Command The Room

If you know your work but struggle to say it clearly under pressure, this book is for you.

Have you ever walked into a viva, interview, performance review or boardroom discussion and felt your mind go blank? Have you prepared for weeks, only to ramble when the real question arrives from an unexpected angle?

Command the Room is a practical guide for people who have done the work, know their material and need to prove it out loud when the stakes are high. Using the PhD viva as the toughest training ground, Endry Lim, PhD shows how the same discipline that helps you survive a demanding oral defence can also help you perform in interviews, reviews, presentations and senior conversations.

This is not a book about sounding clever. It is about thinking clearly, answering better and leading the room with structure, evidence and presence. It also shows you how to use AI as a serious practice partner: not as a shortcut that does the thinking for you, but as an examiner, coach and sparring partner that helps you rehearse sharper questions before the real room does.

In Command the Room, you’ll discover:

• Why knowing your material is not enough when someone is actively probing your work


• How to prepare before the room so your answers are grounded, not improvised


• How to build an AI Examiner that challenges your thesis, CV, project or performance narrative


• When to use STAR, ACE and ARC to turn scattered thoughts into clear answers


• How to practise for viva questions, job interviews and performance reviews


• How to recover when a question catches you off guard


• How to close the gap between what you know and what you can say under pressure

Even if you freeze, ramble, over-explain or undersell yourself, this book gives you a practical way to train before the moment arrives.

If you are preparing for a viva, interview, review, panel or boardroom conversation, Command the Room will help you walk in sharper, calmer and better prepared.