725. A Good Presentation Hijacked By Questions

"Thank God, the seminar got over" said Sarguru, with relief, wiping his face with his handkerchief. 

After Sarguru had got down from the stage, some people from the audience shook hands with him and said, "Your presentation was good."

But, Sarguru knew that they had said so, only to make him feel good.

After most of the the audience had dispersed, Sarguru's friend Kulasekaran came to him and said, "Your presentation was good. But, some from the audience made you look confused, by asking you tricky and irrelevant questions and spoiled the good impression you had made earlier."

"I took a lot of efforts to prepare my speech. I took care to ensure that there was no inadvertent error. But, some people harassed me, by asking irrelevant questions. I didn't know how to answer some of them. In the end, an impression was created that my presentation was not good enough. I feel disappointed that my efforts have become wasteful" said Sarguru, expressing his dismay.

An elderly person, who was listening to the conversation from a distance, came near Sarguru and asked him, "If you don't mind, can I tell you something?"

"Definitely, sir!" said Sarguru.

"Let us sit somewhere" he said and led them to a corner of the hall.

The three of them sat down.

"I am an ordinary person. I am not a professional speaker or a consultant. From my experience of attending a large number of seminars, meetings and debates and observing the happenings there, I have learnt something and I am sharing it with you. Your presentation was excellent. There are some people who attend seminars like this, with the sole intention of flooring the speakers with stupid and irrelevant questions, disguising them as clever questions. Some such people tried to confuse you, by asking you many tricky questions. You answered most of the questions well. But, some people asked you a few logical questions and cornered you. Without answering them logically, you tried to explain your viewpoint. It created an impression that you were unable to answer those questions satisfactorily. I am sure even you were not satisfied by the answers given by you" said the old man.

"Yes" said Sarguru, surprised that the old man had discerned the thoughts in his mind, while answering those questions.

"We have read about spiritual leaders like Sankara and Ramanuja defeating their opponents in debates on religion and philosophy. They were able to defeat their opponents in debates, not only by explaining  their concepts in details, but also by using the power of logic. In fact, in our country, there had been a tradition of including logic as one of the subjects in the curriculum of religion and philosophy. Therefore, I suggest that in order to excel in your presentations on your subject of specialization, you learn to adopt a logical approach too. If you keenly observe how experienced speakers use logic to silence the people asking tricky questions, by giving them appropriate replies, you will be able to develop that skill. You are a person with a profound knowledge. My best wishes to you."

The old man shook hands with Sarguru and took leave of him.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 73
Knowing Your Audience

Verse 725 (in Tamil):
ARRin aLavu aRindhu kaRka avai anjA
mARRam koduththal poruttu.

Meaning:

In order to fearlessly reply to questions before an unfamiliar audience, a speaker should learn logic and the rules of grammar.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'mudhiyavar kURiya aRivurai' by the same author.) 

Verse 726 (Soon)
Verse 724