What's the best way to deal with questions that I don't understand because of accent during/after a talk? You can prepare a talk from a to z, know exactly what you are going to say and how (and this is even more important when English is not your first language and your skills are not top-notch) - but what can you do when you are asked a question with a thick accent that you just don't understand?
You can ask the asker to repeat the question, but this is only possible once, and if you still don't understand, you're in a jam.
This can lead to some seriously awkward moments...

What would be the best way to deal with such a situation?
What I usually do is to try to piece together as much of the question as I can and then rephrase/guess/fill in the blank in my own words ("So you are asking whether..."). If my guess is close enough the person asking usually relents. If not, repeat this process until the question is clarified.

In the long term the only solution is to try to expose yourself more often to different accents so that you learn to understand how they differ from the "standard" ones.