Insider Tips On How To Make Co-Hosting Fun And Harmonious With Julie Lokun, Host of Obsessed (With Humans On The Verge Of Change)

It can be challenging to make co-hosting fun and harmonious, especially when there are more than two. So I sat down with Julie Lokun, Co-Founder of The Mediacasters and co-host of Obsessed (With Humans on the Verge of Change).? Julie Lokun talks about how practicing with her co-hosts worked wonders for their rapport and how they built in signals and habits to make the show so much better.

Getting Started

After a bit of a dare, Julie Lokun agreed to launch her first show - with a handful of co-hosts nonetheless. If you think hosting is complicated, try adding the dynamic of multiple different hosts. Even if you only have one co-host, Julie drops some great advice on how to co-host so successfully, your show becomes bingeable.?

The goal of the show, at the beginning,? was to create an extension of services each host was already offering, to help their listeners create better lives. The hosts quickly learned the power of podcasting when they found themselves sitting in the recording studio with people they “never would have rubbed shoulders with prior”. When big name guests started saying yes to guesting on their show, they realized how prolific the conversations were and how important the work they were doing was to their audience.?

“We didn’t have a plan to make money off the show or anything like that. We wanted to help our listeners create better lives and that was our focus. Every host had this genuine intention of wanting to add tremendous value and it grew from there.”

Building Bingeability?

Around the 6-month mark, Julie realized people were binging their show around the world. Their voices had reached corners of countries that were never on their radar and this inspired them to continue forward and to be consistent and specific about what they were doing.?

From the technology to the organization and division of the tasks, every host agreed they did not want to offer a half-assed show. Every host went all in, and this is required if you want to build a bingeable show.?

Building Relationships

Engagement is the number one focus over downloads. I would rather have a handful of listeners who are consistently engaged over a million followers who don’t engage at all. When it comes to Julie and her team, every host has a different way of encouraging engagement across their platforms and this approach is working because it’s genuine.?

If your show is going to have more than one host, create a plan for engagement and relationship building that is unique to each host. Whether you're asking listeners to DM you or to comment or to “call in” - let each host focus on their unique talents and personalities to connect with and build a community.

Top Takeaways for Co-Hosting Successfully

• Agree on signals that will help your co-hosts understand whose turn it is to speak.?
• Create a safe space for everyone to be vulnerable to share their stories.?
• Don’t hesitate to hire editors to give you confidence that it doesn’t have to be perfect.?

Binge Factor: Collaboration is the powerful theme that has built a community around everything Julie and her co-hosts touch. Her ability and desire to collaborate (especially with strong, successful women) is uplifting and inspiring - and it is clear that this creates the ecosystem for a bingeable show. With a high level of intelligence and a high level of heart, listeners who are binging know they are in store for something amazing every time they tune in, and who wouldn’t want to keep coming back for more of that?

You can watch Tracy Hazzard’s full on-air podcast coaching with Julie Lokun below or listen to?The Binge Factor?on your favorite podcast player.