Tips to help your GD skills

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN A GD TOPIC RINGS ABSOLUTELY NO BELL IN YOUR HEAD.WHAT DO YOU DO IN SUCH A SITUATION? ASHIMA SEKHRI TELLS YOU HOW YOU CAN TAKE A CALL


What do you do in a situation when you're among 8-10 people in a Group Discussion with a 2-3 member panel judging and you don't even understand the topic? Kaustav Mehta, a student at one of the IIMs was stumped, "I got quite a few interview calls. During one of my GDs, the topic I got was 'Pink Pyjamas flying high on the Red Fort'. Needless to say I was stumped; I didn't know what to make of the topic. And what made me further nervous was that everyone around me seemed to totally get it and were talking comfortably on the topic. That made me really nervous."
Don't panic
The key to survival in this situation is to not panic. More importantly don't let the panic show on your face; after all, a good manager never lets stress get to him and must stay calm and cool under all circumstances.
Listen carefully
"I was once a part of a GD where the topic was 'The negative impact of India joining the WTO'. There was one guy in the GD who was so eager and enthusiastic to be the first one to speak that he started speaking almost as soon as the topic was announced. The only problem was, that in his hurry to be the first to speak, he didn't hear the topic carefully and started talking aggressively about how India has benefited from joining the WTO. Within 30 seconds, he was torn down by the others who mocked him for talking contrary to the topic. He ended up looking foolish and I'm sure he didn't get through eventually," says Kunal Bidani, alumnus of the London School of Business.
In a factual topic
If you happen to have a difficulty understanding a GD topic which is factual by nature, then there's little you can do about it once you are inside the GD. The best thing to do at this point is to listen carefully. Let other people get into the discussion and don't spend this time wondering what you should do or how others are performing. Use this time to understand and absorb the meaning of the topic.
In an abstract topic
When the topic is abstract and you don't know what to make of it, then remember that everyone is in the same boat. The beauty of an abstract topic is that it is totally open to interpretation and there is no real right or wrong argument. There are two ways of dealing with a topic like this.
One way is to turn it into a question by adding words like 'who is' 'what is' 'why is' 'when is' etc. before the topic. This is applicable to abstract topics such as Red. When the abstract topic is elaborate like 'Red Pyjamas Flying on top of the Red Fort', then try breaking it up. So look at it as Pink Pyjamas + Flying on top + Red Fort. Then try to associate each of the parts to real life. For e.g. 'Pink Payjamas' is likely to denote 'women', 'flying on top' means 'making a mark' and 'Red Fort' probably means 'something of significance'. So one interpretation of this topic would be 'women making a mark in significant aspects in life'.