Question-answer-session after giving presentation

1. The Question-and-Answer
Session
After presentation
Introduction to
Presentation Skills for Professionals

2.  Arguably, the question-and-answer session can
make or break a presentation.
 When the presenter is seen to be speaking ‘off
script’ the audience tends to believe him or her
more than during the formal presentation and,
of course, the presenter is responding exactly
to the audience’s specific needs.
 If, however the presenter is nervous, answers
badly, or fails to control the session, then no
matter how good the presentation has been the
audience will take away a negative impression.

3.  This said, the question-and-answer session
does serve several very useful purposes:
◦ it allows you to check the audience’s understanding
– the questions will give you valuable information
about what they have or have not understood.
◦ it reinforces your message by giving you a chance
to repeat the information that is important to them.

4.  It is useful to remember that audiences really
like the question-and-answer session
because it gives them the chance to articulate
the new information and explore the subject.
 It gives them the chance to speak after a long
period of silence, a chance to open up the
subject and often the chance to show how
clever they are.

5.  The secret of a good transition from
presentation to interaction is control.
 When you open up the question-and-answer
session you should first lay down the ground
rules.

6. ◦ You can limit the time (‘we have 15 minutes for the question-and-
answer session’)
◦ You can limit the number of questions (‘we have time for three
questions’)
◦ You can limit the subject matter (‘I’ll answer questions on the
legal aspects of this new contract’)
◦ You can limit the questioners (‘because we have only a little time,
I’ll take questions from the human resources department’).
◦ You can also exclude certain subjects, (‘I cannot answer questions
on prices because these have yet to be set’; ‘The future plans for
this range of machines is still company confidential’, ‘I cannot
make any comments on how we intend to implement this
programme since this is our competitive advantage’).

7.  Now to actually answering the questions. You
need to be very disciplined about this,
particularly if the questions you get are the
ones you really wanted.
 There are five steps to answering
successfully:
◦ Listen carefully all the way through the question.
◦ Decide whether you want to answer the question.
◦ If you decide you do, repeat and if necessary
rephrase the question.
◦ Answer the question and only the question.
◦ Check that the answer was acceptable.

8.  Broadly, questions fall into seven
categories:
◦ Clarifying
◦ Technical
◦ Anticipatory
◦ Peripheral
◦ Dilemma
◦ Loaded
◦ and ‘Gotcha’.

9.  Things like: ‘Can you explain …?’ ‘I’m not
sure what you mean by …’, ‘Does that mean
that …?’
 Are these questions good? Yes they are – they
give you a chance to expand your topics and
check for understanding.
 Should you encourage them? Yes.
 Should you answer them? Certainly.

10.  Things like: ‘What is the specification for …?’ ‘Is X compatible with
Y?’ Or: ‘If the subflammary injection sprinzer is
calibrated with the pulmintary inhibitation valve what
happens to the misgenic saving counter and the
vertical scat mitigator and the …?’
 Are these questions good? Yes and no.
 Should you encourage them? Yes and no.
 Should you answer them? Eventually, yes, but you need to think
this through.
 If the audience is predominantly technical and if you can keep the
answers short, by all means answer them, but if the audience is
not particularly technical, then have the information in a hand-out
and refer them to it.

11.  Things like: ‘Will you be talking about …?’ or
‘What about xxx (the subject of the next
presentation)?’ or ‘Will you be covering …?’
 Are these questions good? They certainly are.
 Should you encourage them? Yes indeed.
 Should you answer them? Yes, but not with an
actual answer about the topic.

12.  Things like: ‘When I was in India …’, ‘I had a very interesting
experience when …’, ‘In my experience blah blah blah …’, ‘My
field of expertise tells me …’.
 Are these good? It depends.
 Should you encourage them? Maybe.
 Should you answer them? Answer what? These are probably not
questions at all.

 If you have invited the audience to share their experiences then
they are an excellent way of creating rapport and you should
welcome them – they give the audience a chance to match up
what they know to what you have just presented to them.
 If however, time is tight and you know that other questions are
waiting you need to tactfully get the questioner to move on.

13.  These are questions that put you in a real spot – such
as requiring company sensitive, pricing or
competitive information that shouldn’t be aired
publicly.
 Are these good? Yes and no.
 Should you encourage them? Yes and no.
 Should you answer them? Not in public. If you are
prepared to share the information required then do it
off line – not in front of the audience.
 If you can’t, then tell the questioner so and don’t
answer.

14.  These questions are often used where the questioner obviously
has a sub-agenda and is waiting for you to step right into it.
Often, a question seeded by your competitors.
 Are these good? That depends.
 Should you encourage them? Again, that depends. Should you
answer them? Hmmm.
 Loaded questions may be uncomfortable but they do give you
the opportunity to correct misinformation and set the record
straight.
 Turn the question from negative to positive and answer crisply
and succinctly. Don’t be pulled into an argument, keep your
body language and voice positive.
 When you have finished your answer, look away from the
questioner and ask for another question from the rest of the
audience.

15.  These are malicious or unanswerable questions that are a
mixture of dilemma and loaded questions and they are
always asked for negative reasons.
 Are they good? Certainly not.
 Should you encourage them? Never (but if you can find out
before the presentation whether there is anyone in the
audience sharpening up their sword and loading the
machine gun, you are at least forewarned).
 Should you answer them? No. Be uncompromising, refuse
to answer, don’t look at the questioner, don’t get into an
argument and try not to be affected by them.