Robert Gibbs has a job that has to be one of the hardest jobs in America: he is addressing a group of around 300 people who are constantly trying to get him to give them something to write about. The White House Press Core is not out to get him, however, they do want information and know that he does not want to give out all of the information -- so there is a lot of dancing around questions and avoiding the questions.
What skill does this require? Obviously you have to be able to think on your feet at a moments notice. You have to know what the audience is trying to get and what you want to give them. While Gibbs did a fairly good job, he stumbled a lot and you could tell he was surprised by some of the questions and had to manuver around them. He still has some work to do to become a better speaker, especially since he is the voice of the President.
How about you? Can you think on your feet? If you had to answer to a group of people (maybe some board members or investors) that had some tough questions would you be able to answer them in a coherent and intelligent manner? If you are presenting to a group of people and there is time for questioning afterward (which you should allow) you need to be preparred to answer some tough questions. In order to do that, make sure you prepare yourself to answer those questions. There are some easy things you can do to work on this:
- Prepare a set of questions that you would ask if you were in the audience.
- Present in front of someone before your presentation and have them put together some questions that would be asked.
- Do a drill where there is no time limit and all they are doing is asking you questions (almost like a cross-examination period in a courtroom).
Travis