What happens when you’re asked a question and you need a few moments to think about your response?
In a workshop I facilitated last week, someone asked me an interesting question (I love when workshops take a different direction because of questions like this). The question was about… answering questions.
They asked, “What do you think about saying ‘that’s a good question’ when you’re asked a question in front of an audience, and you need to buy yourself a few seconds to come up with the answer?”
This sparked a conversation within the group, and I thought the tips were worth sharing here:
Firstly, I’m not a fan of “that’s a good question” because you can only use it once. If you don’t say it again, it implies the next question isn’t as good. But if you do say it again, it becomes irritating very quickly.
Instead, I prefer to paraphrase the question back to the audience. You can use phrases like:
- “Just so everyone understands the question…”
- “So everyone has the same context for that question, here’s the background before I answer it…”
- “I’m not sure how well everyone heard that, so I’ll just repeat it…”
- “Right, so you want to know about X…”
This approach buys you time and helps reframe the question in a way that might be easier to answer. It’s a win-win!
Of course, you can use this technique several times throughout a Q&A session, but like any technique, it shouldn’t be overused.
I’m also a big fan of throwing the question back to the audience while I think. For example:
- “What does the audience think about that?”
- “Before I tell you what I think, what does the rest of the panel think about that?”
Additionally, there is nothing wrong with taking a deep breath and waiting a few moments before you answer. Rapid fire is the enemy – don’t buy into it.
Implementing these strategies can help you handle questions more smoothly, and give you a bit of extra time to come up with the answers you actually want to give.
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