Presenting Confidently: Rise Above Q & A Pitfalls

As applause breaks out across the audience at the business lunch, you realise that your speech has been well received.  You feel pleased and somewhat relieved.  But then, as is the normal protocol, your host invites the audience to ask their questions. 

While you are able to control the content, structure and flow of your presentation, once the baton is passed over to the audience, it is not possible to control who will ask a question and what questions will be asked.  The key point for the Q & A session is that, as the speaker, you are still in control, aided and supported by the moderator of the function. 

You will feel even more in control and confident in your responses with the following tips and techniques from People Results:

Staying in Control

Occasionally a questioner is less interested in asking you a genuine question as they are in promoting their own views in public.  The typical questioner will frame their question with two to three sentences.  By contrast, the expansive questioner will keep talking for an extended period rather than actually asking a question.  This situation does not arise often because most people observe the Q & A protocol and ask a question.

But when it does happen, you need to interrupt the questioner quite strongly and at the same time put your arm up with your hand palm-side out, saying clearly, “I have to STOP you there; time is getting away.  What is your question?”  If the person still persists in not asking a question, interrupt her/him again immediately, “We need to move on.”
 

At the same time, deliberately turn your gaze and body right away from the questioner and toward the rest of the audience members, asking if someone else has a question.

The Hostile Questioner
Rare but it does happen that someone has an “axe to grind.”  Pity that it is against your head!

In this situation, first and foremost, keep calm and composed.  Let your features and expression be completely neutral, neither happy nor unhappy.

Do not respond to the hostile questioner in the same way if he/she was angry, loud and aggressive.  Before you answer, acknowledge to the questioner and to the audience in general that the topic is one that some people feel strongly about and that you understand and respect others’ views provided they are expressed in a respectful, reasonable manner. 

Ask the questioner to remain calm and you will be only too pleased to answer her/his question.  As you respond, acknowledge any points you agree with and acknowledge others where you have a different view.  Be careful not to let the questioner back in as it is not the time or place for a to-and-fro exchange.  


Wrap up your answer on a positive note with any points of common ground.  As you finish, turn your gaze and body to the other side of the audience and ask, “Are there any other questions?”

Gaining Time to Answer
Some questions are unpredictable and come out of “left field.”  Initially your mind goes blank and you struggle to formulate an answer.  Here are some tactics to use in this situation:

·         Throw the question back out to the audience or group members.  “Has anyone else experienced this problem?  Please raise your hands.”  If you get one or some responses, ask him/her, “Can you tell us what happened?  What did you do?”  If you don’t get any responses, you have still “bought” yourself some time to think about the question and come up with a short response.

·         Respond by saying, “Let me check if I understand the question.  You’re asking “……”  By reflecting the question back and clarifying for understanding, you have bought yourself some time to think it through and answer it.

·         Respond by saying, “That’s a very important question; (you’ve bought a little time) and “I would like to answer it by …..”  There may be more than one issue in the question and you can only answer it in part.  Acknowledge when you cannot answer question in full because of time limitations or lack of information.

Talking and Taking Up Too Much Time
The questioner may be one of those meandering speakers who finds it very difficult to go in a direct line in their communication.  Instead they try to give all the background and examples and talk and talk without getting to the question.  This condition is sometimes called “verbal diarrhoea,” and someone who is a sufferer is harmless except that he or she is taking up the limited time for Q & A.

 

Like the Staying in Control situation on the previous page, but this time gently interrupt this questioner and ask, “What is your question?” 

Don’t Know the Answer
When you are asked a very detailed or technical question and you don’t know or are not sure of the answer, say so simply and clearly.  Explain that you don’t want to be specific until you have the current figures or check with someone in your company.  Ask if the person will provide their contact details to you afterwards, and you will be happy to get this information to her/him.

Do you have some tips that have worked well for you or others?  Please add your thoughts and experiences on how to handle the Q & A session with confidence and success. 

If you would like to discuss your professional development (or on behalf of your team members) in public speaking/group presentation skills, please contact us for a confidential, no-obligation conversation.

Happy Speaking!

Lynne Lloyd

Managing Director

People Results

Executive Coaching and Talent Development

Telephone:  +617 39101003

Email:  enquiries@peopleresults.com.au

Web:  www.peopleresults.com.au

Love the Voice You’re In: Managing Our Vocal Image

Like our breathing, our voices are just there.  Any time we want to speak, we do so without effort or preparation.  Because of its ready availability, our voice is something that we take for granted and rarely pause to think about.  Yet how we sound is equally important in building executive presence in our organisation and externally as our visual presentation. As we become more conscious of the power of our vocal image and how to manage it, we can have an impact on and manage how we are perceived within the team and by the senior decision-makers in our organisation.  In this article we will look specifically at challenge for people who have a naturally quiet voice and some easy techniques to be better heard in meetings and other workplace settings. 

Have you ever heard your own voice played back in an audio recording or on a video?  What was your first reaction?  Was it something like, “Oh, what a surprise!  Is that really how I sound?”  When we speak, we actually “hear” our voice internally via our vocal chords to our middle ear and not through our ears.  So we do not hear ourselves as others do unless we listen to a recording of our voice.  When we do hear our voice through our ears, it can seem as if we are hearing someone else’s voice rather than our own.

Certainly if one’s natural voice is so quiet and low that colleagues around a meeting table must strain to hear what we are saying or cannot make out part or all of what we are saying, this will be damaging our vocal image.  The clues will be there.  For example, if others frequently ask you to repeat what you said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch what you just said,” or “I can’t hear you; can you speak a bit louder please?”  Also look out for non-verbal signals such as people around the table looking a bit puzzled or frowning after you speak.  More than likely, they couldn’t hear you and their feelings of frustration and mild irritation are playing out through their facial expressions.  Think about when you want to hear someone’s words, and you can’t– for whatever reason –how do you react?  Do you feel somewhat cut off and even unsettled?  After asking the quiet-speaking team member to repeat their words a couple of times, and you still can’t hear her/him, you will stop asking.  And inevitably you will stop listening.

Here are three People Results’ techniques that are easy to implement and useful for all, particularly the person with the quiet, soft voice:

1. What is your usual posture as you sit at the meeting table?  Do you slump in the chair or crunch your body over the table?  These body positions restrict your air passages and diaphragm which in turn reduces the amount of air you have available when you speak.  Sit upright and feel your spine stretch out.  You will immediately feel more buoyant, alert and authoritative.  Consciously maintain this posture throughout the meeting.

2. Proper breathing is the foundation of a healthy voice.  Raise your awareness of your own breathing and as you prepare to speak, breathe deeply in and out, taking a good amount of air into your diaphragm and lungs.  (An important aside, getting more oxygen into the blood stream by breathing more deeply also pumps more oxygen into our brains and helps us thinker quicker and smarter.)  Our voices are actually supported and carried on cushions of air from our breathing.  Think of your voice as having to be pumped up with air like the tyres on a bicycle you are about to ride.  

3. As you speak, deliberately project your voice forward and out to meet the person who is positioned at the furthest point from you in the room.  You will notice how actors on stage are able to project their voices out across the stage and at times right out to the audience.  The distance you need to project your voice depends on the situation, i.e. how close or far you are from the person at the most distant point in the room.

Summary

Vocal image is one of three core components of a positive and confident executive presence:  how we Look, how we Act, and our Words.  This conclusion has been reinforced by the experiences that some participants in the People Results’ Executive Presence workshops have discussed.  Equally qualified and as technically proficient as their colleagues, they talk about how they are often “drowned out” in meetings by the more dominant voices of their colleagues.  They struggle to get their voices heard even to the point that colleagues have taken ownership and talked knowledgeably about the work or ideas that the participant has been responsible for.  Managers and colleagues come to the conclusion that their quiet colleague is shy and timid and prefers to sit listening in meetings rather than contributing.  To be viewed as a valued contributor, it is critical to be both seen and heard and therefore to develop a clear and credible vocal image. 

People Results is delighted to announce our new Talent Development Program – WomenSpeak – that assists women to connect with their most powerful voice by modifying and enhancing their natural voices:  Registration is open for the WomenSpeak Half-Day Workshop on Thursday, 19th April, 2012 in Brisbane.  If women colleagues in your organisation and network may be interested in attending, please forward the details on to them.  Thank you.

Looking forward to continuing this conversation on vocal image and inviting you to add your thoughts and experiences.

Lynne Lloyd 

People Results 

Email:  enquiries@peopleresults.com.au 

Telephone:  07 3310 1003/ 0421 998749

Web:  www.peopleresults.com.au