Many software engineers find presentations to be challenging. Standing up in front of a room and talking is scary. But with practice most people get by. Then there is the issue of joint presentations, and making smooth transitions. With rehearsal, many people are able to handle this as well.
It is when practice and rehearsal end, and Q&A begins that many people end up in trouble. Here are a couple of things that I often tell engineers about this.
- Take your time: When someone asks a question, you don’t have to immediately answer. It is good to listen to the complete question, then ponder it a while before launching into an answer. Take a sip of water, count to five.
- Seek clarification when required: Sometimes it will help to ask a clarifying question. Or you could restate the question and ask whether you understood it correctly. It is worth being sure about the question before answering.
- Don’t make shit up: If you don’t know the answer, don’t make shit up. 87% of all statistics are made up on the spur of the moment. Instead offer to follow up with an answer. If you are not positive of the answer but have an inkling, you may want to say that, and offer the follow up.
Joint presentations add a wrinkle to all of this – who answers a question. One place where I’ve seen a lot of people get into trouble is when the presenters stumble over each other. Unless co-presenters have worked together a lot, and are in-step with each other, some simple guidelines help here.
Some things I’ve experimented with (and had lots of fun) include:
- One presenter takes the lead: By prior arrangement presenter A will field all questions and direct them to the other presenter(s) as required. If A chooses to answer the question, then they’ll look to other presenters and look for some indication that a co-presenter may want to add, or follow up. It is up to A to either pass the baton, or ignore the co-presenter.
- Round-robin: Co-presenters take the lead on answering questions by round-robin, but otherwise follow the same method as above. Redirect, or answer at their discretion. Look for additional input at their discretion.
- Second in command: When multiple joint presenters are part of a hierarchy, the second in command fields all questions. They will either answer the question or direct it to one of the people further down the roster. The person at the top of the chain rarely answers a question and steps in only when things look to be going south.
- The clock-face: The one that I’ve had the most fun with is (and this was with a former manager) when co-presenters use a clock face to decide who will field a question. With my former manager it used to be that if the question ended in the bottom half of the minute (:15 to :45) I’d field the question, and if it was in the top half he would!
Above all things, be relaxed and have fun. If you don’t, the presentation will likely suck. And life’s too short to not be having fun!
Hype Cycles 