We learn what we have said from those who listen to our speaking.
Kenneth Patton
Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.
Dorothy Sarnoff
Many people fear having a Q & A session in their presentations. They fear that they will lose control of the audience, that people will take advantage of them, that they will be exposed as less than the expert. And it is a fear based in reality, because without preparation and some ideas on how to handle this session, it can, quickly, become a disaster.
A Question and Answer session, however, if handled adroitly, can become a very powerful tool. It provides a wonderful opportunity to really connect with your audience through interaction. It provides a chance to be absolutely authentic and therefore so much more believable. And it provides an opportunity to build on the credibility and professionalism already established in your presentation.
This is the first of two posts about creating a successful Q&A, and in the first one, we look at turning negatives into positives.
Disaster recovery
Not knowing the answer to a question may seem like a disaster, but it is, in fact, a great opportunity. Admitting to not knowing the answer is a chance to build authenticity. There is nothing authentic or credible about someone trying to side-step a question with blustering.
Before you lose your credibility as an expert, though, have a plan for response to these questions.
If it’s possible, know the experts in the room. Throw the question to one of them, and you are providing a resource just as much as if you had given an answer.
You can also refer the question back to the audience in general. Again you are building engagement here by interacting with them.
Avoid saying “No comment.” You appear either to be completely ignorant and helpless on the subject, or worse still, trying to hide something. It is a matter of showing respect for the person asking the question and for the question itself, no matter how awful the question or the motives of the questioner.
If the question is worded so that it gives you no alternative but to put yourself in a negative light, find a way to give a positive statement if not to the question, then to the general situation.
If someone seems to want to dominate your presentation, or maybe has negative motives, you can answer once and then ask for questions from other parts of the room and not make eye contact with that person. You can ask the audience if they want the question answered and if they don’t, offer or organise to continue the discussion at the end of the presentation. If you suspect this will be a possibility before you begin your presentation, maybe you could organise to have someone to distract the negative people from undermining your presentation. Something that I have not tried but that I have heard done for a persistent heckler, is to walk among the audience and present from beside or behind the person and they are silenced.
Set boundaries
This is one way to make sure you feel you are in control of the session. Make it clear from the beginning of the presentation, how you are going to deal with questions. You may choose to take questions throughout the presentation or at particular times. You can announce this, so that you are interacting throughout and people know not to save their questions until the end. If someone asks something related to material further into the speech, you can promise to answer the question at the relevant time.
If at all possible do not end the presentation with Q & A. You want to be able to finish with something you have prepared – something you know will accomplish your objectives for the speech, something that will get your audience to take the next step. You cannot guarantee this outcome for yourself or your audience if you finish with a Q&A. Again, announce that the session will not be the end of the presentation or you may have people starting to pack up during your Q&A and lose the opportunity to leave them with a strong close.
Set boundaries, make them clear and stick to them. So you could allow a set time for the Q&A session. Announce it and finish within the time limit. You can always promise to answer more questions after the presentation. Or you might decide to have, say, five questions, and take no more. Again promise to answer any other questions after the presentation … and follow through on the promise.
Integrity and authenticity are a powerful platform on which to base how you deal with Q&A sessions – or any speaking opportunity for that matter! Combine them with thorough preparation and you no longer need to fear Questions and Answers.
[Note: the links to Perfect phrases for Executive Presentations has now been fixed!!]
I know we would all like to feel the mastery that this performer has achieved with his violin. I also know that we would all hope to be able to deal with interruptions just as masterfully – with grace and humour!!
Yes that’s a Nokia ring tone!
I have always loved this quote … I like the thought of words taking on their own energy.
Sometimes I feel they do, and that is when they truly can engage an audience … or assault the unthinking.
Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.
John Maynard Keynes
Presenting data is a very difficult challenge. You are presenting as the expert. You have worked hard to collect the data and/or to synthesize it for presentation. It may be important that you be seen as the expert, but you are faced with the challenge of presenting this sometimes overwhelming mass of data so that an audience can understand and appreciate it. What is the best way to do that?
Usually the first step is to design the visuals. What can we present this data – graphs, pie charts, lists ….?
While that is certainly a valid part of the process, it should not be the first step.
As with any presentation, the first step has got to be acknowledging what you want from the presentation. You probably already know what that is. It may be that you want to persuade someone to take action – to donate to your cause, to fund your research, to hire you, or to change company policy. It may be that you want to persuade people to believe your theory about something. And underlying those outcomes may also be a desire to be seen as the expert, to be seen as relevant to the audience in some way, to be seen as credible. So if you need to, define it first, but certainly acknowledge it, and then use it in choosing how the presentation will proceed.
In choosing the direction of the presentation, the first aim is to engage your audience. Give them a reason to listen and not to switch off. Make it clear why this presentation will be relevant to them, why it will be worth their while to listen. And make it clear just what they can expect to get out of it if they listen. Just because you are presenting data, does not mean you should stop making “you” a prominent word in your speech. So start with the end objective. Present it up front. Explain why it is important for your audience to understand the data. Put the big picture first. Use stories, examples, anecdotes and analogies, not just the facts.
Your audience is used to dealing with the flood of information that each of us faces every day. They know that unless they have a reason to focus on, or to engage with, a particular piece of that information, they have to tune it out. So let them know your particular pieces of information are relevant to them. The use of stories, personal examples, analogies, even metaphors will personalise the data and engage your audience with it.
So keep that WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) aspect always present in the presentation, and you will engage your audience – the first step to having them think, act or feel the way you want them to.
Speak to Win: How to Present with Power in Any Situation
Brian Tracy
EAN:978-0814401576
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Amacom
Published in: United States
Published: January 2008
There’s nothing worse than sitting in the audience while an inept speaker stumbles through an ill-conceived business presentation– unless, of course, you’re the one floundering in the spotlight. In 101 Ways to Captivate a Business Audience, Sue Gaulke, founder of the Speaker’s Training Camp, strips the mysteries from the process by showing how to prepare and present an effective address that will successfully involve your audience and deliver your message.
Does being afraid that you cannot effectively field questions by the audience keep you from accepting opportunities for public speaking? You are not alone; believing you will look like a dummy and lose your credibility (or the sale) for not knowing an answer can be overwhelming.
Growing beyond this concern starts with a look at this possibility from your audience’s perspective. The audience has arrived because it has all ready been determined that you are credible and know what you are taking about. Agree with the person who gave you the nod to speak to this group.
Agreement is powerful and a two-edged sword. Two or more people who believe presenter may get themselves in trouble must be avoided at all costs so tell those close to you who are concerned to hush. Remember the audience is not thinking in this vein. These opposing actions can create a perfect storm. Did you see the movie? This is not a good thing.
Managing the, “I don’t know” scenario is the same on and off the platform. You have a few ways to handle this.
1. Get Real and Plan: While planning the presentation play devil’s advocate by intentionally trying to stump yourself. Looking at the presentation in an attempt to pick it apart is a best practice and is a terrific way to ward off a potentially uncomfortable scenario. If while asking tough questions about your material you may discover a key point that needs to be added to the body of the presentation. If so, add it.
If what you discover is important and should be the pivotal point of the presentation, then rewrite the introduction and work it into the body and the conclusion. Your opening statements should be statement with a promise of sorts to prove your statement and therefore must be within the body and the conclusion of the presentation.
By the way, the trick of speaking well into the Q&A session to avoid questions is not unprofessional nor does it work.
2. Be Real and Fess Up: It is going to happen you know – getting stumped. If you are not Elvis and have, “left the building” someone, at some point, will approach and leave you speechless. Whether this happens from the platform or one-on-one after the presentation – your answer can be the same, “Good Question. And, (pause) I do not know. I will, however, quickly research that answer after we are finished here or if you would prefer, leave your contact information (eMail) with ____________ (name your host) I will get back with you before day’s end.” If you are stumped during the presentation you may also add, “Is anyone in the audience know the answer or this question?” As always be sure all members of the audience can hear the question and the answer to every question.
Warning: Not following up with an answer will cost your credibility, the sale, or both.
3. Be Professional and Network: As an ongoing practice, surround yourself with people who know more than you so you may call upon to help you with the answer (and more). Dr. Ted Becker, one of two people in history who have a PhD in human performance said, “It is important to be the dummy of the group. The only way there is up.” Surprisingly, knowledgeable people often cannot find a person in to mentor. Recently, Karen Timmons with Dell, Inc. said, “It is not a crime to not know the answer. It is, however, a crime to not know who does.”
Consider this incident:
Lat week I was in the exam room with my doctor when he took his cell phone from his pocket and searched for the answer to my question. This was blatant evidence that my doctor doesn’t know all things medical. This came as no surprise to me as even the best cannot answer all things. Nor is it reasonable to think so. (Your audience knows this.) In my mind my doctor’s credibility actually increased as it appeared that my question and I were important to him.
Get Real. Be Real. Be a Professional.
Be Not Afraid.
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Kathryn is owner of Write Speak Transcribe Business Services
Kathryn has been a freelance writer for fifteen years and a Food Service Management Specialist for eighteen years.
She is a dynamic speaker who provides her client’s end users with a presentation that yields responses like, “Thanks for telling me that!” and “Where do I sign?” She specializes in providing her client’s an opportunity to contribute to their customer’s knowledge base in a particular area — a customer enlightenment that oft times is not sales related yet produces an increase in the bottom line of those who utilize her.
Timely and accurate transcription services are managed by Kathryn’s mother, Onita Walker. Onita types 120 words a minute with accurate spelling and punctuation and has 40 years experience transcribing confidential conversations in the field of law.
Words are powerful and words are our passion.
Kathryn
Cell (928) 713-1812
Web: http://www.writespeaktranscribe.com
Email: kathryncrew@cableone.net
Email: Onita@cableone.net
The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, “Me, too!” versus “So what?”
Jim Rohn
