Secrets of Hosting In-Studio and Live from the Queen of Book Podcasts, Anne Bogel (Best-of Show)

Update: 2023-11-30

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This episode was sponsored by Signal Hill Insights.

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When Anne Bogel was offered the plum gig of moderating a panel discussion with four famous authors at the Bookmarks NC Festival of Books and Authors, she knew it would be fun. But she had no idea of the turn it would take when her guests — authors TJ Klune, Andrew Sean Greer, Brendan Slocumb, and Tia Williams — began one-upping each other with wild tales from book club experiences like no other. Anne Bogel's been hosting her literary matchmaking show since 2016. This show is always at the top of the charts, in great company with shows like Fresh Air, NPR’s Book of the Day, and The New York Times Book Review.

There's a reason for that. Anne is purposeful about how she hosts, whether that's holding a deep conversation about a guest's reading life in-studio, or fielding unexpected stories, and a ton of laughs, on stage in front of hundreds.

Anne has spent the last seven years of her life doing something uncanny: Every week on her hit show, What Should I Read Next, she excavates a guest’s reading life in fine detail. Then she recommends books that always seem to be the perfect choices for that guest, no matter who they are.

It’s not just her unusual ability to pair book with reader that keeps her show at the top of the charts. It’s also the way Anne approaches hosting – as the art of practicing deep hospitality. That keeps her in listeners’ hearts, year after year.

It also makes Anne in demand as a public speaker. As intimate as she is with her podcast guests, you might never guess how raucously fun she is in front of a live audience!

If you dream of moving effortlessly between studio and stage, you’ll love this episode.

Anne Bogel is an author, the creator of the blog Modern Mrs Darcy, and host of What Should I Read Next? podcast and Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club. Anne loves talking to readers about their favorite books, reading struggles, and of course what they should read next. Anne lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, four children, and a yellow lab named Daisy. Follow Anne on Instagram.

What Should I Read Next episode discussed on today's show:
Ep 351 “Book Club Favorites: LIVE from Bookmarks!”

Anne Bogel's holiday gift book recommendations for your favorite hosts and producers:

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
Out on a Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel with forward by Ira Glass
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Scroll down for hosting takeaways from today's show.

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Anne Bogel's Takeaways for Podcasters and Public Speakers

1. Offer radical hospitality. We may not think of it this way, but the word “host” comes from the word “hospitality.” Anne takes that literally – she and her team practice hospitality consciously. They do everything they can to make their guests feel welcome and at ease. That hospitality starts with the way they invite guests, to how they prepare them, to the ways in which Anne calms their nerves at the start of an interview. The result of such care shows in the relationships she builds with her guests – and, as a consequence, with devoted listeners.

2. State your purpose. Anne practices hospitality in the manner that Priya Parker describes in her book The Art of Gathering. That means understanding and explaining the purpose of that gathering or interview at the very beginning. “It can feel silly at first to name your purpose,” she said. But it helps you and your guests immensely to say: "What is our purpose in being here today, in having this conversation? What do we hope you take away from this?" Don’t let these important guideposts remain unspoken.

3. Set the emotional stage. You’re not the same host in a quiet studio as you are in front of a live audience. Or at least you shouldn’t be. Before you host an episode or a live event, visualize how you want the audience to feel. As Anne says, the visual for a conversation with a single guest might be two people at a table leaning over their lattes. But the visual for a panel discussion in a room of hundreds of readers is big! As she put it, “Come on in. The water is warm! Big Momma’s shepherding! There’s room here for all of us, and we’re gonna have a ball.” They’re both positive kinds of energy, but they differ dramatically.

4. Public speaking skills are complementary, not identical. Hosting a great roundtable takes a different kind of expertise than hosting an intimate conversation. It requires deft moderation, an ability to think like an orchestra conductor and sometimes a tightrope walker – along with the diplomacy to manage several egos. Anne plans ahead to give guests equal time and to ensure a lively flow of conversation. And she also thinks about how to inspire guests to tell stories that they haven’t told before by artfully asking for specifics, like she does in this episode by inquiring about a memorable book club experience. And remember – sometimes that first story sets the tone for all the rest.

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Credits

Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC.

Host: Elaine Appleton Grant

Podcast Manager: Tina Bassir

Production Manager: Andrew Parella

Audio Engineer: Kevin Kline

Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson

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