Topic 1.12.4 Dealing with Questions
DEALING WITH QUESTIONS
1.Warm up
It is typical for presentation audiences to ask questions. Some presenters prefer questions during their presentations while others prefer to have questions at the end. Which approach do you think is better?
2A. Some questions can be easy to answer and others more difficult. Discuss how difficult you think these situations are and how you could respond to them.
Someone asks a question:
- to which you do not know the answer.
- which is outside the focus of your presentation.
- which challenges the arguments you have made.
- with several other questions all at the same time.
- about something you explained 10 minutes ago.
- on a topic you want to talk about later.
2B. Think of at least one more difficult question which someone might ask and suitable ways to respond.
3A. Listening
[Audio 1.05] Jon Collins is Head of Marketing for Frisco, an importer of fresh food products for supermarkets. He is presenting the results of a survey about attitudes to the use of plastics in the food supply chain.
3B. Listen again. What three questions was Jon asked and what answers did he give? How effective do you think his answers were?
3C. [Audio 1.06] Listen to the second part of the presentation.
3D. How effective do you think these types of answers are?
4.Responding to questions during a presentation
5A. Responses
A design company has just finished a presentation to an important customer. The customer has commissioned the development of a new website, due for delivery next month. Look at the questions and decide how the design company should respond to them.
- You mentioned some technical issues which need to be resolved. What are these technical problems?
- I’m a little bit frustrated by the two-week delay. Why is this?
- All the photos on the website are white males. Don’t we need some diversity?
- What’s going to be the final cost?
- Is the search engine optimisation in line with industry benchmarks?
- I know this isn’t on the agenda, but could we do a quick run-through of each webpage to check quality?
5B. Work with another pair. Ask and answer the questions and decide which are the best answers.
6A. Task
Prepare a short presentation to explain a change you would like to make/see in your workplace, personal life or in society in general. It could be based on something you read, e.g. a market research report, an article, your own experience. Prepare to explain what the change is, its purpose and the potential benefits.
6B. Work in small groups to present your ideas. During and after each presentation, the ‘audience’ asks questions. Use ideas and phrases from Exercise 4 to respond to questions.
6C. After each short presentation, the ‘audience’ gives quick feedback on how well the questions were handled.
7.Discussion
- What strategies do you find most helpful when answering difficult questions during a presentation?
- Have you ever been asked a question you didn’t know how to answer? How did you handle it?
- What do you think is more important: giving a perfect answer or staying calm and professional?