translate into
being a good expert on radio. The pace is different, the
challenges are immediate, and you can't learn it and interact
like an expert by studying or noodling it out on your own; you
either acquire it by enduring a painful on-air learning curve or
by being taught confidentially before you ever contact a radio
show.
The learning curve is not the way to go. It airs your mistakes,
literally, for all to witness and it damages your image when you
can least afford it. You want to sound like the authority you
really are, and from the very beginning, whether you are giving
a delicious recipe for dessert or predicting a political recipe
for disaster.
Audiences are more sophisticated now and they expect more. They
turn to their favorite talk shows for their knowledge base and
to discover new attitudes, affirmations and even corrections; I
call it the listeners' light speed comparing of notes. More
shows are being recorded for podcast and re-broadcast into cyber
immortality; guests are challenged live and must respond live.
The audience can hear the difference between organized expertise
with connectivity and a newcomer's struggle to educate them.
Before marketing yourself to a show,
let's talk about that connectivity. In coaching, a student's
connectivity is complex and it requires practice and
individualized critique in order to work at its best. Here are
two glimpses for you in how to meet these.
First, chances are that you can anticipate the quizzing of
audience callers; in advance, reduce all of your responses to
the most parsimonious statements you can craft. Many experts
make the mistake of neglecting this in educating their
audiences, and wind up over-informing them and wasting allocated
air time instead. Where it goes wrong is in a lack of
connectivity to begin with.
Optimal connectivity is where you are able to impart
understanding over facts and that understanding carries meaning
for most listeners. Connectivity suffers when the significance
of the facts you give may not be self-evident to listeners. You
make the better connection by making the connection for them
within your response, and giving them understanding instead of
so-called education. The mistake of many experts is in their
established habit of informing at length rather than teaching
quickly. This must be changed for effective on-air interaction.
The second half is to connect your answer of understanding to a
values system of meaning, such as how your response relates to
the household. It's one of the safest topics on the air. Many
shows are looking not for information per se, but for insights
and how you apply them on the topic - and audience - at hand. If
you can do both within a parsimony of a response, and if your
expertise has merit, you will succeed.
Remember that the audience is not stupid or uninformed; they're
waiting to see if you're smart. You convey that by your ability
to connect with understanding over the superficial ability
merely to inform.
John Longenecker is an established author and
contributor, and has been
a frequent talk radio guest expert on hundreds of stations large
and small.
He now coaches contributors to be their best on-air persona as a
guest expert. His website is
http://OnAirBest.com
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