Managing controversy

Geertjan Wielenga: Let's say you're talking about a tech that is very controversial at a particular point and there's been lots of information in the news. You're up on the stage and on the one hand, you have the good fortune that you're not representing a particular company. On the other hand, you're trying to describe a solution that attendees can use. If you get a question on this kind of topic, how do you handle it?

Ivar Grimstad: You just have to try to answer it the best way you can, from the background you have. I try to avoid the provocative talks, but I touched on them a little bit a couple of years ago, when doing talks where I compared Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Spring. Then there was always a risk of upsetting people.

You just have to be respectful about both sides and try not to bark back or be opinionated yourself when answering.

You can, for example, say, "This is my opinion, but it...