The One Page Guest Prep Sheet Template

Guest block

• Write the name exactly as you will say it out loud.Include a phonetic spelling for the surname and any preferred short form. Good looks like a note you can read cold in the first ten seconds without hesitating.
• Record the current title and organization in the guest own words.Titles from an old press release age badly. Ask the guest to confirm the exact wording they want used in the introduction and in the show notes.
• Attach the headshot and note where it lives.A landscape crop and a square crop cover most artwork needs. Reject a screenshot from a conference stage now rather than on publish day.
• Paste the two sentence bio you will actually read.Cut the supplied bio down to what a listener needs to trust this guest. Anything longer stops sounding like an introduction and starts sounding like a resume.
• List the links the guest wants in the show notes.Cap it at three so the notes stay readable. Confirm each one loads before the record so you are not fixing dead links after publication.
• Note pronouns and anything about how they want to be addressed.One line, checked with the guest rather than assumed. This is the cheapest possible way to avoid the most avoidable mistake in an interview.

Story block

• Write the one story only this guest can tell.A single sentence naming the specific experience that justifies the episode. If you cannot write it, you have a booking rather than an episode and need more research.
• List the claims that need checking before you record.Any figure, date, first, or award the guest states about themselves. Verify what you can independently and mark the rest so you can ask instead of asserting.
• Note what the guest has already said on other shows.Listen to fifteen minutes of a recent appearance and write down their stock answers. Your job is to ask what those appearances did not.
• Record the topics that are off limits and why.Pull this from the questionnaire rather than discovering it live. Note whether the limit is legal, contractual, or personal, because that changes how you steer away.
• Name the moment you expect to be the best audio of the episode.Mark the question you think will produce it so you protect enough time to get there. Good looks like a marker at roughly the two thirds point of the run.

Question ladder

• Write the opening question in full.The one question you deliver word for word. It should be specific to this guest and impossible to answer with a rehearsed origin story.
• Set three core turns, each with a follow up underneath.The turn is the topic, the follow up is the question that pushes past the first answer. Three turns is what fits comfortably in a forty five minute conversation.
• Prepare the pivot you use if an answer goes flat.A neutral bridge back to firmer ground, written down so you are not improvising while also listening. Good looks like a sentence you can say without breaking rhythm.
• Write the closing question you ask every guest.A consistent closer gives the show a shape and gives you a reliable ending to edit toward. Keep it in the template so it never gets forgotten in a rush.
• Keep two spare questions parked at the bottom.For the guest who answers in thirty seconds and leaves you with fifteen minutes to fill. Spares should open new territory, not restate earlier turns.

Run of show and logistics

• Write the record time in both time zones.Yours and the guest own, spelled out with the date. This single line prevents the most common missed record in remote interviewing.
• Note the recording method and the backup.Which platform, whether the guest is recording a local track, and what the fallback is if the connection degrades. Confirm the guest has headphones.
• Mark the release and consent status.Whether the release is signed and on file, and whether the recording needs consent from all parties given the states involved. Do not press record on an unresolved status.
• List the assets you must not leave the record without.Usually the headshot, the confirmed name spelling, the links, and a clean pull quote. Read the list back at the end of the session while the guest is still on.
• Set the publish date and the promo assets you owe the guest.Tell the guest when it airs and what they will receive. A guest who is told this will promote the episode and will recommend you to the next one.