Follow - run missed - say see - explain catch - repeat

1) You didn't hear:

a) Sorry, I...................that. Could you.................that again, please?

b) Sorry, I didn't..................that. Could you..................it, please?

2) You don't understand:

a) Sorry, I don't quite..............you. Could you .........through that again, please?

b) Sorry, I don't quite.............what you mean. Could you ……… that, please?

Step VI. Debates

OBJECTIVES: at the debates’ stage you are going to learn how to become a successful negotiator.

The exchange of questions and answers at the end of your presentation is something you need to prepare for. When someone in audience asks you a question, listen carefully. It’s better to comment on it as it gives you time to think. There are three types of questions:

1) good questions – they help you to get your message across to the audience better;

2) difficult questions – the ones you can’t answer (you’d better ask the questioner what he thinks);

3) unnecessary questions – answering them point out that you have already given the information.

Be ready to negotiate with the questioner responding to more complex questions. Anyway, try to see the question-and-answer session as an opportunity to relax and share more of your ideas with the audience. When somebody asks hostile questions it seems that the person has all the power, that he knows the subject better. Remember that you have set the agenda. Be diplomatic and firm. Disagree strongly; keep your answers short and simple. Sometimes it is not enough to tell the speaker you don't understand. You need to say exactly what you don't understand. In these examples you can see how the questioners make the missed points clear (see Table 6).

Table 6

Phrases to make the missed points clear

Presenter	Questioner
Turnover was ……	Sorry, turnover was what?
The greatest demand was in …..	Sorry, the greatest demand was where?
We contacted ……… in Novosibirsk	Sorry, you contacted who?
We finished the study last ……….	Sorry, you finished the study when?
The whole project needs……	Sorry, the whole project needs what?
Our main market is in ………	Sorry, our main market is where?
We've known this since ……..	Sorry, you've known this since when?
Start-up costs could be …..	Sorry, start-up costs could be how much?
The study took…….. to complete.	Sorry, the study took how long to complete?
We've had…………of enquiries.	Sorry, you've had how many enquiries?

The following question frames here and in Annex 4 may also help you:

1. Could we go back to what you were saying about……….?

2. How did you arrive at the figure of ………?

3. I think I misunderstood you. Did you say ……….?

4. You spoke about……………… Could you explain that in more detail?

5. Going back to the question of…… Can you be more specific?

6. You didn’t mention……… Why not?

7. If I understood you correctly, …… Is that right?

8. I’m not sure. I fully understood…… Can you run through that again, please?

9. There’s one thing I’m not clear about…. Could you go over that again, please?

In addition, it's important to keep a positive atmosphere while debating. Speakers try to explain why the other side should change its position and make compromises.

You may find several steps here:

1. State your position/say your opinion/suggest something. Support your point of view.

2. The other speakers accept or reject and suggest something else.

3. You accept or reject and support your opinion.

4. Make compromises [1, P. 110].

Sometimes there is an absence of contradictions between communicative intention (“plan”) and its realization. For example, you want to prove to the person you are talking to your rightness (this is your communicative aim). You can:

1. present some reasons to support your ideas (non-conflict steps);

2. analyze (show) the errors of the person you are talking to (conflict steps).

It is not necessary to show the errors of the person you are talking to. It is enough to present your own reasons. You contact to people having your own purposes, not just “to have a talk”. That is why you have something to do. You transfer “your own object of speaking” to the person you are talking to. You can replace your object as:

1. positive;

2. negative (to censure, to criticize, to refuse, etc.);

3. neutral (to state, to discuss, to analyze, etc.).

In addition to be successful in communication you should remember “the laws of successful communication”: