10 essential rules for dealing with a 'fish market' GD round - By: MBA

The Group Discussion round is the opportunity to express your opinion on a certain topic in coherence with other members. It is expected that at the end of the discussion the group will come to a unanimous decision. But the common norm is that more the number of members, more will be the opinion and less coherent will be the discussion.
In most of the GDs conducted by the MBA institutes, the discussion ultimately turns a fish market where every member tries to speak at the same time and this leads to all the points getting shrouded in the commotion. This article of MBAUniverse.com gives you 10 tips on how to deal with such a situation in the GD round:
1. Stay calm during peak point: When the GD reaches its peak point, it is advisable to stay quiet and not be a part of the discussion where your valuable point can go unnoticed. You can collect your own points and get prepared to speak at the appropriate moment.
2. Wait for lulls: The best time to enter a heated GD is when the group gets relatively quiet or when someone has just ended his/her point. Try and speak when somebody is about to complete his point; he is more likely to allow you to interrupt him.
3. Ensure multiple entries: You should enter no less than eight to 10 times. The reason being that in the noise and commotion the points made by you might get 'lost' and the moderators might not be able to score a point against your name.
4. Raise your voice to get noticed: Since the GD will be already loud enough to engulf your point, so you should start with a loud voice so that the group notices your entry. At times, two people do start talking in parallel in a lull, you need to be a little louder at that stage.
5. Present your point only when you draw attention of the group and panel: You should first attempt to grab the attention of the group and the moderators. Here you can start with some attention grabbing introduction and then present the main point. You have to also ensure that you can retain the attention till you present your actual point.
6. Start with a quote or a stark point: In order to captivate the audience, you can start with a quote or a strong fact. If you can get the numbers right or an absolutely quotable quote, you can easily make your mark even in a chaotic GD.
7. Be assertive but not aggressive: You have to be loud and assertive enough to reach your point across. But ensure that you don’t cross the thin line between assertiveness and aggressiveness.
You may raise your voice in a loud GD and be assertive, but do not shout or make aggressive gestures. At no point should you appear over-aggressive as that may go against you.
8. Be a good listener while others are busy speaking: While others are busy putting forth their own views, utilize that time in listening to others and presenting your own point later on. You can either show your approval for a particular point or carry that forward or counter that point by presenting your own facts. This will prove that you are a good listener.
9. Be a leader/moderator: You can prove your leadership skill by directing the group when they engage themselves into irrelevant discussion or move away from the main point. You can raise your voice and mention that the group is getting diverted from the main point. After that you can present a new point and drive the discussion in that direction.
10. Maintain the calm and composed stature: In this entire GD you have to ensure that you maintain a calm and composed state. Though you have to be assertive, raise your voice and reach your point across and make your presence felt, but avoid being emotional and aggressive.
Retain your calm and composure even if others are getting emotional. remember the manner in which you make your point-with adequate logic, data, examples etc is important-and you need to be assertive, not aggressive. Calm and composed students making tremendous impact in GDs.
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