Chapter 9

Fearless Question and Answer Sessions

“Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.”

—Ronald Reagan

Many presenters are most fearful of the question and answer periods, because they feel like they can’t really prepare for them. However, question and answer periods are not only fairly easy to prepare for but also a fantastic way to prove that you are the expert.

Before we cover how to conduct question and answer sessions, let’s first talk about when question and answer sessions are helpful and when to avoid them. We’ll also talk about two different types of questions you will be asked.

WHEN TO USE QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS

If you are in control of the agenda and have the option of whether to include a question and answer session, don’t put the session in. In real-life presentations, the last thing you want to do is have people hold all of their questions until the end of your presentation. If someone has a question about something that I am covering, I would much rather have the person ask me the question when it comes up versus having the person with the question being confused during most of my presentation and then asking the question at the end. It’s a better policy to encourage questions throughout the presentation than finishing early and giving people a few minutes after the presentation to ask questions.

If, however, someone else is in control of the agenda, and a question and answer session at the end of the presentation is required, then make sure, before you receive the first question, that you understand the two different types of questions you will likely get asked.

Questions for Clarity

Most questions are being asked so that the person asking the question can gain some clarity. The person asking the question is confused or didn’t understand something that you previously discussed. Sometimes, because of a short time period, we have to rush through information, and as a result, we will get a number of these types of questions. Interestingly enough, if you design your presentation using the most important point method and insert some stories and examples, you will rarely get questions like this.

If you do get these questions, answer them with a short answer (if the question lends itself to a short answer).

“When can your team get started?”

“Next week.”

If the question is more in depth, treat it like a new key point and use an example, story, or some other type of impact idea to answer the question.

“You said that phase two would take between two weeks and six weeks. What could cause the variance, and how long are you expecting for this project?”

“Let me give you a couple of examples. Phase two could take as little as two weeks as it did in the . . .”

These types of questions are not being asked to test you or to throw you off your game. They are being asked only because the questioner wants some additional information. These questions are easy to answer, and you should feel good about your answer when you give it to the questioner.

Questions to Test the Presenter

The second type of question is more challenging, because these questions are designed to test the presenter. Often these questions are asked with an unmistakable tone. At times, the person who is asking the question either has an agenda or may just be a jerk trying to embarrass the speaker. However, more often, especially in interviews, the questioner has a set of prepared questions that he or she is asking every presenter and will then compare how each presenter or team answered the questions. Regardless of why the person is asking the question, though, the presenter will need to answer the question with tact and control.

For these types of questions, answer them very quickly, but clarify your answer with an example or a story immediately. Here is an example:

“When was the last time you missed a schedule deadline, and why did it happen?”

“Last winter, we were working on a project in Minneapolis, and toward the latter stages of the project, a winter storm hit the area, shutting down most transportation near the project for the better part of a week. Unfortunately, that started a chain reaction, because some subcontractors had to be scheduled weeks in advance, and they couldn’t do their part of the project until earlier contractors were finished. Dave was our project manager on that project, too, and he got word from one of the subcontractors that if we couldn’t get this subcontracting team in within 14 days, that they wouldn’t be able to return for more than 30 days. So Dave pulled a lot of strings and had one of the earlier subcontractors pull in a second crew at our expense so that we didn’t miss that critical deadline. Even though we missed over a week because of weather, the project still completed within four days of the scheduled end date. So that is exactly the reason why you want Dave and his team on your project. Things are not always going to go as planned; you need someone on your team who is going to go the extra mile to minimize damage and increase your success when something outside of any of our control occurs.”

You can practice these responses so that you are more likely to see the curveball. One of the last activities that I have presenters do before a big sales presentation is brainstorm any and all possible questions that the potential clients could throw at them. We then go through every question, one at a time, and come up with an example or story in response. By the time the team enters the question and answer period in the real presentation, every member will have already delivered a well-designed and flawlessly delivered speech to the committee and will have edified one another and presented as a solid team. And the team will already be prepared for anything that could come up in a question and answer session, so they are loaded for bear when the first question is asked.

Remember that the main reason for delivering the interview presentation is to get the decision makers to like you. If you answer their challenging questions with stories, you will appear confident and in control. They will often ask only a couple of challenging questions if you answer those first few questions well.