01 · Start here
Where good podcast topics come from
The best things to talk about are usually already in your week: the questions people ask you, the opinions you defend at dinner, the things you are learning. This page is about what to say inside episodes. If you still need the idea for the show itself, start with podcast ideas.
- Questions people ask you more than once
- Opinions you argue about with friends
- Something you learned the hard way
- What you are learning right now
- A story you tell at every party
02 · First episode
What to talk about in your first episode
- Who you are, in two sentences, and why you started this show
- Who the show is for, and what they will get from it
- The story of the moment you decided to start
- What a typical episode will sound like
- The question your show exists to answer
- Three episodes you are excited to make
- A mistake you made in this topic and what it taught you
- What you hope listeners will be able to do after ten episodes
- One quick, useful tip to prove the show is worth their time
- How listeners can send you questions
03 · Solo hosts
Prompts for solo episodes
- The most common question you get, answered properly
- A myth in your field and why it is wrong
- A step-by-step how-to for one small task
- Your take on something in the news this week
- A book, article or video that changed your mind
- A mistake you see beginners make again and again
- What you would do differently if you started over
- A tool or habit you rely on and why
- A behind-the-scenes look at how you work
- A listener question, answered at length
04 · Co-hosts
Prompts for co-hosts and friends
Disagreement is the engine of a co-hosted show. For question lists to use with each other, see podcast questions for friends.
- Something you two completely disagree about
- Rank the best and worst of something you both love
- Each bring one story from your week
- Rewatch, reread or replay something from your childhood
- Defend an unpopular opinion for five minutes
- What you would do with a free year
- Plan an impossible trip together on air
- React to your own old photos, posts or messages
- Try something new between episodes and report back
- Answer listener dilemmas like an advice column
05 · Your field
Prompts for business, expert and niche shows
- What clients get wrong before they hire someone like you
- A case study, told as a story with names removed
- The real cost or timeline of something in your field
- Trends you think are overhyped, and ones that are not
- An interview with a customer, member or partner
- How your industry has changed in ten years
- A beginner's guide to a term everyone in your field uses
- Your process, from first call to finished job
- A local business or organization people should know about
- What you would tell someone starting out in your field
06 · Reactions
Prompts that react to the world
- The biggest story in your niche this week and what it means
- A viral post in your field: right or wrong?
- A new product, law or rule and who it affects
- Predictions for the next six months, revisited later
- A review of something new: a book, show, product or event
- A comparison of two popular approaches
- What happened at a conference or local event
- An anniversary of something important in your field
- Something that annoyed you this month and why
- Good news people missed
07 · Listeners
Prompts that come from your audience
- A mailbag episode answering several short questions
- One long listener question, answered in depth
- A listener's story, with their permission
- Results of a poll you ran on social media
- Corrections and follow-ups from earlier episodes
- A listener as a guest
- The episode listeners asked for most
- Your most-shared episode, revisited a year later
- Behind the scenes of making the show
- A thank-you episode at a milestone
08 · Never run out
How to never run out of things to say
Keep one running list and add to it every time a question or opinion comes up. Record a quick voice memo when an idea arrives, because you will not remember it on recording day. For more, see podcast episode ideas and podcast questions.
- Keep a single idea list on your phone
- Capture ideas as voice memos the moment they arrive
- Turn every good question into an episode
- Repeat segments so half the episode plans itself
- Plan five episodes ahead, not one
Talk first. Tidy it up after.
Record the conversation, then cut the tangents by deleting them from the transcript in Hilite.