Page 154 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models
P. 154
Giving presentations 143
opinion. Sometimes questions are very clumsily and disjointedly expressed. Some people
in the audience are determined to show their presence. In short, questions arise from
totally different motives. But criticism may also come: criticism from listeners who do
not agree with the content of the speech; who have a completely different vision of the
question; who find the presenter has overlooked significant factors. In short, criticisms
come from people who are not in agreement with the presenter, often for a multitude of
reasons.
Presenters face the difficult task of satisfying all these people and improving the image
of their organization through their way of reacting, or at the very least not negatively
influencing it. Generally, there are two ways of reacting to questions. The first is by
going into the question at once as clearly as possible, giving additional information on
what is meant and observing if the person is satisfied with the answer. The second way is
to briefly summarize the question. This method is especially useful if the question was
not well understood or if the person first made an elaborate and complicated speech.
Using this method the presenter gives the person the opportunity to ask the question
differently or to adjust its formulation. Moreover, the summary gives presenters the
opportunity to prepare their thoughts and time to formulate an answer.
When reacting to criticism, presenters can best confirm that other opinions are
possible and emphasize the points they agree with. However, when they don’t agree with
the criticism, they may firmly say so. Here it is important that the person from the
audience does not feel rejected and in order to save face strongly asserts his authority. A
yes-no debate is usually not very fruitful and rapidly annoys the remaining listeners. The
main point is that presenters deal with questions and criticisms respectfully.
Figure 16.1 illustrates how to give a successful presentation.
