See also: Top Tips for Effective Presentations Show
Many otherwise extremely competent and confident presenters will tell you that they really dread the question and answer session of a presentation. They seek ways to ‘avoid’ difficult questions. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Dealing with questions in a presentation is a skill which anyone can master. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that, as a general rule, if people ask you questions, even hostile ones, it’s not to trip you up but because they genuinely want the answer. Staying in Control of the QuestionsMost people dread the question session because they fear losing control. A little thought and some early planning can avoid this risk. But you can also avoid it by remembering that any presentation is an information exchange. It is as much for you to hear what people want to know as for them to hear from you. However, if your presentation starts to get diverted by an interesting question, try saying something like:
Or even:
Setting out some Ground RulesAt the start of your presentation, you should make it clear whether and when you would prefer to deal with questions - as you go along or at the end of the presentation. Some speakers prefer questions to be raised as they arise during the presentation. The advantage of this approach is that any misunderstandings can be dealt with immediately. However, there is also a danger that the question will disrupt or distract the speaker, or that questions are raised that would have been covered later in the presentation.
Top tip! Categorising Questions If you like to deal with questions as they arise, but you are concerned about the pitfalls, there is an easy way to handle this. In your introduction, explain that there are three types of questions:
When a Type 2 or 3 question is asked, you can then say something like: “That’s a Type 2 question, so I’ll park that for now, and cover it later. If you don’t think I’ve covered it by the end, remind me, and I’ll go over it.” Other speakers prefer to deal with questions at the end of the presentation. If you prefer this approach, ensure that you set aside sufficient time for questions but also limit the amount of time available. The amount of time will depend on the type of presentation you are giving but usually 10 minutes of question time should be sufficient. The big advantage of this approach is that if you talk too quickly, you will simply have a longer question session: a big incentive to talk slowly and carefully, and make sure that your audience understands everything as you go.
You should not close the presentation with the question and answer session. When you have finished answering questions, make sure that you have the last word with a strong assertion of your main message(s). In other words, you can thank the audience for their questions and then summarise once again the main point or points that your presentation was designed to communicate. An Introduction to Question SessionsThe main rule of question sessions is to treat your audience with the respect you would like to have shown to you, and answer their questions directly and honestly. If they have asked a question, it is because they want to know the answer.
If a question is provocative, answer it directly. Never be rude to the questioner or show you are upset. Do not compromise yourself but maintain your point of view and never lose your temper. This tactic can be difficult to maintain but the key is being assertive.
Managing QuestionsListen carefully to the question and, if the audience is large, repeat it to ensure everyone in the audience has heard. If you’re not sure you understood correctly, paraphrase it back to the questioner and check that you have it right. Answer briefly and to the point. If you do not know the answer, then say so and offer to find out. Then ensure that you follow up. To be able to respond, you will need the questioner’s name and email address, so make sure that you speak to them before they or you leave. “I don’t know” is a very acceptable answer to some difficult questions and it is much more acceptable than stumbling through an answer or making something up. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out and let you know” is even more acceptable. Relax and do not feel as if you have to know everything. If you don’t know it is better to be honest than to try to pretend. Trust takes a long time to build up, but it can be lost in moments, and audiences will almost always know when you are not being genuine. An Alternative Tactic: Involving your AudienceIf you are speaking to a well-informed audience, a professional group for example , and the question is a fairly general one to which you do not know the answer, consider asking the room if anyone else would like to respond. You may have the world expert on that subject sitting there who would be delighted to share their expertise with you all. If you have noticed someone in particular, you can even say:
or
Most people will be fine with that approach, especially if they really do know more about it than you, and it will mean that the room gets a much better response. Yes, you’re the one standing at the front, but you don’t know everything. The Q&A is the most nerve-racking part of the already stressful experience of standing up in front of an audience and presenting, and the worst part of that is getting difficult questions. However, there are several tactics which can help with dealing with tricky questions smoothly:
After that, you will probably want to check if your answer is okay or offer to answer another way, and finally thank the audience for the (difficult) questions. This article gives tips and phrases for each of those steps, in that order. For practice of this and other parts of the presentation opening, body and ending, see https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/teaching-presentation-skills/ Filling silence in the presentation Q&AFilling silence by checking the questionPerhaps the least stressful situation for the presenter is being able to send the question back to the audience member as they check the meaning of the question/ what the questioner wants to know. If you have some idea what the question is, the best questions are those which explain your understanding to the questioner and double-check it, such as:
As long as you don’t use this too much in one Q&A session, this can also be a good tactic for delaying your answer, even when you are 99% sure what the question means. If you have more problems understanding what the question is, it’s best to avoid generally phrases like “Pardon?” and “Sorry, I didn’t catch that” as much as possible and instead be specific about what the problem is, with questions like:
The parts in brackets above are optional, but good for further filling time if you need time to think. When the questioner has confirmed, repeated and/ or explained the meaning of their question, you can then use perhaps the simplest and most useful tactic for filling silence before answering, which is commenting on the question. However, you should avoid repeating the same phrases and make sure that the comment really matches the question, so you’ll need a range of different phrases for this. The simplest commenting on the question phrases follow the pattern “(That’s a/ an) … question”, as in:
Similar comments on the question include:
Another easy pattern is “I’m (so/ really) … that you asked me that”, as in:
A similar but also kind of opposite phrase is the jokey one “(Wow!) I was hoping no one would ask me that!” You can also comment on how common/ likely such a question is with:
You can also kind of apologise, in comments like:
The parts in brackets above are again useful for filling time/ silence, with these starters being particularly useful:
Politely asking people to wait in presentation Q&A sessionsThe most direct way of filling silence is asking people to wait. The most common and easiest to use phrases are “Just a… while…” and “Just a…, I’m …ing (…)”, as in:
Expressions with verbs in the imperative like “Wait…” are less generally useful as they can sound like commands, but there are some which are quite common:
A pattern which is generally more polite is phrases starting with “If” like:
As long as you avoid repeating, it’s possible to string the expressions above together to fill all the time necessary for you to think of a good answer, as in:
Asking questions to yourself in the Q&AAnother obvious tactic for filling time, and one that goes perfectly after “Let me see” in the string of asking people to wait phrases above, is asking yourself a question, as in:
Answering Q&A questions while still thinking/ before deciding what to sayAfter or instead of directly asking people to wait, you can also use phrases which seem to be the start of the answer but are in fact also there just to fill time, as in:
Mentioning what you said earlierThis is similar to the tip above, in that it looks like a part of the answer but is just as useful for filling time while the presenter is thinking. These phrases often start with “As”, as in:
“Remember” is another useful key word, as in:
Finally, there are phrases which include words linking two things together like “related”, as in:
Showing how unsure your answer isThese kinds of phrases can also be used to extend your answers and so give yourself thinking time. However, the main purposes are to show the questioner how confident they can be in your answer and so to cover yourself if it turns out that your answer is not 100% accurate. This often starts with a reason why your answer cannot be completely relied upon, as in:
Then comes the phrase saying how sure or unsure you are. These include, in approximate order of certainty:
Politely not answering questions in presentationsIn some situations, the reasons given above for unsure answers can instead be reasons for not answering questions at all, for example if you are a researcher who doesn’t want to speculate on things outside your own area or if it isn’t a good idea to speak on company matters related to other departments. Other reasons for not answering include confidentiality, that topic is coming up later anyway, nothing coming to mind, and one questioner dominating the Q&A. Suitable first words for politely not answering include:
You might sometimes then want to politely but directly say that you can’t answer, as in:
After or instead of directly saying that you can’t answer, you will need to give a reason for not answering the question, as in:
Offering to answer the question another wayIf you don’t want not answering the question to be too negative for the audience, you should usually then offer to answer the question another way. Such offers could include emailing the questioner, answering by email if the questioner emails you, speaking face to face after the presentation, getting someone else to answer it, and allowing them to ask again later in the presentation. Typical phrases for offering to answer Q&A questions another way include:
Much less commonly, you can also occasionally answer about something close to but not the same as the topic of the question, with phrases like:
Checking if your answer was okayIf you did manage to answer their question (however inadequately), you should then check if your answer is okay. This is usually best done with Yes/ No questions like:
If you are too scared that such a question could lead to a negative answer and/ or another difficult question, you can make a statement that has a similar function like:
Unless you really want to have more difficult questions, I’d suggest avoiding negative questions like “…or wasn’t that what you wanted to know?” and “… or not?” Thanking the audience for difficult questions at the end“Thanks for your difficult question” is a rather strange way to finish a Q&A and/ or the whole presentation, but you can use similar phrases like “Thanks for all your great questions. It will give me a lot to mull on when I get home tonight” and “Thanks for all your really thought-provoking questions. They’ve given me several ideas for possible future presentation topics!” |