# How do you prepare?

**URL:** <https://forum.podcaster.community/t/how-do-you-prepare/4792>\
**Category:** Workbench\
**Created:** [May 1, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/how-do-you-prepare/4792 "2025-05-01T20:02:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![craigconstantine](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.podcaster.community/craigconstantine/32/2322_2.png) [@craigconstantine](https://forum.podcaster.community/u/craigconstantine)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/how-do-you-prepare/4792/1 "2025-05-01T20:02:46Z")

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[![How do you prepare?](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/podcaster1/original/2X/9/9acc9103a7f56d680230e783729668585dc2c68c.png)](https://openandcurious.org/2025/05/01/how-do-you-prepare/)

> Arguably, the foremost reason that conversations are difficult is because we don’t prepare for them or work to get better at them. This is the argument of my Harvard colleague Alison Wood Brooks (no relation), whose new book,&nbsp;[_Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves_](https://bookshop.org/a/92755/9780593443491), follows decades of research on how we interact with people, and how to do it better and more enjoyably. As Brooks shows, people generally spend more time thinking about what they will&nbsp;_wear_&nbsp;to a dinner party than what they will&nbsp;_talk_&nbsp;about. Researchers have found that, laziness aside, this insouciance about conversation is because 50 percent believe that thinking about topics in advance will make a conversation feel forced and artificial; only 12 percent of people think such mental preparation will enhance the experience.
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> ~ [Arthur C. Brooks](https://openandcurious.org/tag/arthur-c-brooks/), from [Don’t Make Small Talk. Think Big Talk](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/science-behind-art-conversation/681562/)

I have the opposite problem: I spend a ton of time thinking about both. I should probably think less about dressing. It really _really_ matters how you think about conversation, how much you think about conversation, and how you prepare for conversation. I absolutely agree that the _more_ you prepare, the more interesting things are—without exception.

ɕ

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://openandcurious.org/2025/05/01/how-do-you-prepare/](https://openandcurious.org/2025/05/01/how-do-you-prepare/)

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**Author:** ![David3560](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.podcaster.community/david3560/32/145_2.png) [@David3560](https://forum.podcaster.community/u/David3560)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/how-do-you-prepare/4792/2 "2025-12-12T16:34:16Z")

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This is really good, @craigconstantine . I may think that because of how I prepare for a podcast conversation, which has now drifted into how I prepare for other “work” discussions, and, recently, there are connections to family dialogue as well.

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**Author:** ![craigconstantine](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.podcaster.community/craigconstantine/32/2322_2.png) [@craigconstantine](https://forum.podcaster.community/u/craigconstantine)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/how-do-you-prepare/4792/3 "2025-12-12T16:48:14Z")

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Thanks for saying so. Recently I’ve begun publishing more regularly to my Open + Curious project and the posts also appear here (like this one) because I think more podcasters—at least those who have guests—will enjoy these jumping off points.