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so when you're developing a solo podcast a full script that you write for that podcast might end

up making you sound like you're reading it from a piece of paper from the screen many people do

start out that way by just starting turning on the camera maybe without a script and that's fair

and it makes sense for a lot of people. But if you're just winging it like that, just starting

without a script, hitting record, that can sometimes lead to rambling or going off topic

or repetition or a lot of nerves. And maybe all the ideas go out of your head and you just

script it and then you sound like you're reading a script. So all of this might be an issue if

you're doing the show for a business or if you have an established audience and you know that a

of people are going to be watching your very first show. Not a problem for me, but maybe it is for you.

And finding a middle ground between these things, full scripting or just winging it with no script

at all for your solo podcast, that's what I'm going to talk about today. Welcome to the Podcast

Performance Lab. I'm your host, Jen deHaan. And in this show, we take the most effective tools from

unscripted improvised performance and behavioral psychology and apply those things directly to your

video and audio content. So the big risk of the just starting and turning on the camera if you

go unscripted without a plan is that without having training or coaching in improvising is that you'll

go off topic. You'll miss points that you wanted to make or you'll repeat information or just take

a really long walk to make that point of yours. That's my main issue personally, even with a lot

of improv training. But without any practice in solo podcasting at that point, that was a pretty

big problem for me. So if you think this episode's bad, you should see me without the guardrails that

my system provides. And if you ramble too much, this wastes your audience time, and then it's

going to waste your own time and money because you're editing a long show to make it that much

shorter. And that can also end up introducing errors and gaps. And if you edit out chunks that

you don't have the continuity for. Anyways, today I'll show you how I structure my shows

made here at Stereo Forest into a format. So today we're going over the basics of how I turn my notes

into bullet points that are really easy to read from and help you keep on track throughout an

episode that you're recording on your own. Now, these notes provide me about 90% of the structure,

but it still gives a person freedom to add new thoughts and ideas just off the top of the dome.

And it's how you get human on-track episodes, and it's also how you achieve what I call

structured spontaneity or like strategic improv. Improvisers probably hate that phrase,

strategic improv. Anyways, I've called it that. It's really improvising with guardrails.

So before we get to building this sort of bullet point version of a script, we're going to talk

about the thinking and the science behind this, because it's important because understanding why

this works is really how you're going to make it a system that's customized and works for you.

Because if you can understand why you're customizing it, you can fit this format into your

individual or business needs. So let's understand why structure creates that freedom. Now, I don't

believe in some sort of one size fits all process for any show, because every show needs some level

of consideration and customization because that's how shows evolve from that first idea

amongst the first say several episodes into something that really works now for some shows

a full script is just too rigid like obviously you're not going to use it for an interview show

but for other shows solo shows it could be too rigid for those like the improvising might be

the whole point of your show. But even fully improvised shows that I've done have all had a

format, a structure behind them, every single one of them. And if you are in improv, or if you don't

know, if you don't do improv, which is most of you, there are rules in improv as well. Like any improv

show that you might see is most likely following a very structured form. And within that form,

there's rules like for example you might have heard yes and that's one of the rules

for example my improvised audio dramas they have a very thorough format structure and there's often

a few bullet points in each segment as well and all of that is to keep the show on track and within

a particular amount of time like I didn't want it to be over an hour I wanted it to be around 45

minutes. And the same goes for nonfiction shows that are improvised or unscripted. Now, if we go

off the structure, that could easily double editing and production time on an already extremely

involved edit in some cases, especially audio dramas. So structure, even in improv, is incredibly

important. And even if you don't script your shows, you're most likely going to want some kind of

high-level structure. I go over some of these scripting processes in the previous episode. I'll

link to that in the description. But what works for a lot of different scenarios are bullet points

and a format, a structure that works together to form those guardrails. And that's what makes

editing your show so much easier. The academic term for this is called extemporaneous speaking,

and that phrase means that your script is carefully planned, possibly rehearsed,

but it's never completely written out word for word. And one of the main points for doing this

is to increase the perception of like credibility and knowledge. Think about all those Toastmaster

speeches you might have heard. Many of them were delivered using extemporaneous speaking. And I'll

put a link to a really good article about several different ways of speaking in solo scenarios. This

is one of them, and there's a bunch of other terms and definitions in there that you might be

interested in. So let's look at a framework for your solo podcast. First, your show needs to have

a form or a format of some sort, even if it's not solo. This is the overall structure. Even if it's

really broad to start off with, if your show is new, like we're just going to have a beginning,

a middle chunk, and an end. But you need to know where your intro is, where your outro is, or,

you know versus the hook or any other regular segments or plugs or dynamic advertisement inserts

all of that stuff a call to action i'll talk a lot more about the options for an overall solo format

in another episode and i'll link it in the show notes when it comes out

so the first part the show beginning i always start the script like the first 30 seconds of the show

like there's no time to spare in that part in those first 30 seconds it's a very important

section especially if you're producing a video for youtube those first 30 seconds they need to

be very concise well organized helpful to the listeners so they stick around and listen to the

rest of the episode that part needs to contain like some kind of question the problem the thesis

a pain point maybe it needs to contain a bit of information of who the episode is for

like what's the main topic who's the audience who's interested in that

and high level what they're actually going to learn or hear now the next part of your show is

going to be like the main points that you're going to be talking about delivering this is like the

meat of your script you can use a short list of the main ideas that are forming like your argument

in this section and really your only job in this part is to talk your way from one point to the

next point but having bullet points in place is really going to reduce your cognitive load from

like trying to remember all the things that you wanted to say because you know all those points

are right there for you on the page. And it actually helps you be more spontaneous and more

like yourself because you're not using that part of your brain to try to remember all those points

that you want to make. Now, the next part here is the sub points. So under each main point that

you've made each of these bullets, you want to write out any really important, say names or facts

or points or data underneath those bullets.

These are the things that you can't forget

that you need to add

or things that are really hard to remember

off the top of your head.

This is really a safety net

so you can just let go

because you know you don't need to remember

all those granular details.

And next you want to think about

the transitions between each of these points.

Like you might want to add some statements

of where you're headed in your podcast episode,

or just remember to make those sort of transition type statements.

And this can really help with your audience's anticipation,

their curiosity, their understanding of your structure.

These are all great things to have in a podcast episode.

So the level of detail is going to vary,

and that's going to depend on what type of brain you have.

For example, I'm a verbal processor, so I end up with notes that are still notes, but they're much closer to scripts.

And I'll leave notes within square brackets for what I want to potentially add in that moment, or a story, and I know that and I can improvise the whole thing.

I also always change words and sentences as I'm scanning any fully written anything in these scripts,

and I'll just add points when I think about them.

So test this out and figure out what level of detail works best for you,

considering both the recording and the editing part of the process.

And just one final note, a lot of people hate scripts and they say don't do them at all,

but there are some fully scripted audio podcasts out there that are just wildly successful. And

that's a lot due to the experience and the talents of these humans reading them, but mostly

that experience, that practice, those reps. So remember that a hybrid note approach is just

one option. You don't have to do it. You could fully script and practice how to read those scripts.

You might use different formats and methods depending on the show, on your brain, or just the day that you've been having.

It's been a day.

So the last part of your show is probably the outro.

I always tend to script this end of the show, like the last 10 or 30 seconds or whatever it is.

Whatever is closing out your episode.

unless you've said it a million times and it's pretty much memorized,

you probably want to script this part

or have a consistent ending that you just add to the end of the show.

But you do need this ending to be strong, tight, wrap up the episode.

You don't want to leave out things like your call to action

or your URL or a plug that you need to make

or the name of another episode or a survey or questionnaire.

you don't want to leave that stuff to chance. So you probably want to script that entire section.

So now you have some options for a way to form your script or your notes for a podcast episode.

And you probably know by now that you want to find some kind of format to just pull it all

together. So we'll get into the format options in the next episode where we'll think a little bit

more strategically about how you're going to pull all of that together looking at some show structures

and well-known solo podcasts so watch for that show coming up subscribe make sure you get it

and this show is available as a video on youtube as well you can find all those links in the show

notes. Bye for now. You have been listening to the podcast performance lab. This show is created,

written, hosted, edited, and produced by Jen deHaan. You can also find the video version of this

episode on YouTube and contact information on Stereo Forest. Find the links for both of those

things in the show notes. Thanks for listening.