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Great business presentations come from the effective use of several skills, all of which can be learned. In this article, I discuss how you handle questions from the audience.
If your presentation is part of a seminar or workshop, people expect to be able to ask their questions and have them answered, but sometimes they don't know when to ask.
If you are making a business presentation to the management group, they want answers and will have no hesitation in interrupting you any time they want.
The way you handle questions and answers can have a huge impact on your presentation. Perhaps you share two complaints that often come up in my presentation workshops:
1) You can never follow your planned presentations because people keep interrupting with questions that pull you off track.
2) You invite questions at the end, nobody asks any and you fade back to your seat in silence --- not the rousing finish you had hoped for!
Here are my suggestions for handling both these situations.
1) Begin by telling them you will have a Q&A session at the end and you will take all the time necessary to answer all their questions. Then any time someone interrupts to ask a question, you can politely say, "I'm glad you asked that question, and I do intend to answer it. However, the details fall more naturally into a later part of my presentation, so please bear with me until I reach that part. If you'd like more details, I'd be happy to fill them in during the Q&A session at the end."
This is a very reasonable request and most people will go along with it. Adapt the wording to suit your personal style as well as the audience and situation.
2) When you have finished delivering your content, but before you do your "big close", say something like, "And now, just before I bring my presentation to a close, I'd like to invite any questions you may have." Complete your Q&A, and then close with your planned "big finish". If there are no questions, you can slide easily into your planned close and leave the platform, or the front of the room, with your head held high, a smile on your face, and the confidence that you have left your listeners with the final thoughts that YOU want them to have.
Remember, it's your show, and you must control as much of it as possible --- and that includes Questions and Answers.
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Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker and workshop leader specializing in communication at work. For more of her ideas on presenting and other workplace communication skills visit her website at http://www.mhwcom.com and her blog at http://www.communi-keys.com
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