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Plan Question and Answer (Q&A) as an Integral Part of Your Presentation

By Bonnie Budzowski
President, InCredible Messages, LP

Many competent speakers dread the question and answer session (Q&A) following a presentation. The Q&A Session—usually a required element in a formal presentation—does leave the speaker vulnerable to contradiction or attack. At the same time, Q&A provides a perfect opportunity to strengthen a connection with audience members and to reinforce your main points. Here are some tips to help you stay cool and in control during Q&A.

Think of the Q&A Process as a Segment of the Speech

One secret to an effective Q&A session is realizing that Q&A is not something that happens after the presentation. The speech isn’t over with the last PowerPoint slide or your concluding remarks. The speech ends when the speaker walks away from the stage and audience members leave the room.

Plan your Q&A session as an integral part of the presentation itself. For the purposes of this article, let’s think of Q&A as the last 15 minutes of a 60-minute speech. The first 45 minutes represent the body of the presentation.

As you plan, anticipate the concerns and objections of the audience, and address these in the body of the presentation. The more you address these areas upfront, the less likely you are to face hostile questions at the end.

As you prepare for the final 15 minutes of the presentation, think of this segment of the speech as an opportunity. Think of Q&A as your opportunity to interact with audience members on their terms, to cement your credibility with this group, and to strengthen the bridge between your recommendation and audience members’ goals.

During Q&A “live,” listen carefully, and respond genuinely to the questions audience members have. At the same time, have your key points on the tip of your tongue. Reinforce your key points as you answer questions.

Repeat, Paraphrase, and Neutralize

Unless you are speaking to a small group, it is courteous to repeat questions for the audience. If a question is multi-faceted, break it into separate questions for your listeners.

As you receive a question, listen for the questioner’s motives and emotions. Is the question motivated by enthusiasm, confusion, concern, an objection, hostility, or an unrelated agenda? Listen carefully so you will know what the question is really about.

When you repeat a question, rephrase it to acknowledge, if possible, the questioner’s motivating issue. Affirm messages of enthusiasm and commitment. Clarify confusion. Show empathy for concerns.

For example, if the motive for a question is confusion, you might paraphrase in this way, “Nancy is asking for clarity about how this change will be implemented.” If the motive is a concern, you can express empathy in a paraphrase like this, “Tom is asking if this plant shutdown will impact vacation plans. I understand that people want to choose their own vacation times, and that some families have already bought plane tickets or made deposits on rental units for later this year.”

If the question is hostile, rephrase the question to neutralize it. For example, you might rephrase a stinging question like this. “Denise is asking about the process that led us to increase employee out-of-pocket costs for health care.”

Once you’ve rephrased the question, you can direct your answer to the question, not the hostility. As you do so, be sure you make eye contact with audience members in various parts of the room. If you answer the hostile questioner with direct eye contact throughout—or finish your answer and look to the questioner for agreement or approval—you invite another hostile question. Eye contact implies permission to speak or speak again. Use your eyes wisely.

If the motive behind a question is an unrelated agenda, politely tell the questioner that the issue is outside the parameters of this meeting. You can offer to talk after the session or to contact the questioner later, if that is appropriate.

Make Sure You Determine the Final Impression

Q&A sessions are, by nature, fluid. You can’t possibly anticipate what the final question will be. That last question might be mundane, hostile, or somewhere off on a tangent. If you answer the question and leave the podium or platform, an audience member has determined the final impression—the thought that will linger in audience members’ minds.

When you handle the Q &A session as a segment of your speech, it is easy to build useful repetition and leave the audience with a positive impression. Once the last question is answered, tell the audience you’d like to summarize where you’ve been for the duration of the speech. Repeat your main points, and refer to your conclusion again. If appropriate, refer to your concluding story or repeat the action you requested. In this way, you control the final impression. You send your audience off with your message, recommendation, or call for action foremost in their minds.

When you treat Q&A as an integral segment of your entire presentation, you are more likely to remain cool and in control. Save that sigh of relief until after the Q&A and your final wrap-up. Only then is the speech over.
 

Permission is granted to reprint this article when the following contact information is included: © 2008 by Bonnie Budzowski, President of InCredible Messages, LP. For more free articles, go to www.IncredibleMessages.com or contact Bonnie at info@IncredibleMessages.com.

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