How to handle questions during your presentation? — Slidepresso

Many speakers dread audience questions or try to avoid them. However, allowing your audience to ask questions during your presentation keeps your audience engaged. It also provides you with valuable feedback about the presentation content.

Do you have to include Q&A session in your presentation?

In short — yes. If you are doing a quick, informal presentation, your Q&A session can take just a few minutes and be more casual, but it’s still a good idea to make sure your message was well received and understood. Official presentations are more structured and should have some time dedicated to audience questions.

Answering your audience questions can enhance your presentation and make you look more credible. On the other hand, a poorly handled Q&A session may ruin your efforts and hurt your presentation.

Some presenters think that a good presentation covers 100% of the topic and doesn’t leave any space for additional questions. They would even say something like “everything should be clear and I hope there will be no questions”. I don’t agree with this approach. I would never discourage my audience from taking an active part in my presentation. Receiving no questions at the end of the presentation may suggest that the audience was bored and didn’t listen or that the presentation wasn’t clear at all and left them confused and speechless.

Prepare for your Q&A

Think about your presentation and try to anticipate the questions you may get, and prepare your answers. Ideally, when the question allows, incorporate in your answer some of the key messages or calls to action from your presentation.

Have you already presented the same topic and remember some of the frequently asked questions? Edit your presentation and include the answers to these questions in your slides or speech. Presenting for the first time and can’t think of any questions? You can ask your colleagues or friends for help or do a quick internet search.

You may also want to think about which questions you don’t want or can’t answer and prepare your response in case they come up. These may include a topic that is only remotely related to your presentation or any questions which would require disclosing personal information in your answer. If you are worried about being put on the spot, imagine the worst question(s) you can be asked. Draft your answers for peace of mind. They will probably never come up, but you will feel less worried.

If there is a sensitive topic you know people will ask about, address it at the beginning of your presentation. It will show that you are not hiding anything and make it easier for everyone to focus on the rest of your presentation.

When to answer questions during your presentation?

Depending on your presentation, audience size and your preference, you may choose to handle audience questions at different times:

• Anytime during the presentation: You tell your listeners to raise their hand and ask questions whenever something isn’t clear for them and you respond to these questions immediately. It can work well during small meetings where you don’t expect many questions. If there are many interruptions handling questions this way may be distracting for the presenter and their audience.
• At specific times during your presentation: You plan a few slots for answering questions during your session. They can be, for example, after each part of your presentation. It allows you to group questions on a given topic and clarify anything unclear before proceeding to the next part.
• At the end of your presentation: You answer all questions at the end of your presentation. This is the most common method of handling Q&A and the most practical one for meeting with large audiences.

If you are planning to answer questions at the end, make sure you reserve time and stick to your schedule. Asking your audience to keep all questions for the end of your presentation and not responding to at least a few is not professional and shows a lack of respect for your audience. For the same reason, you shouldn’t extend the Q&A session much beyond the original schedule, even if you have time.

Think in advance when you want to answer questions. Communicate it to your audience at the very beginning of your presentation. If you are presenting at a conference or a meeting organised by someone else, check it with the organisers beforehand.

During an online presentation, you can ask your audience to post questions on the chat during the session. You can read and answer them at the end of your presentation. Just make sure people are aware of it and know where to post their questions.

If you are presenting a sensitive subject, your audience may not have the courage to ask questions unless they can do so unanimously. Think if this may be an issue for your presentation and if you can allow anonymous questions. Explain your audience at the beginning of your presentation how they can submit such questions.

If you are answering questions at the end of your presentation, don’t make it the very last part. Keep 1–2 minutes at the very end for closing remarks. Use them to summarise your key messages and repeat the call to action. Your audience will remember best the beginning and end of your presentation, so want to keep control over these parts and not let an uninteresting or negative question steal the focus.

How to manage questions during the Q&A session?

This may seem pretty obvious: someone asks a question about your presentation, you answer the question, someone else asks another question etc.

However, if you look closely, there is a bit more to this process and a few things you could do to maximise the value of the Q&A session:

How to respond to questions about your presentation?

Many presenters are scared of Q&A sessions or try to avoid them. They are afraid of aggressive questions, uncomfortable topics or being asked about something they don’t know. It doesn’t happen often, but as a presenter, you should be aware that providing an immediate and complete answer to a question from the audience is only one of your possible responses. Let’s look at different options:

Originally published at https://slidepresso.com on January 28, 2021.