What is important in a GD

What is important in a  GD

1.   Be your natural self.

2.   Your gestures and mannerisms are more likely to reflect your attitude than what you say.

3.   The score you receive depends both on ‘what’ you say and ‘how’ you say it .

4.   Be assertive not dominating

5.   Whatever you speak, support it with facts, figures and data.

6.   Be patient

7.   Do not argue with other participants

8.   Never get involved in one to one discussions with the participant

9.   Bring in varied aspects

10. Be polite

11. Address everyone in the group.

12. One should maintain eye contact with other participants in the group



Necessary Personality Skills For Acing a GD

1.   Communication skills

2.   Command over spoken English 

3.   Knowledge

4.   Convincing ability

5.   Body Language

6.   Interpersonal skills

7.   Confidence

8.   Problem-solving skills

9.   Conceptualising skills

10.   Leadership skills

11.   Maturity

12.   Creativity

13.   Ability to take initiative

14.   Assertiveness

15.   Team spirit


If one is not able to understand the meaning of the topic, do not display your ignorance but wait for some other participant to explain the meaning of the topic. So, it is necessary to listen to the discussion carefully for the first few minutes and once the topic is understood, start participating in the discussion.

During discussion, if one has to use technical terms, explain the term to the group. Because the participants of the group may have different academic background


The right time to enter a GD
There are crests and troughs during the discussion. The crest is when the noise level is at its peak. The trough is when there is almost total silence. Ideally, one should enter the GD during the trough period. But in competitive GDs, the crests occur more often and troughs may not at all be present. In such cases, identify the stages in the GD where you can discuss your point and enter the GD irrespective of the noise level.


First speaker Preference
If you can make a good opening statement, which sets the tone for the GD, it is favourable for you. But if you are not confident about your statement and you bungle it up, it will go against you.


Fluency in English
Command over English is certainly advantageous but will not compensate for lack of good content. If your content is good, then even if your English might not be great, you must speak it out, rather than be inhibited by lack of good English. You will get credit for soundness of ideas.


Participation Time
There is no set rule or formula for this, as it depends on the GD, the duration of the GD, the number of participants and on your content. Sometimes people who have spoken just once or twice in a GD but have contributed relevant and sensible points have gotten through. Do try and come in 3-4 times as least at regular intervals. You could participate more depending on your comfort level and the need for participation.


If my point is already spoken by somebody else
You have two choices:
(1)    Agree with the point made by that person and add on to it by displaying the applicability of the argument to different situations. By doing this you will have broadened the scope of the argument.

(2)    Drop the point and think of fresh points.
To avoid getting into a situation where someone else has already spoken your points, do speak up in the first 4-5 minutes of the GD. If you wait longer, it is almost inevitable that someone would have already used the point you had thought of but did not vocalize.


Assertive
There is a very thin line between aggression and assertiveness. You should always aim to sound assertive and not stubborn. Assertive behaviour is about putting your point of view across in a positive way.
Aggressive behaviour means standing up for your rights regardless of anyone else, and submissive behaviour means accepting whatever comes your way.


The most successful person in a GD
Generally the person who has a sound knowledge of the topic and is a clear thinker speaks more. This leads the students into believing that whoever speaks most is successful. But just speaking for the sake of speaking will not help you.


Motivating other people in the group- favourable/unfavourable
Depends on the manner, how it is done. If you openly request someone to speak, you may be putting the other person in a difficult spot, and that will not be looked upon favorably by the evaluators. If the person whom you have asked to speak was in fact very eager to speak but just needed a little push, then your motivation would be looked on positively. You can add to one’s points, support them and can also give them direction.

 
Handling others aggressiveness
You can handle in any of the following manner
-    Ignore him and address the other members of the group.
-    Be assertive and tell him that his argument is faulty.
-    Point out to him that his point is well taken and that the group must progress further by discussing the ideas presented by others.
   

If I have to make my point, how should I interrupt others
Ideally interrupting other participant in a GD is not recommended. But depending on the situation in the GD, if you feel that interrupting is genuinely called for, then following are some of the  ways which you can use to interrupt:

-    “Excuse me, but I feel that what you are saying isn’t universally true…”
-    “Yes, I agree with your idea, and I would like to add on to it …”
-    “Yes, I think you are right when you say that, but could you clarify what if…”.

The words can be anything; the idea is to be positive and polite.