How
do you handle the questions that come up during or after your presentation?
Handled
effectively, questions can be an important part of your presentation, allowing
you to clarify a point, expand on your ideas or provide another example. They also can demonstrate that the audience
members were paying attention to you and are interested in your opinion. Handled poorly, however, questions can expose
your lack of preparation, disconnect you from your audience and derail your
presentation.
Here
are six mistakes to AVOID when you are answering questions:
1)
Forgetting
that you're still "on stage" when answering questions. The presentation is not over until every
member of the audience has left the room.
Answering questions is not the time for you to lose focus or let your
energy level drop. Your words and your
non-verbal communication (voice, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures and
movement) should demonstrate that you are listening to the question, eager to
answer and respectful of the questioner.
2)
Letting
questions take you completely off topic.
While you want to be respectful of the questioners and answer as many
questions as possible, be careful not to answer so many questions early on in
your presentation that you run out of time to handle your planned
material. I once saw a speaker answer so
many basic questions about her topic (most of which were irrelevant to everyone
else in the audience) that she didn't get through half of her material, leaving
the audience disappointed and frustrated.
Don't be afraid to say "let's handle that question off-line" or
"in the interest of time, I don't want to go into great detail on that
topic, but here's a quick answer." You can also make it clear at the start
that the audience should hold all questions until the end. (If it happens to be one of the company's
executives who is taking you off topic, the meeting facilitator should step in
to help get you back on track.)
3)
Being
unprepared for questions. When you give
a presentation, expect questions and prepare for them with the same diligence
and care that you use to prepare the presentation itself. Put yourself in your audience's shoes and
think of possible questions they might ask.
You can also practice your presentation in front of others and have them
come up with likely questions.
4)
Bluffing
or lying when you don't know the answer.
Not only is it unethical, but it's unwise, because you'll get caught and
you'll lose your credibility. If you
don't know the answer, don't bluff or guess.
Instead, admit that you don't know and if it's important enough, say,
"I don’t know but I’ll find out and get back to you.” Then do it.
5)
Not
restating the question. It's important
that you restate the question in your own words before you answer it to ensure
that you understood it correctly and that everyone in the audience can hear
it. It also gives you time to think of
an answer. And in the case of those
long-winded comments-as-questions, restating the question succinctly makes it
clear to everyone which elements you are going to focus on and answer.
6)
Getting
into a fight with a hostile questioner.
If you get a clearly hostile question, keep your answer brief, direct it
to the entire audience and when you're done, move your eye contact away from
that questioner. It's not usually a good
idea to attack the questioner head-on because it's difficult to win those
exchanges, it can distract you from your topic and you risk turning the
audience against you.