Recording podcast interviews is better in-person

I wrote recently about how meeting people in person changes everything. You can accelerate relationships more in a few days than you would in six months to a year of talking online.

Not only is meeting in person great for memorable connections, but it’s also invaluable for podcast recordings.

Podcasts recorded in person perform much better than podcasts recorded virtually. Ryan Holiday (author of "Ego is the Enemy) told me that podcast clips on Instagram perform 40–50% better if recorded in person.

Obviously, the production quality can be higher in person, but there’s also the energy you get when two people are in the same room that you don’t get otherwise. There’s zero latency, and you have an increased ability to go off of each other’s micro-expressions, and that translates into a whole different conversation.

When I travel, I'll try to maximize my time by recording podcasts while I'm in the same town as various podcast hosts.

For example, though I have a relationship with Ryan Holiday and wanted to be on his podcast, it hadn’t ever happened.

Instead of waiting to be invited, I said, “Hey, I will be in Austin on <these dates>.”

“That’s fantastic,” Ryan said. “Let’s do a podcast.”

There’s this idea that speaking virtually is 70% as good as in person. But I think the percentage is lower. If we’re talking about meetings, I will say once you’ve made at least one in-person connection with someone, virtual meetings with them are much better than if you’ve only spoken online.

But there’s something about recording podcasts in the same room together. I feel it when I’m recording, and I think you feel it when you listen, too

Obviously, it’s a significant challenge to coordinate all of the logistics required to record in person. It’s not something anyone can do, as there are many additional costs around travel, studio space, and more.

To be clear, I think it’s better to record a podcast virtually than not to record at all. The vast majority of episodes on my podcast are virtual.

But whenever I have the opportunity, I like to record in person. It’s actually what inspired a dream of mine to open a recording studio in Boise. I could bring guests to film with, but we could also rent out the space whenever we’re not using it.

Next time you’re at an event, mastermind, or conference, take the opportunity to record in person with people as much as possible! You’ll see it makes a difference.