Presentation Skills: How should I deal with a person who is clueless?
Presentation Skills: How should I deal with a person who is clueless?
When a person continually stops you with questions when you are giving a presentation, you can end up losing your pacing and losing the rest of the group. In a large group situation, you want to make the questioner as comfortable as possible while you keep the pace for the rest of the group.
If you are working with a person one-on-one and you feel they have the brains to capture exactly what you’re saying, but for some reason they don’t understand you, stop and ask the person, “How can I explain this to make it easier for you to grasp?”
You may find that you are explaining it in too much detail, not enough detail, or that you are not tying all the different pieces together so it makes sense for this individual. You may also find that they just want more hands-on experience. Let the person talk and share with you how they learn and what you can do to teach them in their style instead of yours. If all else fails, you may want to see if there’s someone else that they could partner with.
FREE HOT TIP—Find out more about how to handle a clueless questioner. Click here.