Tim Ferriss and the Art of Online Conversations

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2021-07-04 17:00:06

Over the past few years, you might have noticed an increase in the popularity of podcasts and the creation of audio-based content. Producing a podcast today is considered an essential networking and promotional tool. Major news networks, entrepreneurs, and politicians all want to be on podcast shows to deliver their message or sell a product. The launch of social audio apps like ‘Clubhouse‘ and Twitter Spaces continue to push audio as a medium for content creation, marketing, and networking.

While the reason for this increase in audio-based platforms is a discussion in itself, the real success of these types of shows often relies on the conversational skills of the hosts and the guests. Recorded audio services like podcasts, and especially live audio apps likes ‘Clubhouse’, are exposing how well we communicate and how well we can hold a conversation. One show which I have been following for quite a while is ‘The Tim Ferriss Show‘, hosted by its namesake – Tim Ferriss, who started the podcast back in 2008. The show has now passed the 500 million download mark and is considered one of the success stories in podcast history, largely due to Ferriss’s ability to connect with his guests and his excellent conversational skills, honed over the past years.

In Ferriss’s own words, starting a podcast is “a minimalist experiment for improving overall thinking: improving your ability to ask questions, fixing verbal tics (e.g. “ummm” “ahhhh”), getting better at listening without interrupting, learning to sit with silence until someone else continues, etc”. He recommends starting a non-interview-based podcast because doing so will “improve your ability to craft good narratives, tell stories, and be a better human”. Tim Ferriss has a way to make guests open up about aspects of their life that they have never spoken about and asks questions that they have rarely been asked about. Over the past weeks, I have been trying to find out how one can become a better conversationalist on online audio platforms by taking Ferriss’s own best practices.