Introduction
Ever caught yourself zoning out in the middle of an important interview?
Yeah, it happens—especially when you’re juggling technical distractions and prep routines. But guess what? You can snap back to clarity without a hitch!
In today’s episode of **Content Universe**, host **Mikkel Svold** reveals his **top three killer questions** that’ve saved him many times when focus drifts. Mikkel, the mastermind behind a leading content agency for high-tech firms, is here to help you keep the conversation flowing.
He’ll walk you through these simple yet powerful questions that don’t just help you save face—they supercharge the depth and quality of your interviews!
And wait, there’s more! Mikkel’s got a bonus tip for those moments that are just too brilliant to let go, showing you how to weave in seamless transitions that scream, “I’m listening!”
Whether you’re an interview veteran or just starting out, Mikkel’s insights are your secret weapon for on-the-spot challenges.
Don’t miss the chance to level up your interview game—**hit play** and soak in the wisdom of the **Content Universe**!
What You’ll Learn
• Mastering three questions to regain focus in interviews.
• Techniques to simplify complex topics on the spot.
• How examples bridge understanding gaps in discussions.
• Utilizing keyword notes for seamless interview transitions.
• Bonus tip: Recording interviews to enhance focus and retention.
Episode Transcript (AI Generated)
Hello out there and welcome to the content universe. Today I want to talk to you about three… well I want to give you basically three questions that save you when you for some reason lose focus during an interview. You know quite often or I would even say in every interview I have at some point I for some reason lose focus. It can be something in the technical stuff is you know beeping that I need to you know look at it can be just checking the sound levels are they okay, it can be checking whether all the cameras are still rolling or the red dots all good for some reason. I lose focus just that one split second which of course means that I will then somehow need to get back into focus and still not let my guest and interviewee know. It could also be just even looking at my notes to see if we’re on track with the interview checking the time, all those kinds of things you have to do during an interview when you’re the host. And that can sometimes set you a little bit off so that means that you maybe haven’t really heard what your guest has just said. So what I will give to you today is three questions that I use myself or three things that I use myself to kind of get out of that situation you know in a nice manner. For those of you who don’t know me I’m Mikkel Svold and I have the content production agency where we produce podcasts, video, Social Media posts, blog posts all that kind of stuff, all content things for mainly high knowledge companies. And like I said today I have three, I would say clever questions or at least three questions you decided they clever, that I use myself to kind of get the interview back on track if I lose focus just a little bit and then in the end I have a really short bonus tip that I want you to stick around for because I’m really going to help you with your interview flow now the first question that I would usually use if I lose focus is some sort of or some variation of the wording can you elaborate that a bit so can you…. oh can you elaborate that or the thing that you just said can you elaborate that a little bit just for my understanding or I’m not sure I quite get that can you elaborate that a little bit that phrase it’s just a really powerful phrase because it kind of insinuates that you’ve been listening but then again it also it expands the topic so that’s good for the listeners but it also expands your own knowledge and it actually also makes you come back on track really easily because your guest will usually more or less repeats some of the stuff they just said so you can basically rehear it so that phrase can you elaborate that in some variation is a really powerful one. Phrase number two if from my understanding can you give an example that is just a really nice little feature or little thing to have in your backhand it’s a real it’s a real ace in your interview techniques because it both provides the listener with examples and examples make theory very concrete that’s very good and it also kind of shows that you are not an expert in the field in the same field as the people that you’re interviewing and that also again means that they will then your guests will then again try and explain things even better and and of course provide the examples that you ask makes are more tangible and it’s makes it very much more concrete for your listeners which is really good and of course the examples can be all kinds of things so it can be examples of situations it can be examples of of well yeah things whatever in the industry but what I was what I was heading at was that it can also be examples from the guest’s own experiences so can you give have you ever tried that have you ever tried that real life or what does that look like when you are out there can you give an example of that so that is a really nice little phrase also to have in you arsenal. Okay third up can you explain what this means? That little sentence is also very good and of course it looks a little bit like the example one at also the elaborate one but by asking them to explain something into more detail that is just a really powerful way of simplifying something that is really complex and again it also gives you as an interview of the chance to get back on track and kind of understand what it was that you were talking about and when you’re talking and there are like two different ways that people can explain what something means so the first way is if they’ve just used an if they use a jargon like a typical word from the industry something like that you can ask them to explain what it means just either for your own understanding or for your own and the listeners understanding just to make sure if we are all on the same page so make people explain what a word or a phrase means but actually it also works on a higher level so you can also go topic wise and say can all of this can you explain what that means to the Industry or can you explain what it means to politics right now what does it mean to society to you and me you know there are very the variety of a variety of variations what that sounds awful there’s a variety of ways that you can use this on a higher level and also on a lower level on a very word or abbreviation centric level so that it’s very powerful okay so those were basically my three go-to questions if I is for some reason lose focus during an interview first one being can you elaborate that up a little bit second one being for my understanding can you give an example please third one being can you explain what this means those three will really help you out in an interview a situation and I did also promise you a little bonus tip and that bonus tip is not a question but it is a method that I used myself because it turns out that all of the interviews all i decided that every time I conduct an interview I want to have a recording of that interview because without the recorder on I will have to scribble the notes myself and I’ll be really meticulous in writing down everything they say otherwise I’ll forget it later on when I have to work with content so what I would do is I will always record the interview even even if it’s just a recording that will then sit on my own service and then die a lonely death right there and what that actually opens up for is that the only notes I take during an interview are keyword notes and that my ladies and gentlemen is my bonus tip for you so every time you hear during an interview you sit there listening to your guest every time you hear something that he or she says that you think okay this is actually quite interesting to ask about later on or here is a topic that we can open up later on or we can have them elaborate this later on in the interview write that keyword down and you can actually have quite a few different key words dot it down and what that will actually mean is that whenever you come to a halt in your interview you have this list of keywords that you can easily just look at and it’s to me just one word so I can easily look at this list and I can go oh this little bullet here this is interesting to segway into and sometimes the segways are really neat and nice sometimes they’re very fluid fluent fluent fluid very floating whatever sometimes they’re very smooth that’s the word smooth but sometimes honestly to God I just say alright now closing off this topic you did mention this before and I wanted to ask you about this can you elaborate this blah blah blah whatever it is can you elaborate that a little bit more or can you give an example of that that is a really powerful way because it really means that well in order to do it you have to listen so you’re also showing both your guest and your podcast listener so your interview listeners you’re showing them that you as a host is actually listening and also you are tying knots through out the interview so you’re tying a knot back to where you talked before and then can kind of restart the conversation a little bit so you’ll have a very smooth coming out interview. Alright, so that is my bonus tip don’t take notes that says what they say only take notes that are keywords for further questioning later on if you need to have if you have time for it alright guys that is the Content Universe for today if you did like it please share it with your friends and colleagues and yeah give it a like give it a subscribe click that subscribe button it really helps me keep up the good spirit and try and push out more content like this so if you enjoyed it please do help help me because I will actually see that personally and I’ll really make me very happy very happy indeed thank you so much for listening and yeah see you next time on another Content Universe planet.
