Guest Information Guide

Thanks for your interest in Cool Change. This little guide will help you figure out if being a guest is right for you and, if so, apply to be on the show.

About the Show

Cool Change is about redesigning our lives to experience more “gourmet moments” every day. Too many of us stay on auto-pilot for too long, and then wish we’d made a change earlier in our lives to do something more interesting, useful, meaningful, or maybe just cooler.

Cool Change Podcast aims to inspire people to be more intentional about making changes in their careers, relationships, communities, and most importantly — their mindset — to live more fully now.

Cool Change ranks among the top 3% of podcasts globally.

About Chuck Allen

About the Audience

While there’s something for everyone on Cool Change, the target demographic includes professionals from their mid-30’s to mid-60’s who have been in the workforce for a while, and who are motivated to take more control over how they can improve their impact and joy. Often they feel stuck or bored, and are looking to make a change to some aspect of their lives.

What makes for a good guest?

Most importantly, be yourself and tell the truth. Authenticity is a core precept of being cool around here, and listeners respond well to guess who haven’t gotten it all figured out quite yet. People like to relate to a guest and feel that they can see themselves in similar situations from time to time.

Cool Change guests range from popular CEOs and entertainers to obscure individual contributors and everyone in between. A common trait among most guests is at least one or two significant life or career shifts, accompanied by some thoughtful insights about what happened before, during, and after these changes. It helps to be able to articulate a general philosophy of life, and its’ especially helpful if there’s a singular angle or idea that our interview is built around. A lesson of sorts that is a key insight that our listeners will find applicable and useful.

Cool Change does not exist to promote products, books, services, and the like. Rather, our guests have a story or insight to share that the audience will find valuable. In the course of the interview, the audience gets to know the guest and may become interested in their business, product, or service — which is great. Chuck is happy to help promote these things so long as they are secondary to the authentic insights shared during the podcast episode.

We ask that guests actively join our efforts to promote their episodes after they’re published to help reach more listeners.

Interview Styles

There are basically two styles of interview. One is a traditional back-and-forth conversation that gets recorded and published as it is with little editing. The other way is more of a documentary style. It’s still conducted similar to a back-and-forth conversation, but the intent is for Chuck to narrate the content in between guest commentary segments. The choice between the two styles depends on the content and whether there is a story to tell, or primarily insights.

For an example of a traditional back-and-forth interview, check out Episode 22 with Stephanie Stuckey.

For an example of a documentary-style interview, check out Episode 26 with Ashley Baer.

Timing

We block two hours for the conversation, but most don’t take that long. Generally the final product will be between 30-60 minutes long.

Location and Method

There are three options for how and where the interview will be conducted:

  • Remotely using an online tool called riverside.fm. For this option, you will need a good USB microphone, wired headphones, a silent non-echo environment, and a strong, fast internet connection. Riverside.fm provides excellent audio quality when all of these elements are in place. If you do not have a USB microphone, we can make arrangements to send you one that you can return after the interview.

  • In person at the Cool Change Studio in Portland, Oregon

  • In person at an agreed upon non-studio location (that is super quiet, has enough space, and has necessary electrical outlets). This might be your home, place of business, or a different space that makes sense.

Apply to be a Guest

Still interested? Please click below to launch a simple, straightforward form that will help us determine if there’s an overall good fit between you, your message, the audience, and the purpose of the show.

If so, we will reach out to you to schedule a brief Discovery Call to talk through a potential flow and angle for your episode.