Handling questions in your presentation
When you are delivering your presentation, you will want people in your audience to ask you questions. Why? ..... Because usually it is a positive sign that they are interested, and they are trying to understand your message. If they were bored or disengaged, they would probably not bother to ask you any questions!
Therefore, we need to think about how we will handle questions in our presentation. Many presenters prefer to ask that questions be kept until the end of the presentation, so that they do not disrupt the flow of the presentation. The answers may naturally arise later during the presentation anyway.
If you decide to adopt this strategy, then it is wise to allocate the opportunity for questions before your final summation, so that you can end on a positive and optimistic note in your closing comments.
And not only should you rehearse the content of your presentation, you need to also prepare and rehearse how you will respond to likely questions or objections raised by your audience..
Anticipate questions by asking yourself what may be the content areas that could be somewhat unclear or difficult for people to grasp, and also try to identify the likely issues of concern to your audience
Some of the key points to remember about handling audience questions during your presentation include ....
Listen carefully – make sure you have understood the question before you answer Thank the person for their question Summarise the question if it is long and rambling, and provide a short answer
Some of the things you should try and avoid:
Do not get defensive – keep your body language open and your voice even when responding Do not waffle – if you're not sure of the answer, say that you will research it and get back to them Do not get caught up in an argument or a debate with any audience member- simply acknowledge if they have a different point of view to yours Do not rush with your answer – pause and take a moment to think, before you respond to the question
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