Cohost onboarding

# Cohost onboarding Thanks for cohosting Signals & Subtractions! This document tells you what to do before, during, and after the show. Read it once before your first episode and skim it the day of every episode you cohost.

Contents

• The role in one paragraph
• The one assignment (signal + subtraction)
• The week before
• The day of
• On-air: format and timing
• If Sam drops (you're now the host)
• After the show
• What NOT to do
• FAQ
• Tech support

The role in one paragraph

You are a rotating cohost. You bring your audience, your perspective, and your default sponsor slot. You are not a guest, not a sidekick, not a hype person. You bring one signal worth watching and one subtraction worth making. You hold space for the guest. You backstop Sam if anything goes sideways. You promote the show to your network because you have a stake in it.

The one assignment (signal + subtraction)

Before every episode you cohost, you bring two things:

1. One signal. Something you are tracking right now in your field. Specific. Concrete. Not "AI agents are getting smarter." Yes "I rebuilt our intake flow around a small local model last Tuesday and these three things broke." First-person and recent.
2. One subtraction. Something you decided to stop, kill, or refuse to engage with. Yours, not Sam's, not what's trending on LinkedIn. The thing you stopped doing this month and would tell a friend over coffee.

Send both as bullet points to Sam by Tuesday end-of-day so the run-of-show can lock. Two sentences each is fine. We are not looking for an essay.

Not sure how to generate them? Use the fifteen-minute method: https://sigsub.show/find-yours

The week before

• Thursday: Send your signal + subtraction to Sam at hey@sigsub.show. Confirm the guest is locked. If you are the cohost-of-record for guest outreach, send the guest the prep doc at https://sigsub.show/prep the moment they confirm. Stay politely on them until they have read it.
• Friday through Monday: Post a note to your active networks that you are on the show. One sentence is fine, add the show URL https://sigsub.show and see https://sigsub.show/links for promo links/identities per platform.
• Day before the show: Skim this doc again. Glance at the run-of-show Sam sends in the calendar invite. Reply with any flags.

The day of

Thirty minutes before air

• Lights and camera before action. Background should not be a window, a lamp, or anything bright. Preview your camera. If a shadow makes you look haunted, fix it.
• Water, tea, coffee, or whatever keeps your voice working well.
• Bathroom, clean glasses, change shirt if needed. We will see all of it.

Fifteen minutes before

• Solid internet connection please. Wired internet really is best. Run a quick speed test if you have any doubt: https://www.speedtest.net
• Headphone check. These are required to have, but optional to use.
• Mic and camera connected and tested.

Ten minutes before

• Reboot. Yes really. Sure it's the future and all, but ridiculous as it may be to admit, this still helps.

Five minutes before

• Mute phone. Mute desktop notifications. Close email. Close Slack. Close anything that dings.
• Join the Riverside session. Sam will send the link 24 hours before the show.
• When you join, you will be "live and on-air." Even before recording starts, treat the studio as if it is. We chat for a few minutes as people filter in.
• Riverside is recording from session start, but this is not the show start for the Friday video/podcast release.

On-air: format and timing

Every episode follows the same spine:

1. Cold open + intro bumper — Sam opens. You smile.
2. News of the week — Sam handles. You react briefly.
3. Guest signal — guest goes first.
4. Cohost signal (you) — when Sam transitions to you, deliver your one signal. Two minutes target.
5. Sam signal — Sam takes the third.
6. Sponsor segment — usually your slot, or your cohost-controlled brand. Stay on it. Do not talk over it. The sponsor read is short by design.
7. Guest subtraction — guest goes first.
8. Cohost subtraction (you) — your turn.
9. Sam subtraction + synthesis — Sam closes.
10. CTAs and outro — Sam runs the host CTA. You get a short cohost CTA: where to find you, one ask, one URL. Have these ready.

Refer to segments/scripts.md for the on-air script templates.

Cohost rhythm in conversation

• Ask questions that stimulate discussion
• Gently refocus the conversation when it drifts
• Respond to chat activity if you can see it; let Sam handle if you cannot
• Help the guest look good and feel heard
• Keep things playful but professional. Real people, real conversation, serious topics
• Defer to Sam when transitions happen. Do not talk at the same time

Your opinion is highly relevant. It should not dominate. The guest's voice gets the most room. Yours is the second-most-important voice in the room.

Recording notice

Sam runs the recording reminder in the cold open: viewers see the live stream is being recorded, and if anyone joins on-camera (e.g. through audience-invite features later), they are reminded that everything from that moment is captured. You do not need to repeat this. If a guest asks mid-show whether something is on the record, the answer is yes — Riverside records from session start to disconnect.

Chat moderation across multicast

The show streams simultaneously to YouTube, Substack Live, and LinkedIn Live. Each has its own chat. Sam cannot watch all three.

• Pick one chat surface to keep an eye on (YouTube is usually the most active). Skim, do not deep-read.
• Surface anything actionable in the Riverside side-chat: a great question worth pulling on, a troll worth banning, a name worth shouting out.
• Do not engage trolls on-camera. Flag and move on; Sam or the multicast platform's own moderation handles deletion and bans.
• If the chat goes sideways on a platform you are not watching, Sam will adjust on the fly.

If Sam drops (you're now the host)

It happens. Power blip, network failure, sudden tech failure. If Sam disappears mid-show:

1. Acknowledge it briefly. "Looks like Sam dropped, give me a second."
2. Continue the conversation. Keep the guest engaged. Reference where you were in the run-of-show.
3. If Sam is gone for more than 3-5 minutes and the guest is alone with you, you may continue if you wish. Whenever you're ready to wrap to a natural closing point, thank the guest, point to https://sigsub.show, sign off. But do NOT let the guest drop until their upload has finished, or we may have to re-record.
4. The show goes on with what you have. Recording continues. We can release a "Sam dropped, the show went on" episode and that becomes its own moment.

Don't panic or apologize repeatedly. Do not go silent. Follow the plan, or do what you want.

After the show

• Within 30 minutes of the end: Sam posts a thank-you note across several platforms. Like it. Reshare it with one sentence of your own.
• Same day: check the show's comments across whatever platforms you're active on. Reply to commenters as you see fit. Keep the conversation going.
• Friday morning (when the polished video releases): post the YouTube link to your network. One line of your own framing is better than copying the show's copy.
• Sunday afternoon (when the newsletter goes out): like + reshare across whatever platforms you're active on.
• When you see a great moment: if a clip Sam posts later that week would resonate with your audience, share it.

You are not required to do all of these. The bias is: post when the content earns it, skip when it does not. Authenticity beats volume.

What NOT to do

• Do not abbreviate the show as "S&S" externally. Use "Signals & Subtractions" or "SigSub" only.
• Do not name unconfirmed cohosts or guests publicly. The roster locks one episode at a time.
• Do not pitch a sponsor outside the sponsor segment of the show. People get weird about this.
• Do not bring a signal that is just "look at this cool tool." We have a higher bar.
• Do not bring a subtraction that is generic ("stop doomscrolling"). Make it yours and specific.
• Do not dominate the conversation. The guest gets the most air.
• Do not improvise major format changes on the fly. Please surface them to Sam beforehand, so he can accomodate them better.
• Do not go off-record for the wrong things. Assume everything from join to disconnect is recorded.

FAQ

What if something goes wrong on air? Don't panic. Mention it calmly. You are likely still being seen, heard, and recorded even if it doesn't feel that way.

What if I get kicked out? Rejoin the Riverside session at the same URL Sam sent. Apologize once. Move on.

Why do I hear an echo? Plug in your headphones. Turn off any other speakers connected to your device. If you've done that and still hear echo, stop talking for a few seconds and Riverside should sort it out.

Do I have to wear headphones? No, but you have to have them within arm's reach, fully charged, and ready to go in :30sec or less.

What about clothes / appearance? Comfortable but professional. Whatever you would wear to a conference. We are a SFW show; many people watch during the workday.

What about politics or religion? Off-topic. Not because they don't matter, because they are not the show. Keep the editorial focus on signals worth watching and subtractions worth making in AI and the work it changes.

Can I dial in by phone? Nope. Riverside is browser-based. You need a real computer with a real browser.

Where will this be shared? Live on YouTube, Substack, and LinkedIn simultaneously. Polished video Friday on YouTube. Sunday newsletter on Substack and LinkedIn. Possibly a podcast feed (Apple + Spotify) once we register one.

Can you help me with my tech setup? Yes, but ask before the morning of the show. Riverside has its own help docs: https://riverside.fm/support

Tech support

If something is broken the morning of: text or email Sam directly. We will not catch a help-desk ticket in time.

Bright ideas?

This document is a work in progress. If you have a suggestion that would make it better, say so. Email hey@sigsub.show or tell Sam directly.