Standing up to tough questioning is a vital business skill - whether it’s in the market place, the media or your workplace.

This Footdown session enables members to give more powerful, persuasive and effective answers in critical conversations – with customers, prospects, employees, shareholders, journalists and members of the public.

During the session you get to work on the content, structure and performance of your great answers.

• Formulate your messages in a way that’s useful for your target audiences and helpful to your cause.
• Structure great answers to tough questions from clients, prospects, journalists and employees etc.
• Gain an understanding of how to go into challenging situations with confidence and get your messages across
• Remain composed and effective while answering questions in hostile or tricky situations.

Michael’s background as a political and foreign correspondent allows him to ask “blowtorch- on-the-belly” questions on members’ nightmare issues – and then to show how to turn the crisis of tough questioning into an opportunity to score goals.  Members get the “golden formulae” to help structure the best possible answers.

Responses are recorded by a camera operator and replayed so Footdown members get to see themselves as others see them – and adjust accordingly.  Members observe the improvements they make during the session – and their progress is measured…with a prize for the biggest improver.

Michael’s Approach

Learning by doing and reviewing; recording and playing back participants’ performances so they can see themselves as others see them and make appropriate adjustments; utilising the “magic formulae” for structuring great answers; Measuring the difference between participants’ “before” and “after” performances; Concluding by drawing out the learning points.

Michael’s Biography

Michael Dodd is an international speaker, communications consultant and broadcast journalist who helps people get their message across face-to-face and through the media.

He’s taught communication skills on six continents.

Michael’s been awarded the “New Speaker of the Year” title from the Academy for Chief Executives.

He draws upon his experience as a political interviewer in Australia and as a foreign correspondent to ask “blowtorch-on-the-belly” questions, and to show leaders what they need to do to answer tough questions with aplomb.

Michael’s best known amongst international audiences for his live paper reviews and comments on current affairs in national and international broadcasts. He lectures post-graduate broadcast journalism students at the University of Westminster. His students have won a series of national awards.

He is a judge for the Royal Television Society’s annual journalism awards.

Links: www.michaeldoddmedia.com | @Michaeldodd111 | Linkedin

Speaking in public has the remarkable power of unsettling some of the toughest people, even chief executives. I’ve been working on presentation skills with a lot of business leaders of late and have been surprised that so…More

The following piece on dealing with tough questions is from guest blogger, Michael Dodd a media communications specialist. It deals with the problem of how leaders deal with the trickiest of tricky questions, particularly those that come from inside their organisations.