The Dreaded Question and Answer Period
“Oratory is the power to talk people out of their sober and natural opinions.” – Joseph Chatfield
Joseph Chatfield had it right. The purpose of your presentations is to reinforce their opinion of your topic if they agree with you and convince them to change their opinion of your topic if they don’t share your opinion.
When you finish talking, your presentation is not done. Inevitably, there is a question and answer (Q&A) period after your presentation. The Q&A period is also part of your presentation. The only difference is for the talking part of your presentation, you knew what you would say. In the Q&A period, you don’t know what the audience’s questions will be. Or do you?
Below are three Q&A situations and how to deal with them.
Hostile Questions
Handling hostile questions is always tough. You may have someone in the audience that, despite your cogent arguments, still does not agree with you. However, his/her disagreement doesn’t make their questions hostile. When I say hostile, what I mean is an arrogant questioner, interrupting you, and asking their question in an argumentative, sarcastic, or condescending way. So what do you do?
Never respond in kind to a hostile questioner. Remember, the hostile questioner is still part of the audience. A good way (don’t do this) to create a hostile audience is to be hostile yourself to the questioner. If you “take the high road” the audience will eventually self-correct a hostile questioner.
Another method to use with a hostile questioner is for you to say something like, “You seem passionate about your opinion and I respect that. My answer to your question will take more time than I have right now. Would you agree to see me at the break or after the presentation so I can give you a more complete answer?” When the speaker approaches the hostile questioner in this manner, I have never seen the hostile questioner refuse the offer. Sure it could happen, but it is not likely.
There are times, and they are rare, where the above two methods do not work. In such a case, tell the hostile questioner you will see them at the break and take another question even if the hostile questioner is still asking their question. The audience will usually start booing the hostile questioner and tell them to be quiet if they interrupt you. A hostile questioner that rambles on will be viewed by the audience as delaying their learning. The audience will not like this and silence the hostile questioner.
So above are some methods to handle the hostile questioner, but what if you do not know the answer to a question
Questions to Which You Don’t Know the Answer
When I was a kid, there were a few times where I told a “white lie,” mostly to get out of punishment from my parents. I learned from this experience, that if you tell a lie, you have to maintain the lie. Also, the lie may grow to something bigger and then you have to maintain the bigger lie. “Pay me now or pay me later.” The price is always cheaper if you tell the truth. It is the same with answering an audience question.
If you do not know the answer to a question, don’t “beat around the bush.” State quickly and emphatically that you do not know the answer to the question, but if the questioner sees you at the break or after your presentation, you can get their e-mail address and get them an answer within a day.
If you try to answer an audience question when you don’t know the answer, it will become evident quickly to the audience that you don’t. This will directly affect your credibility with the audience. Believe me, the audience will respect you more if you admit you don’t know the answer.
In an earlier newsletter, I talked about credibility with your audience. Although not sufficient to giving an outstanding presentation, establishment and maintenance of your credibility with your audience is absolutely essential. With it, you have the opportunity to really change people’s lives. Without it, you don’t have a prayer of doing this.
Getting a question from the audience that you can’t answer will throw you off initially, but, again, if you quickly admit you don’t know the answer with a plan to get an answer to the questioner, you can move on gracefully to the next audience question. Another type of audience question can also throw you off – the question unrelated to your topic.
Questions Unrelated to Your Topic
Although not common, occasionally you will get a question from an audience member that is slightly or completely unrelated to your topic. This type of question can be tricky to answer. You don’t want to embarrass the audience member by telling him or her that the question doesn’t relate to your topic. Embarrassing audience members is a killer to your likability to the audience which is essential to your success in your presentations. Don’t do it under any circumstances even if you are embarrassed or annoyed by the question. Let’s run through some scenarios that show how to handle the unrelated question.
Suppose you are presenting a new space orbital theory at the national convention in your industry. An audience member asks you the following question: “How does your theory affect climate change?” Now in your presentation, even though you did not talk about climate change, you can see how someone who is concerned about climate change may think that the orbital path of the planets in our solar system might be related to climate change. How should you answer?
You could say, “My presentation did not remotely mention climate change, so I am going to have to move on to the next question.” After this answer, you would alienate a good portion of the audience because you would be dismissing the question of an audience member. Never a good thing to do.
Here is a better response: “I can see how it would be logical to ask a question about climate change.” This validates the question and brings you closer to the audience. You could go on to say, “Climate change is an area about which I have read about, but of which I am certainly not an expert. Perhaps at the break, we could meet so I can learn more of your concerns about climate change, and, give you my best answer to your question.” What have you done here? You have affirmed the validity of the question and given the audience questioner a golden opportunity to get a more complete answer from you. You both win.
Suppose you are presenting your doctoral thesis concerning a new radar signal processing algorithm you developed (sorry, I was educated as an electrical engineer). You get the following question from the audience: “Does your signal processing algorithm work for communication signals also?”
No doubt there are similarities between radar signal processing and communications signal processing but going into the communications signal processing area would dilute your main points. You might respond, “Thanks for that interesting question. I have been concentrating on radar signal processing. I will have to do a bit of research and consult with some colleagues to see if my algorithm applies to communications signal processing. Please see me after the presentation and give me your e-mail address. I will get back to you.”
So what have you done here? Again, you have validated the question (always a good thing) and have made plans on the spot to get back to the audience questioner. Also, a good thing.
Questions unrelated to your topic will pop up every now and then. During your presentation preparation, it would be good if you practiced answering unrelated questions. Again, during the practice period of your presentation you should be “peppered with” a healthy set of unrelated and hostile questions. Also, be sure to have people ask you questions for which you don’t know the answer.
The question and answer period of your presentation can be a very stressful time for you. However, if you practice fielding (1) hostile questions, (2) questions to which you don’t know the answer, and (3) questions unrelated to your topic in the practice period of your presentation, you will be well on your way to answering audience questions in a cogent, concise, and confident manner.
And now some public speaking wisdom from Jerry Seinfeld. Enjoy!:
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld
Looking for professional services to help you significantly increase your influence with your audiences? Contact DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI) at info@speakleadandsucceed.com or (703) 815-1324