Handling Questions in Presentations | Tips for Q&A

https://youtu.be/RjjHfXO_rOA

Hey, it’s Dr. Liu here with Better LIFE Research TIPS. In this video, I will show you how to use questions to make your presentation more engaging, and how to have a good Q & A session and handle difficult questions.

First of all, when we prepare our presentations, it is a good idea to use questions to create the outline of our talk. Questions are naturally dialogic, and they directly put us in the conversational mode that we need for effective communication. This figure shows the 4 types of questions we should answer based on David Kolb’s learning theory. It is a two by two matrix defined by two dimensions on how people respond or process new information. The vertical dimension is feel or think. The horizontal dimension is act or observe. Based on the typical learning style, the audience usually start from feel and observe, in this quadrant, the main question they have is “why”. Why is this information important to me? Why should I listen?

After the ”why” question is answered, they enter the quadrant 2, observe and think, and they ask the question “what”. What are the known facts? What evidence do you have? And next, in the quadrant 3, think and act, they ask “how”. How is it practical? How could I use this new information? And finally, they enter the quadrant 4, act and feel, they ask “what if”. What if I follow your message? What would be the results? So these are the 4 types of questions the audience may have based on David Kolb’s learning theory.  If we can design our presentation to answer these 4 questions effectively, our presentation will be more powerful.

In a previous video, we have talked about the Problem-Solution-Benefit structure. In fact, the problem section should answer the question “why”, the benefit section should answer the question “what if”. And we can see that both of the Problem and the Benefit are on the feeling side, so we could include some emotional part in these two sections, such as personal stories. The Solution section handles the question “what” and “how”, and they are on the thinking side. One common mistake is that we don’t answer the “why” question first, and we directly go to the “what” question. That is one way we lose our audience.

During the presentation, questions can be frequently used by the speakers to get attention from the audience, to emphasize the key points, to encourage further thoughts, and to control the pace of the presentation. We may ask rhetoric or quick survey questions to get attention from the audience. Before we present a key point, we may ask leading questions to lead the audience towards a particular answer which can be used to emphasize our key point. And after we complete a key section or a complex point, we may invite questions by asking “What questions do you have on this section?” If we know the audience might have a particular question, we’d better address that question directly. We may say something like “Many of you might have the question that …” In this way, we engage the audience by telling them “I understand and I care about what you are thinking”. And we create more of a natural dialogue with the audience.

Questions are not problems. Questions from the audience often mean we have engaged the audience and they want to know more. The quality and quantity of the questions we receive during or after our talk is actually a measure of how successful is our talk. It demonstrates how well the audience have received our message, and how much they are interested to know more. The Q&A session is probably the most important part of a research presentation. It is a golden opportunity for us to connect with our audience. Therefore, we need to be well prepared and get ready for the top questions the audience might ask.

In the Q&A session, generally, there may be three types of hard situations. The first is, it seems nobody wants to ask the first question. And there is an awkward silence. In this case, we might want to invite questions. But don’t just ask ”Is there any questions?” Instead, we can ask what questions do they have on some specific key points in our talk. We can take this as a chance to re-summarize our key points. And it will also give the audience more time and guiding to prepare their questions. We may also address some of the anticipated questions with our prepared answers by saying something like “I am often asked by the question that …”

The second type of hard situation is that, we do not know the answer to the question. In this case, we can do three things. First, we should be honest and admit we do not know the answer, and second we should try our best to answer part of the question, or provide a idea on what the answer might be like. Or we can bridge it to something relevant, providing at least some value to the asker. We may say something like “I don‘t know the answer to your question, but a related issue that we encountered was that …” And last, we may also commit to follow up. We may say something like “I don’t have a good answer right now, but if you leave your contact information, I will follow up and get a good answer for you by tomorrow.” Another strategy is to recommend and direct the asker to other experts who may be able to provide an answer. Don’t fake an answer or try to conceal problems we know in our work. If we are open about our difficulties, we might get some useful suggestions from the audience.

The third type of hard situation is that, we do not understand the question due to difficulties with the language used by the asker. In this case, in addition to politely ask them to rephrase their question, we can try our best to reformulate the question by saying something like “If I heard you correctly, you are asking … Is that right?” If that still doesn’t work, we may admit we have difficulties, and we offer to talk with the asker after the presentation when we have more time.

When we need more time to think about the answer, there are two steps we can do before we answer the question. First, we can compliment the question and thank the asker. Second, we can repeat or paraphrase the question in our own words. But remember, when we compliment the question, we need to do it sincerely. Don’t always say “It is a good question” when we obviously don’t really think so. We’d better use some variations and provide reasons for our compliment. We may say something like “This is a very important question because this question shows that …” Or “That is an interesting question. I never anticipate it. I appreciate you providing new thought on the problem. Based on my understanding, the question is about …” And then we paraphrase the question to the best of our understanding.

Paraphrasing or repeating the questions before answering them have many benefits. It not only buys time for us, it is also a chance to reframe the question to make it easier for us to answer, and easier for other audience to understand. In some case, it may be a good idea to always repeat the question no matter we have a ready answer or not for that question. We treat all the questions the same way, and thus the audience will not know we may be less confident on some questions. In this way, we look more professional.

Thanks for watching, I am Dr. Liu with research tips for the underdogs. Q&A can be challenging but it can also be very rewarding. Until next time, let’s be prepared for a great Q&A and make our life better.

To Subscribe Dr. Liu ResearchTIPS:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMJUogKw0lXduef7nu3I7A/?sub_confirmation=1