Getting Your Audience Involved

• Author: Faith Dianne Pincus
• Profession: Attorney and former Federal Law Clerk
• Pages: 123-128

123

CHAPTER TEN

Getting Your Audience

Involved

Q&A about Q&A

I get asked a lot of questions about questions. The most frequently asked

question is, when should the speaker take questions? Should the Q&A come

midway through, throughout, or at the end of a presentation?

My answer depends on two things: First, how big is your audience?

And second, how much control are you comfortable exerting?

The larger the audience, the better it is to take questions toward the

end or you risk getting derailed by too many questions. There is also the

danger of running out of time. However, if you are practiced at control-

ling your audience and limiting the number of questions, you can solicit

and answer questions throughout your speech, which is what attendees

prefer—at least in an educational setting.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with too many questions, direct your

audience. Tell them you have to move on, ask them to write their questions

down and save them for later. And, if you aren’t able to take all questions

before you conclude, always tell your audience how they can reach you

to ask more questions. Tell them you’ll stay after to answer all questions,

or if not, they can email you, they can call you—whatever is appropriate.

With smaller audiences, you can allow attendees to ask questions

throughout your presentation and create a more intimate and interactive

environment. Remember: a presentation is a conversation, not a perfor-

mance. So give them a chance to ask you questions.

In general, audiences prefer to have their questions answered at the

time they think of them, not at the end of your presentation. In fact, many

times they resent being put off. So, if you can handle it, take the questions

during your presentation. But if the audience is too large or you don’t feel

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