How to make a statement in a session

Dealing with questions from audience members can be one of the most difficult aspects of presenting your research. In addition to the pressure of speaking in front of a crowd of your academic peers, questions can often be difficult to answer for a number of reasons: communication difficulties, lack of information, inability to understand the exact question, or even difficulty hearing the speaker. Even if you know your research topic inside and out, these questions can cause a lot of frustration for even the best researchers.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for the Q&A session and make it a productive part of your presentation. The following guideline provide a comprehensive approach to answering questions you are likely to encounter during your research presentations and gives you some simple advice on how to respond to these difficult questions and awkward situations.