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Sometimes, one hook isn’t enough. NPR producers like using the rule of three, a principle that says focusing on a trio of events makes the material more enjoyable and memorable.
When podcaster and founder of AppSumo, Noah Kagan, interviewed NPR producer Nick Fountain, Noah illustrated this principle. At the start of the episode, he recorded a summary of the top three lessons from the interview. He said, “I learned three major things that I’m going to share with you today. Number one, how to hook your listeners. Number two, why editing is king. And number three, how to create a real narrative for your work and closing out what you make.”
A fourth option is to clip a highlight from the interview and play it for the audience before the interview starts. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman often uses this technique on his show, Masters of Scale.
In his interview with Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, Reid pulled a clip in which Branson talked about heading to a party at Las Vegas’s towering Palms Hotel. Upon arriving, Branson was surprised to learn he would be entering the party by jumping from the top of the building! The story is certainly interesting in itself, and it showed listeners that this wasn’t just another business interview.
Whether you choose one of these four suggestions or take another approach, the important thing to remember is this: