Answering Questions

• Anticipate questions.
• Listen carefully to all questions, waiting to respond until you are sure that you understand what’s being asked.
• Repeat questions before responding to them.
• Keep your responses brief (don’t digress).
• Be honest—if you don’t know the answer, say so.
• Create visual aids.
• Try to deflect loaded questions.
• Control the interchange (i.e., don’t let one person dominate the question-and-answer period
or give a mini-speech).
• Use the last questions to summarize your main points or reinforce your main idea.