The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters - Lifecycle Performance ...

Develop Dynamic Delivery / 133
credibility. The lawyers representing the side that called you as an
expert witness will prepare you and conduct a mock trial. First, they
will take you through giving your testimony. Second, they will play the
opposing lawyers and cross examine you in a manner that is similar to
the way that they think you will be cross-examined. In other words, it
is a dress rehearsal, so you, the expert witness, will be as prepared as
possible.
Master Presenters use the same method to prepare for the questions
that they will be asked by anticipating those questions, by having
someone else anticipate the questions, or by having a dress rehearsal—
sometimes with different types of audiences—so they will be as well
prepared as possible.
Communications consultant Roger Ailes says that you should prepare
to answer the five toughest questions that the participants will
ask you. You can think up the questions on your own, however, it is
often a good idea to get others to think up the questions. You can
then role-playing the answers to actually see and hear how well you
answer. Don’t be afraid to do this several times until you get the answers
just right. Even if you aren’t asked directly the same question
that you have prepared for, you can often make an opportunity to get
the question in. One of the most famous examples of being absolutely
well-prepared was during the 1984 presidential debates between Walter
Mondale and Ronald Reagan. At the time, President Reagan was the
oldest serving American President and he knew the question of his
age would come up in the debate.
Reagan’s response was, “I will not make age an issue in this campaign.
I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s
youth and inexperience.” Not only did the studio and television audience
break up, the camera got a close up shot of Walter Mondale’s
reaction and he was seen breaking up on national television.
As Roger Ailes said, “Reagan hit a home run.” He hit a home run
because he was prepared, and he was prepared because he and his
campaign team had anticipated all of the difficult questions that Reagan
might be asked.