The biggest fear that students often voice about doing assessed presentations is around the assessor asking questions – a question you don’t understand or one you don’t know the answer to. Many presentations require a set time for the presentation of data followed by a few minutes, that can feel like hours, for questions. While friends, if they know what’s good for them, will keep quiet, the assessor wont. Here’s what to do…..
Thankfully, this year, most presentation are online via Teams or Zoom or another social platform. Let’s use this to our advantage. I’m going to start by tackling the central fears about being asked questions: That we wont understand the question, or that we’ll panic and go blank and not know the answer. First things first.
There are two main reasons why we don’t understand a question:
The person doesn’t speak clearly enough so we dont hear properly,
or the question itself isn’t clear.
The solutions are to ask a question about the question:
- If you don’t hear the question: “Can you repeat that?”
- If you don’t understand the question: “Can you explain that?”
Next, if you don’t know the answer, the professional way to answer is to take responsibility for your learning and knowledge.
3. Don’t know: “I’m not sure, I will check and get back to you.”
Make sure that you find out the answer to the question, perhaps make a note of it and the answer, then email it to the person who asked the question. If this person was not the one who is assessing you, copy them in to your email.
If there are any other scary questions you particularly fear, write them and your response on an extra post it, but try not to redecorate the walls with them! Too many and you wont find the one you want.
How to make the presentation look good online.
To look even better, put the post it notes behind the camera. When the person asks the question you find challenging, you will look away from them to see what to say. For them, it will look as though you are looking directly at them, as you are looking at a place near the camera. This will make you look as though you have thought things through – which you have, hence the post it notes!
How to make the presentation look good in the room.
If you are in the room rather than online, simply stash the post it notes where you can see them in your notes. Don’t let others see them.