Fielding Questions - online

The Berlin University Alliance (BUA) is an alliance of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Together, they are pursuing the goal of creating and shaping an integrated research space in Berlin. This alliance aims to establish Berlin as a leading international science location. All workshops and events offered by the Graduate Studies Support Program are funded by the BUA and therefore free of charge.

Participation

Doctoral researchers and postdocs (all disciplines) of the Berlin University Alliance.

Before booking a workshop, please make sure that you can attend for the entire duration. Please check our terms and conditions.

Objectives

This two-day activity-based online workshop, led by a theatre professional, aims to help speakers evaluate and reflect on best practices for handling the question and answer session in a remote setting. Participants will learn how to deal with “worst case scenarios”, and handling aggressive comments and difficult questions while staying polite, confident and succinct. They will practice listening, expanding thinking time and use the discussion to reiterate their key message.

Content

Exercises are used throughout the course to ensure that participants can immediately put skills into practice. Participants will be required to prepare a 3-5 minute overview of their topic as a basis for the audience discussion. Participants will have an opportunity to test their performance in a Q&A roleplay session and get tailor-made feedback from both the trainer and fellow participants. Participants will be split into two groups and will meet for 3.5 hours on each day (morning or afternoon) of the training.

• Developing effective tactics for handling difficult questions
• Thinking on one's feet
• Improving listening skills
• Using professional language
• Economizing language
• Managing anxiety