Perhaps you’ve been in one or both of the following scenarios:
- You are giving a presentation to the executive team of your organisation for a proposal to launch a new product or service. During question time you get asked a question that you haven’t prepared for. How do you respond?
- You are having your weekly one on one session with your manager when she asks how you’re progressing on a project given to you a couple of months ago. As you haven’t done any further work on it for the last 3-4 weeks and was not prepared for her question, what do you say?
Many of us have experienced these kinds of situations or at least something similar. When that happens it’s easy to panic, freeze, and not know how to respond. In this article I outline eight suggestions on how to cope when you have to think on your feet.
- Be Prepared
Know your subject/project inside out and anticipate possible questions by asking yourself ‘what if…?’ naming various ‘off the wall’ possibilities.
- Dry Run
For important presentations or reports, consider doing a dry run through with your manager, colleague(s), family members or friends. In particular, encourage them to ask out of the box questions you might not expect and name anything in your presentation they find is unclear.
- Breathe Deeply and Relax
When asked an unexpected question it is normal to feel overwhelmed emotionally. Breathing deeply, slowly and remembering to intentionally relax stress points in your body such as shoulders, forehead, neck and stomach before your presentation and especially when you have to think on your feet helps you to think more clearly.
- Clarify the Question
A good technique is to try and clarify the question you’ve been asked. This can be done by replying for example, “I understand you want me to explain how…. Is that right?” Not only will that help the questioner clarify and be specific, it will save you from giving the wrong answer as well as giving you more thinking time.
- Focus
In answering the question avoid giving more information than is needed. Answer only the specified question – don’t elaborate as that could easily generate confusion.
- Speak at a Moderate Pace
For some people it’s tempting to speak quickly, loudly or mumble when put on the spot. By speaking at a moderate level and at a normal pace you have more time to consider your response as well as being able to slow down your emotions.
- Be Honest
If you can’t answer, or can only answer part of the question, answer as much as you can but promise to try and find out and get back to them. If you pretend to be able to answer you can easily be caught out.
- Check
Once you’ve answered check back with the questioner that you’ve adequately answered their question, eg. “Does that sufficiently cover what you were asking?” If it does thank them for their question. If it doesn’t again promise to find out as much as you can and get back to them.
Conclusion
It’s okay not to be able to answer every question you could possibly be asked. However, as presenter you should be able to have sufficient information to answer most questions given available knowledge on the topic. The secret is to be fully prepared and if you are thrown a ‘curve ball’ don’t panic, control your emotional reactions (as already mentioned breathing deeply helps) so you can think clearly, and if necessary, offer to research further and come back to the questioner (or group) with more information.
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