People typically prepare well for a presentation, but very few prepare for questions that arise during and after the presentation. Preparing for this can result in a better outcome of the presentation as it will reflect well on your knowledge of the subject. How does one prepare for this?
The first step is to actually anticipate and prepare to be able to respond to questions just as you prepare for your presentation. As you prepare your materials, you will also become aware of the kinds of questions that the audience potentially can ask.
The danger though is that this may distract you and potentially panic you as to the extent of preparation. What you should do is to just write down these questions, and continue to work on the presentation. You can revisit the questions after you have finished the presentation preparation.
At the presentation itself, it is important to inform the audience whether you will be taking questions during the presentation or only at the end.
If you are taking questions at the end, take the questions about ten to fifteen minutes before the presentation is targeted to end. This will give you an opportunity to do a proper closure after taking the questions. If you end with questions, sometimes you will find that the speech concludes abruptly.
When a question is raised, listen attentively. This shows respect to the person asking the question and also you will capture the intent of the question.
Repeat the essence of the question to confirm that you have understood the question correctly and to give yourself a little more time to think before answering. This also ensures that everyone hears the question as well, in the event that they did not hear it the first time.
When answering the question, address the whole audience and not just the person who asked the question. Directing the answer to just the person who asked the question could end up with you having a conversation with one person and you risk losing the attention of the rest of the audience.
There is sometimes a tendency to get relaxed and comfortable towards the end of the speech. Under such circumstances, you need to watch out that you do not get carried away and provide a long answer. Keep the answer precise and to the point.
What about the occasions that you might not know the answer? In this case, be truthful and let them know that you are not able to answer. Take down their contact number or email address so that you can check it out and provide the answer later.
There may also be situations when no one asks any questions. For such situations, you may want to prepare a couple of questions. You can then tell the audience what are typical questions that are normally asked and proceed to answer. If there are people who are just warming up, it will give them an opportunity to ask further questions.
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