If given the option, you should always set aside time for a question and answer session. Imagine yourself giving a great talk and now your audience wants more. You may get some of them to sign up for your mailing list, but you can also clarify some things for them in the moment by answering questions. That’s a true benefit for any speaker when it comes to making sure the information that they’ve delivered was clear enough. But question and answer sessions can go great, or not so great. It depends on the topic. It depends on how many people you are talking to. It depends on the energy. It can help drastically, but it’s also somewhat out of your hands because you are ultimately letting your audience speak their mind for a few minutes. You don’t have any control of what your audience will ask and you only hope they will stay on topic. Still, whenever I work with a client, I always stress to them that they should negotiate and verify that there will be specific time set to the side for questions and answers (usually 10 to 15 minutes). I’ve seen speakers run workshops where they set aside time throughout to answer questions. Also in a more traditional sense, I’ve seen speakers wait until the end of their session to conduct it. In either instance, it needs to be done properly, because it’s not always as easy as it seems. With that being said, there are some things you need to consider.

Q&A sessions are most popular with workshops. This is when you can have, at max, a classroom size full of people. Think of a room that wouldn’t be too hard to manage. The bigger the room, the more time a Q&A session could take up. It may also be harder for everyone to hear the question being asked. But with everything being practically virtual now, it doesn’t matter how many people you are talking to. Online meeting platforms make it super easy to run a successful Q&A no matter the size. For example, with a free Zoom account, although it’s capped at 40 minutes, you can host up to 100 participants at one time. In a typical live setting that includes 100 participants, it would be difficult for most speakers to conduct a Q&A session. Your mic runner would have to bounce all over the place and you could easily lose control. In a virtual environment, you can run it efficiently within a workshop or at the end of your keynote. You can collect questions in the chat. If someone is long-winded, you can exercise the mute button. Although it can present a set of other challenges, virtually presenting makes conducting Q&A sessions a lot easier.

Like with the whole speaking process, you are literally learning and adapting every time you conduct Q&A. So there isn’t a one size fits all solution for how you handle it. But you should always feel like you are in full control. So if you are dealing with a person who seems unruly or agitated and they have their hand up, you don’t have to call on them. You aren’t obligated to allow everybody who raises their hand to ask a question. This almost sounds rude, but it’s up to you to read the room. Sometimes, you will recognize that allowing a person to ask a question might not be in everybody’s best interest. Likewise, if you notice that you are getting the same types of questions asked in separate Q&A’s, then you should make note of the proper changes needed within your presentation. Re-think your content, because there may be some important information that you are failing to address. Once again, you should be constantly adapting because your audience is telling you what’s clear and what they need more information on.

Remember, you can present the same content and constantly get the same questions. You can present the same content and receive different questions. You can also present different content every time and never receive the same questions. You have to embrace the unexpected. Even if you intended to set aside 10 to 15 minutes for your Q&A and you are only left with 7 minutes, you can still make something out of it. Remember, you are a trained communicator, so keep your answers short, sweet and always provide your email or some other form of communication for follow-up questions. Another key thing to do is when you are asked a question, always repeat the question back. First, this is a good idea because you can make sure you heard that person correctly in order to give the best answer. Secondly, you are making sure that everyone else in the audience here’s the question. You ultimately make sure that the person asking the question, yourself and the audience all are on the same page. It can take some time to truly master Q&A, but it gives you more opportunity to prove your worth. So prepare as best as you can and take full advantage of it!

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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