For hosts
How to Introduce a Podcast Guest
The introduction is the first thing your listener hears about your guest, and for most episodes it is the only one they get. Here is the structure that works on air, five templates to adapt, what to ask the guest for before you record, and the written introduction that 16% of the guest-booking shows we read never publish a single link in.
7 min read
You booked the guest, you prepared the questions, and the red light is on. The next half minute decides whether your listener stays for the hour, and most hosts spend it reading a bio the guest wrote for a conference programme.
A good introduction is not a summary of the person. It is a promise about the episode: who this is, why they are the right person for this particular conversation, and what the listener will walk away with. Everything else can come out in the interview, where it lands better anyway.
This page gives you the structure, five templates for the situations you will actually meet, the three things to ask your guest for before the call, and the part of the introduction almost nobody writes about: the written one, in your show notes, which our own read of public podcast feeds suggests is the half most shows leave thin.
How do you introduce a podcast guest?
Say three things and then ask a real question. Name the guest with the one credential that matters to this audience, say why they are the right person for today's subject, and tell the listener what they will get from the conversation. Then skip "tell us a bit about yourself" and open with a question that only this guest can answer.
Keep it to between fifteen seconds and a minute. Short is almost always better: a listener forgives a brief introduction and rarely forgives a long one.
The order matters less than the discipline. Each part answers one question a new listener is silently asking, and anything that answers none of them can wait for the interview.
| Part | The listener's question |
|---|---|
| Who they are, in one credential | Why should I trust this voice? |
| Why them, for this subject | Why this person, today? |
| What the episode delivers | What do I get for my hour? |
The credential is the part hosts overdo. Pick the single fact that makes this audience lean in, not the most impressive line on the résumé. For a show about small business, "she ran a bakery for twelve years before she wrote the book" beats "bestselling author and keynote speaker" every time.
Podcast guest introduction templates
Five templates, one for each situation you will meet most often. Fill the brackets, then read it out loud once before you record: an introduction that looks fine on paper often runs long in the mouth.
My guest today is [name], [the one credential that matters to this audience]. [Name] has spent [time / experience] on [specific subject], and [the thing they did, found or changed that makes them worth hearing on it]. By the end of this conversation you will know [the concrete takeaway]. [Name], welcome to the show.
In [year], [name] [the moment: the decision, the failure, the discovery], and [what happened next]. Today [he / she / they] [what they do now], and that moment is where we are going to start. [Name], thanks for being here. Take me back to [the moment].
[Name] needs no long introduction on this show, so I will skip it. Last time we talked about [previous subject]. Today it is [new subject], because [the reason it is timely]. [Name], welcome back.
[Name] has more credentials than I have time to read, so I will give you the one that matters for today: [single relevant credential]. The rest is in the show notes. What I want from this episode is [the specific question the episode answers]. [Name], welcome.
[Co-host], you found today's guest. Why did you want them on? [Co-host explains in two sentences why this guest, for this audience.] Then let's get into it. [Name], welcome to [show name].
The co-host version works because the reason for booking the guest arrives as a personal recommendation rather than a résumé. If you host alone, you can borrow the move: "I have wanted [name] on this show since I read [the specific thing]" does the same job in one sentence.
What to ask your guest for before you record
Most introduction mistakes are information mistakes: a mispronounced name, an outdated title, a credential the guest would rather not lead with. Three questions in your confirmation email fix nearly all of them.
- How do you pronounce your name, and how would you like to be described in one line? Ask them to write it the way they would say it.
- Which one thing about your background matters most for this conversation? Their answer is usually a better credential than the one you would have picked.
- Where should listeners go to find you afterwards? One link, not five. This is the line your show notes will carry.
Before we record, three quick things so I introduce you properly: 1. How do you pronounce your name, and how would you like to be described in one line? 2. What is the one part of your background most relevant to [subject]? 3. What is the single link you would like listeners to follow afterwards? Reply in a sentence each. Anything you would prefer I did not mention is useful too.
Ask about pronunciation even when the name looks obvious. Listeners notice, and the guest always does.
Five introduction mistakes that cost you the first minute
- Reading the whole bio. A bio is written to be skimmed on a page; read aloud it turns into a list of nouns. Take one line from it and put the link to the rest in your show notes.
- Overselling. "The world's leading expert" sets a bar the guest now has to clear in the first answer. A specific, modest credential earns more trust than a superlative.
- Announcing a topic instead of an angle. "Today we are talking about leadership" tells the listener nothing. "Today we are talking about why she stopped doing performance reviews" is an episode.
- Opening with "tell us a bit about yourself". It hands the first minute back to the guest with no direction, and you get the conference bio you just skipped. Ask the first real question instead.
- Saying "without further ado". If you have to announce that the ado is over, there was too much of it.
The written introduction: your show notes
The on-air introduction reaches the listener who stayed. The written one reaches everyone else: the person scrolling an app to decide whether to press play, the listener who wants to look your guest up afterwards, and the search engines and answer engines that read your episode page. It is also the part the guest can share, and a guest who can share their appearance easily usually will.
Our own read of public podcast feeds says this is the thinner half of most shows' introductions. Of the 205 shows we could see booking guests, read on September 16, 2026, 16% published no outbound link in the notes of any guest episode, so a listener who wanted to find the guest afterwards had only what was said on air. 64% linked out on every guest episode, though a link we can see may be a sponsor's rather than the guest's, so that figure is a ceiling, not a count of credited guests.
Names are rarer still. Across the 383 feeds whose recent episode notes we read between July 16, 2026 and September 16, 2026, 30% credit a guest by name in them. That denominator includes shows that never book a guest at all, so read it as how uncommon a written credit is across podcasting rather than as a rate at which hosts forget.
[Name] is [one-line description, in the guest's own words]. In this episode: [the specific takeaway, in one sentence]. Find [name]: [the single link they asked for]
Three lines is enough. For the full measurement of which shows link to their guests and how often, read Do podcasts link to their guests?, which publishes the same read show by show.
If you are the guest: write your own introduction
Hosts are busy, and the easiest introduction to read well is one written to be read aloud. Send your host a short introduction with your booking confirmation. Most will use it, and the ones who write their own will still borrow your credential and your link.
[Name] is [one credential that matters to this show's audience]. [He / She / They] [the specific thing you did or found], and [why that matters to this show's listeners]. Find [name] at [one link].
Keep it under sixty words, write your name the way it is pronounced if it is not obvious, and leave out anything the host would have to edit. The same short introduction belongs at the top of your guest one-sheet, where a host deciding whether to book you reads it first.
Sources and benchmark date
Every figure above is derived at build time from our own read of 385 public podcast feeds, not typed in. The link-out read and the notes read are dated separately because they are two reads of the same feeds on different days. The method, the limitations and the raw data are public:
- Which Podcasts Actually Book Guests? (our study)
Original analysis of 385 public podcast RSS feeds from a 408-show directory. Source for the show-notes credit rate on this page. Method, limitations and the full dataset are published with it under CC BY 4.0.
- Do podcasts link to their guests?
The link-out measurement in full: 14144 episodes across 383 feeds, read on September 16, 2026, with the within-show comparison between guest and non-guest episodes and the limits of what a visible link can prove.
- Apple Podcasts: episode show notes and feed tags
Apple's specification for the podcast feed fields. Episode descriptions and show notes are standard fields every podcast app displays, which is why the written introduction reaches listeners who never hear the spoken one.
Frequently asked questions
How do you introduce a guest on a podcast?+
Say three things, then ask a real question. Name the guest with the single credential that matters to your audience, say why they are the right person for today's subject, and tell the listener what they will get from the episode. Then open with a question only this guest can answer instead of "tell us about yourself", which hands the first minute back with no direction.
How long should a podcast guest introduction be?+
Between fifteen seconds and a minute, and shorter is usually better. Roughly forty to a hundred and twenty spoken words covers the three parts: who they are, why them for this subject, and what the listener gets. Anything longer is usually a bio being read aloud, and the detail it carries lands better inside the interview or in the show notes.
What do you say when introducing a podcast guest?+
A simple pattern works for most episodes: "My guest today is [name], [one credential]. [Name] has spent [time] on [subject] and [the thing that makes them worth hearing]. By the end of this conversation you will know [takeaway]. Welcome to the show." Adapt it into a story-led cold open for a guest with a strong moment, or cut it to two sentences for a returning guest your listeners already know.
Should you read a podcast guest's bio word for word?+
No. A written bio is built to be skimmed on a page, and read aloud it becomes a list of titles your listener forgets immediately. Take the one line from it that matters to your audience, say it in your own words, and put the full bio and the guest's link in your show notes, where a listener who wants more will look.
How do you credit a guest in podcast show notes?+
Three lines: a one-sentence description of the guest in their own words, the specific takeaway of the episode, and the single link they asked you to share. It is worth the minute. Of the 205 shows we could see booking guests in our read of public feeds on September 16, 2026, 16% published no outbound link in the notes of any guest episode, so their listeners had no written way to find the guest afterwards.
How should a guest introduce themselves on a podcast?+
Ideally they do not have to: send the host a short introduction written to be read aloud, with one credential that matters to that show's audience, the specific thing you did or found, and one link. Keep it under sixty words. If the host does ask you to introduce yourself, give the same two sentences and then answer the question behind the request, which is why you are worth this audience's hour.
More on the interview itself
Book guests worth introducing
List your show, say what you book, and hear from guests who arrive with their angle, their credential and their link already written. The introduction is half done before the call.