How To Handle The Unexpected

01. Difficult Questions

• Ask for a moment to think and reflect if you need to.

• If you don’t understand the question completely – rephrase the question in your own words and check with the interviewer if your understanding is correct.

• If you don’t know:

  • Even if you don’t know the answer, can you explain the approach you will take to find it: For example – look in the documentation, speak with industry experts you know, experiment with the technology etc.

  • Suggest a possible answer if you don’t know and ask the questioner what his viewpoint or answer would be.

  • Even if you have had experience with some aspects of the question talk about it. It’s ok if you don’t now the exact thing being asked in the question.

• Don’t use cliches like – “it’s a good question”.

02. Difficult People

• Derailing your presentation with a question not related to your slide:

  • If a question is answered later in your presentation – mention that it is addressed in a few minutes.

  • Put the question in the parking lot: You can also write it down on the whiteboard and say you will address it in a few minutes.

  • If there is a break in the middle of the presentation, find the disruptive guy and engage him in a conversation. Share with him your perspective that your presentation’s scope doesn’t cover his questions but you can get back to him later if he would prefer.

• Remember that in a presentatioin which is part of an interview someone may act as a bad guy. Even if you can’t answer his questions, your overall credibility will not be affected if you carry yourself with confidence.

03. Difficult Situations

• People talking among themselves:

  • If two people are talking and not paying attention – you should stop talking and just look at those two people politely. The other participants would nudge them to be quite.

  • If you have unintentional disruptive cross talk on a phone presentation, ask the attendees to put themselves on mute and unmute themselves when they want to ask a question.

  • Easy Trick: Prepare a black slide which you can bring up during a disruption in the presentation. This has the effect of everybody in the room paying full attention to you.

• Technology & Time Issues

  • When you turn up for the presentation, the projector, internet or laptop doesn’t work. Have printouts of your slides ready to distribute to the participants in some a case.

  • Remote attendees can not join in the presentation online. Have your presentation ready in a pdf format which you can email to them. pdf format is important since it can be viewed on all devices including iphones, ipads, other smartphones etc.

  • You are asked to shorten your presentation by 80%. Keep a short ‘Executive” version of the presentation for such an eventuality.