Just started podcasting and interested in people's thoughts on sending a list of questions / topics beforehand?

I created a guest guide to let potential guests know what to expect before making the commitment to come on the show.

I will do some additional research, including reading through through my notes from our Ice Breaker chat and any articles/blog posts/talks/links that you send me. Then, I will email you a high level outline of the story that we aim to tell in our episode. However, we should absolutely chase interesting tangents and side stories during the recording. The outline is more a guideline than actual rules!

This has worked very well so far, but it does take more time and preparation. My thought is that it allows guests to understand what we will talk about, what we will not talk about, think of interesting stories they could tell, come prepared with numbers/statistics/dates, etc.

However, I only have 5 episodes published so far, which is not a lot of data points. I plan to ask all previous guests what they though of the process so that I can improve it. If the outline is useful and appreciated, then I will continue. If it is not useful, then I will drop it to save myself some time. However, outlining is still really important for me to research and prepare, so I'm not sure how much time it will actually save.

No, because then they begin practicing their lines like a b-rated actor haha

It's best to jot down loose bullet points for yourself & most importantly - HAVE AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION

Do NOT do this. Ruins the spontaneity.

Sometimes they force you to do it, and it's never a good sign.

I would highly recommend this. I send a link to people when they book themselves on my calendar and it gives them a full list of expectations to make for a great interview — from the general flow of questions I may ask, to the technical details.

I read some advice from @joelhooks on twitter a while back, and it made me write up the list of questions and topics and send them to the guest. He could probably speak more to it, but it seemed like a good courtesy.

I've only done two recordings so far. I've sent questions through beforehand for both, and I think both asked before I offered. However, I felt it made the conversation a little less spontaneous than it would otherwise have been. In future, I'm going to try sending topics that I intend to ask questions about, rather than the questions themselves, and see if that helps things flow a little better.