This chapter explores effective strategies for managing question and answer sessions following presentations. It highlights preparation for challenging inquiries and demonstrates practical techniques using a real-life example from a steel company meeting.
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for the second part of our lesson on English for presentations and handling a question and answer session at the end of a presentation.
Presentations can be stressful. Speaking in front of the public, or even just your colleagues, makes even confident people nervous. And there’s one part of a presentation in particular that might dial up the nerves: the questions people ask at the end of your presentation.
The Q&A requires you to think on your feet. Some of the questions you get might be really difficult. And for that reason, it may be important to check that your answers are sufficient for the question-asker. At the same time, the questions might not even be relevant! So you’ll need a strategy for that situation as well.
Sometimes a person will ask a question that you think you’re not the best person to answer. In that case, you can figure out who to redirect the question to. And if this entire Q&A situation is stressful, well at least you have some control. You can control the timing, instead of letting it go on forever.
In this lesson, we’ll continue listening to a Q&A in a meeting at a steel company. Nick, a sales director, has just given a presentation. He and his boss Max are dealing with questions from Bryan and Cindy.
Listening Questions
1. After telling Cindy about measures of success, what question does Nick ask her?
2. What does Max say about Cindy’s question regarding morale and how the sales staff are feeling?
3. How does Nick respond to John’s question about marketing in the U.K.?
