[Book excerpt from my book on impromptu speaking]
There are many impromptu situations and questions that you can anticipate, but often it seems that they come out of left field, surprising you when you least expect them . . .
. . . Sometimes, you need to buy just a little more time; time to grasp a concept, time to formulate your thoughts, time to clarify the question, time to breathe.
A few common delay tactics (some of which can be combined):
• Pause for a breath
• Repeat or rephrase the question
• Clarify the question
• Talk about the question
• Answer part of the question
• Acknowledge and pivot
• Repeat your own or someone else’s words
• Take a step back & summarize
• Ask for time to think about it/get more information
• Take a sip of water
• Turn it over to someone else
[This excerpt from the book gives you more detail on the first 3 delay tactics . . .]
Pause for a breath
A pause of 3-5 seconds has many advantages: it increases your mental clarity, gives you time to think, and makes you look deliberate and more confident.
When you are asked an unanticipated question, your brain may interpret it as a threat, and you may experience fight or flight response symptoms including increased heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. You are going into survival mode and your higher-level thinking may be compromised. Taking a deep breath or two can reduce anxiety and help you think more clearly.
A pause also gives you time to formulate a response, which may start with rephrasing or clarifying the question, which buys you even more time.
A pause can give the impression of thoughtful deliberation and confidence. When you pause, it is an indication you are listening to what is being said and are processing a response. Blurting out response can signal nervousness or can indicate that you weren’t really listening, but only waiting for your turn to speak.
To practice pausing, even when you can answer right away, try taking an extra breath before answering.
Repeat or rephrase the question
Repeating or rephrasing a question not only buys time, but it ensures that you and the questioner understand the question. Yes, you read that correctly. Sometimes the person asking the question doesn’t fully understand what they are asking. Repeating the question, in addition to showing that you understand the question (or not), also lets the questioner hear their question, which may encourage them to modify or clarify their question. Plus it reduces the likelihood that you will spend time answering a question, only to have the questioner, say, “No. I wasn’t asking that . . .”
Fortunately, most questions are straight-forward. You can listen for keywords to repeat.
Let’s say you are at a job interview, and the interviewer asks, “Why do you want to work for our company?”
You can respond, “So, you’d like to know why I want to work here? Okay, . . .”
One caveat on repeating the question–If the question is framed with negative words, you might not want to repeat the negative words. For example, let’s say you are a coach, and a prospective client asks, “Why are you charging so much for your program?” Rather than repeat, “You are wondering why I charge so much?” You can rephrase the question in a more positive way, such as, “You are wondering whether you are getting a good value for the price, right?” And, then you can speak to a more positive version of the question.
Clarify the question
Some questions are confusing, or tricky, such as, “What are five things you could do with a paper clip, other than holding papers together?”
You might respond by repeating/rephrasing the question, and then clarifying the intent, indicating what you believe to be the purpose of the question, saying something like, “What are five things that I could do with a paper clip? So, you want some out-of-the-box ideas, right?”
You can lead into clarifying the question with typical lead-in phrases, such as:
So . . .
So, what you’re asking is . . .
What I hear you saying is . . .
Are you saying . . . ?
It sounds like . . .
In other words . . .
From what I understand, you want to know . . .
If I understood you correctly . . .
Correct me if I’m wrong. What you’re saying is . . .
Learn more delay tactics and several impromptu speaking frameworks in my book, Impromptu Speaking: 10 Strategies to Think on Your Feet Without Tripping Over Your Tongue
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