Let's Make This More Interesting

Episode 2: Why Your Dog is a Better Producer Than You (with Maz Farrelly)

Sep 25, 2023

Reality TV producer, Maz Farrelly, shares her learnings on engaging an audience and creating great content. Topics discussed include: the role of a producer, captivating an audience, making tipping more interesting, finding your unique selling point, and the importance of being memorable in business conversations.

43:10

Creator website

Episode guests

Maz Farrelly

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Being interesting is essential to captivate audiences and stand out from the crowd, and can be achieved by embracing curiosity, asking thought-provoking questions, and being authentic.

Scratching beneath the surface and digging deeper can uncover unique and fascinating stories and experiences, connecting on a deeper level with others and offering more compelling narratives.

Deep dives

Tipping Jar at a Deli: Making Tipping More Interesting

A deli on Nantucket Island created a unique tipping jar that sparked customer engagement. Instead of a single jar, they had two buckets labeled 'Red Sox' and 'Yankees' to represent the rivalry between the baseball teams. Customers could tip and declare their loyalty, as well as increase their tips if the rival bucket was receiving more. This approach transformed a mundane act of tipping into a fun and prideful experience, encouraging more people to tip and even tip more. This example highlights the power of making an ordinary action more interesting to boost engagement and satisfaction.

Introduction

2min

Making Tipping More Interesting and Exploring the Cost of Being Dull

2min

The Importance of Being Memorable

15min

Finding Your Unique Selling Point in Business and Conversation

2min

The Power of Captivating an Audience

21min

Exploring Concepts and Application

2min

In this episode, Adam speaks to reality TV producer Maz Farrelly. Maz has made some of the biggest shows on 3 continents, including Britain’s Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, Big Brother and Celebrity Apprentice – interviewing 12,000 hopefuls along the way. She now works with businesses to help them make themselves more interesting.

Maz shares her learnings on what it takes to really engage an audience, the three secrets of great content, and how to be interesting enough to get cast in one of her shows. Along the way, we discuss:

Why, if you’re ambitious, you have to see everything as a ‘production’
How your dog produces you to get what it wants
What ‘white noise’ is, and why it matters
How to interview well enough to get into the Big Brother house
Why many of us have become lazy producers, particularly in big companies
When ‘fine’ isn’t good enough if you want to be the Number 1 Show
Asking the questions to discover the interesting story in everyone (and how to make a dull person interesting for a TV audience)
Why you can only last for a week before you ‘leak’
The power of subverting expectations as a producer
The recipe for great content on television (and how to play Susan Boyle Bingo)
The importance of really ‘scratching’ to get to what’s interesting
Three bits of advice on how to be a great producer and be more interesting
How to apply this to our business and personal life

Maz is as fascinating as she is funny. We hope you enjoy this wonderfully stimulating conversation with someone who makes everything she does a little more interesting.

Find out about Maz's work here: https://www.mazspeaks.com/

Follow Maz on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maz-speaks/

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

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