0WHEN to Take Them?
Q&A can be an important part of your presentation.
But, WHEN is best?
In your OPENING, tell the audience WHEN You’ll Handle Questions.
Four Choices
- #1 THROUGHOUT your presentation.
- OK if doing a workshop.
- Otherwise
- Hope you have unlimited time.
- What if they ask about something on your last slide?
- Otherwise
- OK if doing a workshop.
- #2 AFTER presenting specific components.
- Have a time limit.
- Stick to it!
- Have a time limit.
- #3 AFTER Closing your presentation.
- That’s when it’s usually done.
- NOT GOOD!
- Why?
- The Law of Primacy and Recency
- Audiences best remember the first and last things they see and hear.
- That’s why your presentation needs a Strong Opening and Strong Closing.
- WHAT IF?
- The person you call on last. . .
- Points out an error in your presentation.
- Says they wasted their time attending.
- Challenges your integrity.
- Is THAT what your want the audience to take-away?
- The person you call on last. . .
- Audiences best remember the first and last things they see and hear.
- #4 BEFORE Your Closing
- Yes – Yes – Yes
- Why?
- Taking questions BEFORE Closing:
- Keeps your presentation on track.
- Affords better time management.
- Eliminates interruptions.
- Makes a Strong Closing Impactful!
- Yes – Yes – Yes
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About the Author
Fred E. Miller is a speaker, a coach, and the author of the book,
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2 Comments
Tripp Frohlichstein says
November 21, 2014 at 10:53 amFred, a few thoughts. First, taking questions during a presentation is best because if I have a question about something 3 minutes in, and I can’t ask, I may be lost the rest of the way…So the speaker loses all potential impact. The key is to plan the presentation with AND without questions. And often, people will ask a questions that you plan to cover anyway. What I recommend is NOT to say “I will get to that later” (because it is relevant to the audience RIGHT NOW) but rather give a headline answer and THEN promise detail later. So if asked, “How many people will be on the committee?” – instead of “I’ll get to the committee structure in a few minutes.” – say, “We think 8 is the ideal number and I’ll expand on how we got to that number and why we think it will work in a few minutes.”
Another kind of question parameter you can set is to say “I will take questions at the end unless I say something that is unclear or I don’t explain properly. In that case, please ask me during the presentation.”
But if you must wait, what I teach (and it works-have seen it very effectively used) is to have TWO closings. Close the presentation, take questions, close again Same messaging, different words). That way, if the last question is “out there,” you still bring them back in.
I happened to sit in on a presentation this week in which there were 4 presentations of 15 min each followed by a panel Q&A. But lots of people walked out between the presentations and the panel (no break was provided). So I asked some why they left before the Q&A. Turns out, they were so lost during the presentations, they did not have questions as they did not understand what had been presented at a very high level.
Fred E. Miller says
November 22, 2014 at 4:58 amAs always, excellent comments, Tripp.
Others will learn from your wisdom!