One of the most challenging types of impromptu speaking situations can be question and answer periods. But these situations are also places where we as speakers can really shine. We can also gain tremendous credibility with our audience.

By the way, if you use the processes and techniques from this book, you will establish solid trust and rapport with our audience throughout the presentation. So, the questions you get from your audience will usually be fairly cordial and actually easy.

Question and Answer Sessions at the Conclusion of a Speech Hurt Both the Speaker and the Audience


Before I give you tips on handling these sessions better, though, let’s first talk about when speakers should allow – and even encourage – questions.

One thing to keep in mind is that if someone in your audience is confused and has a question, it is much better for everyone if the speaker can clear up that confusion right away. If your speech is 30-minutes long and people in your audience have some confusion five minutes into the speech, you don’t want to have them wait until the end of the speech to ask their questions. This would cause them to be confused for twenty five of the thirty minutes.

On the other hand, if you encourage questions throughout the presentation, you clear up the confusion right away. This makes the rest of the presentation more clear and easier to understand.

So having a standard question and answer session at the conclusion of your presentation is a very outdated concept. It is also a big mistake for meeting organizers.

For instance, if the Q&A session is on the agenda, audience members will see it and think they can not ask questions during the presentation.

A better alternative is to encourage your audience to ask questions during your speech. Early on in your presentation, you can just say something like, “By the way, if I say something confusing or if you have a question, just ask.” A simple statement like this gives the audience permission to interact with the speaker.

One of the things that I tend to do early on in my speeches is to ask the audience an opinion-asking question. (See Chapter 8 Impact Ideas.) By doing this early in the speech, the entire audience sees that it is okay to speak up during the presentation. As the speaker, your goal is to create a communication with the audience. So dialogues typically work better than a boring monologue.

With all that being said, you still may want to leave a little time at the end of your speech for questions – just in case.

To download the free presentation master class audio guide, visit https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/audio-guide