3-Step Process for a Speaker to Handle Questions

Jul 15
My student finished presenting his persuasive case to the audience and then opened it up to questions. “Have you calculated the internal costs to our organization due to the downtime this project would cause?” When I saw my student’s face, I knew this hadn’t been part of his calculations. Every second the pause hung in the air longer, the color in his face seemed to disappear just as quickly as the audience’s confidence in his proposal.

"The key to wisdom is knowing all the right questions."
-John A Simone Sr.

Have you witnessed this in a presentation before?

It’s not pretty and it’s uncomfortable for the audience too. Regardless of the amazing message delivered, if the question and answer time does not go well, the entire presentation can be sunk.

I’m going to give you a two-part series on how to handle questions as a presenter. Both of these are short videos on effective ways to handle questions so that the audience has even more confidence in you and your credibility.

Before you implement what we teach in either of these videos, you need to complete the first required step… PREPARE for the tough questions! You need to prepare for the toughest questions you expect to get from the audience. Then work on how you will respond to each of them. After you’ve completed preparation you’re ready to learn the processes for handling the questions.

Part 1: 3-Step Process to handle most questions (this post)

Part 2: How to handle the aggressive questions (next week)

Kevin Karschnik and I recorded a couple short videos to show you how to handle your Q&A time in the most professional manner.  In this week’s video (1:39 length), I share a simple 3-step process you can use to frame your Q&A time.
See you next week!
Russ Peterson Jr. 
Co-founder, iSpeak