Business English for Presentations: Answering Tough Questions with Confidence
2026-04-26 19 min
Description & Show Notes
What do you do when someone asks you a difficult question in a presentation, meeting or any business English setting and your mind goes blank? In this episode, we share simple, practical phrases to help you deal with tricky questions calmly, professionally, and with confidence — even when you need more time, clarification, or simply do not know the answer yet.
0:03 — Introduction to the episode and English communication skills topic
1:06 — Dave introduces tricky and loaded questions
3:29 — The first strategy: Deal
4:59 — The second strategy: Define
6:29 — The third strategy: Diffuse
8:49 — The fourth strategy: Divide up
9:52 — The fifth strategy: Deflect
10:59 — The sixth strategy: Defer
12:03 — The seventh strategy begins: Disarm
14:15 — The eighth strategy: Decline
15:19 — Rebecca adds a ninth idea: Delay
17:07 — Closing the episode and previewing the next topic
18:19 — Final podcast outro
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Rebecca: https://rebeccadeacon.com
Birgit: https://birgitkasimirski.de
Was machst du, wenn dir jemand in einer Präsentation oder einem Meeting auf Englisch eine schwierige Frage stellt und dir plötzlich der Kopf leer ist? In dieser Folge stellen wir dir einfache, praktische Formulierungen vor, mit denen du knifflige Fragen ruhig, professionell und selbstbewusst beantworten kannst – selbst wenn du mehr Zeit oder eine Klarstellung benötigst oder die Antwort einfach noch nicht weißt.
0:03 – Einführung in die Folge und das Thema
1:06 – Dave stellt knifflige und heikle Fragen vor
3:29 – Die erste Strategie: Bewältigen
4:59 – Die zweite Strategie: Definieren
6:29 – Die dritte Strategie: Ablenken
8:49 – Die vierte Strategie: Aufteilen
9:52 – Die fünfte Strategie: Ablenken
10:59 – Die sechste Strategie: Aufschieben
12:03 – Die siebte Strategie beginnt: Entwaffnen
14:15 – Die achte Strategie: Ablehnen
15:19 – Rebecca fügt eine neunte Idee hinzu: Verzögern
17:07 – Abschluss der Folge und Vorschau auf das nächste Thema
18:19 – Abschließendes Outro des Podcasts
Transcript
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, welcome to the 3 English Experts.
I'm Dave, I'm Rebecca, and I'm Birgit.
And welcome to this episode.
3 English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey.
Hi everyone and welcome back to this episode.
Today we're talking about answering questions, how to answer maybe some tricky questions.
Maybe you're in a meeting, you're in a presentation.
We can prepare for presentations that people also panic about the last part.
What if they ask questions?
What if I don't understand how to answer tricky questions?
It is something you can also prepare.
Of course, you don't always know what the questions will be, but certain strategies to answer these questions you can prepare in advance.
So that's what we're working on today.
So I'm going to hand over to Dave and he's going to give us some communication tips on how to deal with these tricky questions.
Hello, everyone.
And thank you, Rebecca.
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's often when I do my webinars, these are the things that people worry about how to deal with questions, and often tricky questions, you could also call them maybe even loaded questions.
That's an important word in this whole context.
Loaded in this case, meaning the people are emotional, maybe they want to accuse you of something that you did or didn't do by asking you in that way or form.
And of course, then feel then personally attacked.
And that can, of course, make you even more nervous and unsure how to deal with it.
So first of all, I think you could think about three different ways of dealing with questions to keep it simple.
And then afterwards, I'm going to introduce you to a special sort of tool that will break it down even more.
So first of all, very simply, you can just answer the question directly.
Secondly, maybe you're not quite sure what the question is aiming at, or you're not sure if you've understood the question correctly as they wanted to ask it.
So second point would be to clarify it.
And then thirdly, finally, is to sort of move it somewhere, maybe later in the presentation, maybe not doing it in the presentation at all, or maybe asking somebody else or handing the question over to somebody else in your team or whatever that might be.
So moving it in some way or form.
So they're the three main points.
And then you can get what I call my D8 cheat sheet.
We are looking that on the screen right now.
So we're all seeing my screen.
And this is called the D8 cheat sheet, which we will have for you in the notes or not in the notes, but in the Padlet that we have.
So if you want to have a look at this, then you can sign up for our newsletter and you get access to that on our Padlet.
So this is the D8 cheat sheet.
And it says D8 because all of the words that we're going to talk about starts with the letter D.
So the first one is deal.
What do you think that means?
Oh, hello, maybe I come in here.
Hello, everybody.
Of course, I have the cheat sheet in front of me.
And it's a very fancy name.
The D8 cheat sheet.
Oh, I like that.
Could also mean the Dave 8 cheat sheet.
Oh, yeah.
I like that.
Yes.
Let's change the name to Dave 8.
So number one is deal.
Answer directly.
For example, I'm glad you asked that and will give the answer of the question.
That's a great question.
That's a great answer.
Oh, you like that?
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for asking that.
Absolutely.
And I think it's also important to acknowledge the question in the first place.
Yeah, I think that's a very good way and people probably will forget about this.
This is a super tip.
So number one is a very good tip.
Thanks for asking that.
I'm glad you asked that.
Thanks for putting that question forward.
Yeah.
Maybe an interesting one here is the difference in formality as well, depending on how formal the meeting is, because you could say, I'm glad you raised that.
So to raise that point or raise that topic, if it's a little bit more informal conversational, then we could use the phrasal verb, glad you brought it up, to bring something up.
So that's another variant of that one as well.
Number two is define, which means, Rebecca?
Yeah.
So define meaning, define the question, clarify what does that question mean?
Sometimes people ask things and you don't really know what they want.
So you could say something like, let me check if I understood that correctly, or just to make sure I've understood what you mean.
So this sort of clarifying, defining what is the question, because also you want to answer the right question.
You don't want to answer something that they didn't really ask, because that's also kind of pointless.
And I think we can also put this under define, if you haven't understood the question, it's not the end of the world to ask again and say, sorry, I didn't understand it correctly.
Could you please repeat it?
I think that's also down to defining.
And you could also like summarise.
So you're asking me if, and then you can kind of repeat it in the way you think the question is, kind of summarising to check that you've understood properly.
I think that's the big point, because often, for some reason, when people ask questions, they go into a two minute monologue about something and you're thinking, hmm, what are they trying to ask me here?
And how many questions are there in one question?
So I think, yeah, that's firstly, very good to ask, what are you asking?
If you don't understand, what are you asking me?
And secondly, to break it up and to put it into your own words, so that hopefully you get a yes or no.
So great ideas.
Absolutely.
Number three is diffuse.
Birgit?
Yeah, acknowledging emotion and uncertainty.
So I think this is what we said about the loaded questions.
So if you can sense some kind of emotion.
Diffuse, it may be interesting for listeners who haven't come across the diffuse, it's the Steckdose, isn't it?
So it's with strong diffuse.
That's a fair point.
So this is a very good thing to say, OK, I understand you are bringing it up.
You have a problem maybe with it.
That's a fair point.
Let's take a moment to unpack it and then you can start explaining maybe your point of view, your arguments.
Yeah, the diffuse is like a bomb, isn't it?
If it's emotional, it can kind of explode.
So you're diffusing the bomb, basically, making it less emotional or just acknowledging the emotion in the question, potentially showing that you understand why somebody is upset or annoyed or emotional.
But of course, that's challenging for people who are not.
That's the thing they would fear most.
But there will be tips later, maybe that can help you to deal with that.
I think this is actually probably the most useful one
because I think that's what people encounter all the time
in their meetings or in their presentations, that somehow there are
loaded questions thrown back at them and then how to deal with this
in a polite and professional way and not be overwhelmed
by the feeling that they're being attacked or something like this
and then retaliating or getting, trying to take on the audience
as it were, and that's obviously not a good place to go to
because you will alienate yourself and that's a bad place to go.
So I think this, even though maybe you would like to retaliate or say something back, it's just the right time where you have to try and diffuse the bomb and say, yes, that's a fair point and try and explain your reasoning behind it or whatever.
Okay, number four is divide up.
I said a few minutes ago that often questions are long-winded and they go into many seconds and you're always trying to think, okay, what's going on here?
Rebecca, the divide up, what does that do?
Yeah, you break it down into sections, you divide it up and I think, I was just thinking there, when you watch press conferences, often very loaded questions from the press to say, I don't know, politician or, and often you notice they make notes where as the question is coming, you can see them making notes and then they answer it in three parts, let's say.
So to your first point about, I don't know, immigration, let me say this and so, and they've mentally written that, so I think that's a good tip.
You can also take notes, it's fine to do that and answer it in separate parts because if it's a big question, otherwise it's not structured and you get a bit lost.
So yeah, divide the question up if they've done, if they've asked you a long question.
So for example you could say, okay, let's take them one at a time or let me first of all go to your question about this and secondly, you asked me about this and it also shows you're listening because if you forget the third part of their question that kind of means, well, I wasn't listening.
So I think take a note to each, what are they actually asking me and divide it up, yeah.
Okay, next one, number five, we're at deflect.
What does deflect mean, Birgit?
Yeah, this is that you point to someone who might be in a better position to answer that question and that also of course happens a lot so you might not be able to be or have every detail and you can very well say Alice or Paul here, hopefully in the room or people who know him or her might be the better person to answer that.
Then passing the question on directly or maybe postponing it to a later moment or you pass it on directly and then the person will have to answer it.
But of course that means that person should feel happy about answering the question.
Just drop somebody in it.
Birgit, can you answer that question?
You get in trouble.
Oh, I wasn't prepared to take a question.
Yeah, in a normal setting, I mean, everybody's up to a question being put at them, yeah.
So what does the word defer mean, number six?
In normal English, because also sometimes it's not just the sort of hours presentation situation, there's also has a normal meaning.
So like deflect means to put in a different, that send in a different direction, right, as well.
So defer, what does defer normally mean, Becca?
Defer would be to just postpone, really to do something later to kind of delay, postpone.
So in this case, park the question for later on.
So, you know, maybe it's coming up later in your presentation or there's another thing.
So you can say, well thanks for the question, but I will come back to that later.
I will address that later in my presentation or first of all, I need to answer this other one first, but I will come back to that question later.
So yeah, defer, just postpone it.
So you've got, you can answer later.
You've got more time to think maybe.
Yeah.
Or just say you'll come back to it later.
Then not do it.
Accidentally forget.
Maybe a lot of people could use that all the time.
I come back to that later.
Well, there'll always be somebody that will say, oh, you wanted to answer that question about, yeah.
Yes, I had planned to do that.
Okay.
The next one, number seven.
So there's two more to go.
Disarm.
You admit you don't know it yet.
Important word, guys and gals.
Important word, yet.
But you will make sure you get the information and you could say, I don't know off the top of my head.
So straight away, but I will look at it and I will come back to you.
I think that's a very good strategy.
Admit something that's building up trust, I think.
Better than tell a story or just...
Don't wing it, as we would say.
Don't wing it, you know.
What does wing it mean?
That's slang English, Rebecca.
To wing something is like, you just pretend you know the answer and you talk a little bit of nonsense and hope that everyone...
will believe you.
But winging it, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
So I'm better to just say, I'm really sorry.
I actually don't know that off the top of my head, but I can find out for you.
I would always say that.
But if you give me, I will follow up and I will find that out for you.
Yeah, definitely.
That's also a very good phrase, the off the top of my head.
Maybe make a note of that, guys.
Off the top of my head.
And it also is abbreviated sometimes in Slack messages, isn't it?
But I always get...
So it must be O-T-T-O-M-H.
I would not have a clue what someone was saying.
I've never seen that.
O-T-T-O-M-H.
I'm not good at the...
No, I'm not very good at that.
But apparently you see that.
Off the top of my head.
Double F.
Off.
Yeah, off.
Right.
We've done number one, deal.
Number two, define.
Number three, diffuse.
Number four, divide up.
Number five, deflect.
Number six, defer.
Number seven, disarm.
The last one is decline.
Birgit?
No, Rebecca, but I don't mind.
Oh, you're declining.
She's declining, you see.
She's declining.
She's politely refusing.
You're declining, you see.
You're doing it.
Well done.
I can't speak to that specifically, but what I can talk about is...
Yeah, you're not willing to talk about something here, but that's fair enough, maybe in situations.
If they ask something that's very confidential or a sensitive issue or...
Off topic.
Off topic.
Yeah, off topic.
I can't speak about that when we're here, but what I can tell you is, again, you see that in press conferences when they don't want to talk about specific things.
But that's also important that you can say what I can talk about is.
You limit what you can't, but you also try to give them something to hopefully be happy with and then what I can talk about is a good answer as well.
Okay, so that's the eight.
That's the eight.
Very useful.
Thank you, Dave.
The golden nugget.
Can I add something to the eight?
I don't know.
It's not a D.
It needs to be D.
It's not a D, unfortunately.
Well, maybe it could be delay.
I think Steve Jobs was famous for this, that people would ask him a question and he would take his time to answer.
So sometimes there's examples where he waits something like 90 seconds, thinks about the question before he answers.
I wouldn't recommend waiting 90 seconds unless you happen to be someone very well known, but it is okay to pause.
It is okay to delay.
You are entitled to think about a question and I think people think they have to answer everything immediately to show their expertise and it's okay to just delay and say, okay that's a great question.
Can you just give me a second to think about that and then just take a few seconds to get your thoughts together.
Okay, so I don't think there's a problem with that, especially if it's in another language.
I think it's perfectly okay to just delay and wait and going back to this defining, clarifying, if you haven't understood the question, better to ask and get the real question than just answer and answer the completely wrong question.
People say, but if I say, sorry I didn't get your question, I look stupid and I think, well no, I think you look intelligent because you want to answer the right question.
You look stupid if you just answer a question completely differently because you just didn't understand.
That doesn't look stupid, but it looks more professional to say I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that.
Could you repeat that question again?
I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that.
You know, it's okay.
I'm going to add a D for delay.
Okay, delay at the end.
Yeah, we have to change.
I have to change my whole webinar now.
The D8 plus one.
Okay, that was this week's recording.
Very interesting input for business English situations.
Thank you, Dave.
Thank you, Rebecca.
Next time we're going to have a bit of a fun episode for change because we are recording on the 1st of April which is April Fool's Day, so you play a fool on people.
What we do here and in England as well because we haven't spoken about slang.
Yeah, so fancy wordings, things people use in informal situations and I think we can learn a lot from Dave and Rebecca.
I'm also going to search in my brain for some useful phrases of course.
I can always ask the internet and I'm not sure whether I do use slang when I speak English.
Not a lot.
I don't think so.
But yes, that's it.
Hopefully you'll be listening again.
Thanks for listening today and bye for now.
Bye.
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