What Running a Live Video Show is Teaching Me About Business

At the beginning of March 2020, I started a video show. Then, I morphed it a bit. Then, I morphed it again. Now, it's the Backpack Show, a daily business success and insights show with a co-host, Kerry O'Shea Gorgone. We do 5 episodes a week with two guests each so we book 10 guests every week to give the community we serve a variety of ideas and insights.

And as you imagine, it's a little bit of work. But not a lot of work. Setting up the show was a matter of picking hosting software (we use Streamyard), putting a decent webcam and mic and lights in front of our faces, and then focusing endlessly on the elements of hosting a show that people value enough to visit live and also to watch the replays.

A "Show" Is More Than Information. It's Entertainment

There are 3 elements to the show: the community being served, the guest, and the hosts. I've put them in the order of importance. If the community we have the pleasure to serve isn't well-tended, the show falters. (We do a lot of audience participation.) We want guests that entertain and inform, and it's our job to help them deliver a great performance to the community we serve.

As hosts, we have two roles: ask questions the community might want to know (and read their questions to the guests), and also make our guests look and feel amazing. Look what's missing in this description: needy host stuff. We don't worry if the community thinks we're smart. We show that through our selection of guests and the caliber of questions we ask. We don't worry that the community doesn't know what we sell. We explicitly explain it.

So many hosts get this part wrong: they try to make the show's priorities 50% host (or more) and 50% guest (or less), and "I sure hope the audience loves it."

We don't have an audience. We serve a Community.

Formulas and Targets Help

Kerry and I have a rough formula for the show. We have 2 guests and we want the show to run just under one hour because people find an hour long piece of video to be daunting. So we aim for 3/12/3/12/3. Three minutes of intro and banter, 12 minutes for the first guest, then sponsors and quick summary, and 12 minutes for the second guest. Wrap up everything with a last 3 minutes. (It almost always runs a bit later than this, but aiming at 3/12/3/12/3 timing on our clocks means we get under an hour, at least.)

The Best Hosts

We've learned that there's a secret recipe for all this. Be the condiment, not the meat. The best hosts make the community come back no matter who the guest is, and the way that happens is how you much love and pay service and attention to the people who give you their time. But beyond that, say less about us, and sneak in the flavor. Your brilliance will shine through. Don't worry. Because if you end up hogging the airtime, people either will love you madly, or they'll (much more often and more likely) grow terribly bored of you and stop showing up.

Repetition of Promotion

I promote the Backpack Show endlessly these days. (Which is funny, because it's not really my "money maker." But it's where my passion is, so whatever.) I make little Instagram graphics all the time. I draw little "show cards" like this one:

Yeah, we had Sir Mix-A-Lot on the show. (And that aired on LinkedIn Live, too. Pretty sure it's Mix's first time on LinkedIn.)

If you don't promote, a lot, people will easily (very easily) forget about you. This is true about your business, no matter what it is.

But that secret persists: it has to be a value to the person receiving the promotion, not you pimping you. I talk about what's said in the episode, not "you should watch MY show."

Note the language I've used throughout this whole thing: "the community we serve" and not "MY AUDIENCE," which is 1.) a lie, and 2.) offputting. You don't own anyone. They show up because you serve them. There's no "my show" except when I say I run a show. It's a show I make for business people looking for insights out of their typical sources. Make sense?

One Last Note

Wrap everything up in nice bows. Give the audience (the community we serve) your guests and their wisdom, but then package it up in simple terms so that they understand the messages you're hoping to convey. Sure, everyone saw the same thing, but what they take from it, is something different. So, imagine your guest talks all about how they started out homeless and then launched a wildly successful concert series and resurrected a beloved 1980s video game brand (Tommy Talarico did that).

Okay, so "rags to riches," right? No. I want people to take away that if you find ways to monetize your passion, it pays to do that instead of lame and unfulfilling business. We doubled down with another lesson: there are many ways to find that money trail. Tommy started by creating video game music for various games, then launched Video Games Live (big concert), and recently, he bought Intellivision and is launching the Intellivision Amico.

You'll have a much happier community if you communicate with them, give them the best version of your guests, and wrap up everything in easy to consume notes and ideas throughout the show. Will it grow your business?

So far, the answer for me is YES!

The Backpack Show airs LIVE weekdays at 10am ET right here on my LinkedIn profile. Come get some!