Question & Answer Sessions: Keeping It Cool

Video Transcript

"Alright, let's talk about answering questions and finding yourself in the hot seat. Not really a place that is very comfortable for you the speaker to be in, but frequently, frequently can happen, especially if you are presenting something that's a bit more controversial. Now the most important thing about finding yourself in the hot seat, trying to answer a question, as I said before, keep it true. Always be truthful, even when you're in the hot seat. I know you want to get our of there, but don't tell a lie just to get the person off your back. No matter how hard it is, you must keep your cool. If somebody is attacking you, what we automatically want to do is attack back or run. But when you're in the hot seat, in order to maintain your credibility, you have to keep it cool. And something that you can do if it just won't stop with a particular person that's asking you a question, is you can always state obviously my questioner and I are having a little conflict on this and I want to get back to him after I've done more research. Or whatever it is, but I want to study this a little more, I want to take this up after the meeting. Not like go out, we're going to take it up in the parking lot, I'm going to beat him up, but don't let it waste all of your question and answer time if someone is pressing you on a hot issue. If you have answered it truthfully, keep your cool and move on."