How To Handle Questions - Business English Presentations
Summary
TLDRIn this Business English presentation lesson, Derek offers practical tips for handling questions during presentations. He advises preparing by categorizing potential questions, repeating questions to clarify and buy time, responding positively to good questions, tactfully addressing unnecessary or unrelated questions, and honestly admitting when you don't know the answer to a difficult question. Derek also emphasizes the importance of checking if the audience is satisfied with your responses to ensure a professional presentation.
Takeaways
- 🗓️ Always be prepared for questions by knowing your topic well.
- 📢 Announce when questions can be asked during your presentation.
- 🤔 Categorize potential questions into those you expect, those that are difficult, and those you'd rather not be asked.
- 🔁 Repeating questions helps you understand them better and gives you time to think about your answer.
- 👂 Repeating questions also ensures the audience hears them, especially if they missed it the first time.
- 🙏 Appreciate good questions as they can enhance your presentation.
- 🔄 If a question has already been answered, gently remind the audience without making the questioner feel uncomfortable.
- 🚫 For off-topic questions, politely steer the conversation back to the presentation's subject.
- 🙅♂️ Be honest if you don't know the answer to a question, and offer to find out later.
- 📝 Check with the questioner to ensure they are satisfied with your response.
Q & A
What is the importance of knowing when questions will be asked during a presentation?
-Knowing when questions will be asked helps the presenter to manage time effectively and decide whether to accept interruptions or not, ensuring a smooth presentation flow.
How can a presenter prepare for questions during a presentation?
-A presenter can prepare by anticipating questions, categorizing them into those expected and easily answerable, those expected but difficult, and those unwelcome or challenging. Strategies should be developed for the latter two categories.
Why is it beneficial to repeat a question after it has been asked?
-Repeating a question helps the presenter to ensure they understand it correctly, shows the audience that they were attentive, allows others who may not have heard the question to understand it, and provides additional time to formulate a response.
What should a presenter do when they receive a good question during a presentation?
-A presenter should acknowledge the question as good, possibly thank the questioner for their input, and use it as an opportunity to provide more details or cover points they may have forgotten.
How should a presenter handle an unnecessary question that has already been answered?
-Instead of directly stating the question has been answered, the presenter can gently remind the audience by referring back to the part of the presentation where it was discussed, ensuring not to make the questioner feel uncomfortable.
What is the appropriate response when a presenter receives a question unrelated to the presentation topic?
-The presenter can express that they don't see the connection or follow the question, suggesting that it raises a different issue, and possibly offering to discuss it after the presentation.
What should a presenter do when faced with a difficult question they don't know the answer to?
-It's best for the presenter to be honest about not knowing the answer, but assure the questioner that they will find out and get back to them, or delegate the question to a colleague if they are present and more knowledgeable.
How can a presenter check if the audience is satisfied with their answer to a question?
-The presenter can ask if the answer was satisfactory by using phrases like 'Does that answer your question?' or 'I hope that answers your question,' which also gives the questioner an opportunity to request further elaboration if needed.
Why is it important for a presenter to be well-prepared and knowledgeable about their topic?
-Being well-prepared and knowledgeable allows a presenter to handle audience questions confidently, enhancing their credibility and ensuring a successful presentation.
What are some strategies a presenter can use to deal with questions they find difficult to answer?
-Strategies include preparing responses for anticipated difficult questions, being honest about not knowing the answer but promising to find out, or delegating the question to a more knowledgeable colleague.
Outlines
🗣️ Handling Questions in Presentations
This paragraph introduces a lesson on business English presentations, focusing on how to handle questions effectively. The presenter, Derek, emphasizes the importance of preparation, suggesting that one should anticipate and categorize potential questions into those expected and easy to answer, those expected but difficult, and those unexpected and hard to answer. Derek advises repeating questions to ensure understanding, give the audience a chance to hear it again, and buy time to formulate a response. He also suggests ways to respond to good questions, such as expressing gratitude for the reminder or providing additional details.
🤔 Navigating Tricky Questions
The second paragraph delves into strategies for dealing with different types of questions during presentations. It advises on how to handle questions that have already been answered by redirecting gently, and how to manage off-topic questions without being dismissive. For difficult or unknown questions, honesty is recommended, with suggestions to admit lack of knowledge and offer to find out later. The paragraph also highlights the importance of checking with the questioner to ensure they are satisfied with the answer, providing examples of how to do so. The lesson concludes with an invitation for feedback and a reminder to subscribe for more lessons and resources.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Presentation
💡Questions
💡Category
💡Repeating Questions
💡Good Question
💡Unnecessary Question
💡Difficult Question
💡Check for Satisfaction
💡Subscribe
💡Business English
Highlights
Presenter's answer 'I don't know' is not a good impression.
Introduction to English for Professionals by Derek.
Lesson focuses on handling questions in business English presentations.
Subscribe and click the bell for new lesson notifications.
Four key aspects will be covered in the lesson.
First aspect is being prepared for questions.
Accept questions anytime or at the end based on presentation style.
Prepare by anticipating questions and categorizing them.
Repeating questions helps in understanding and gives time to think.
Examples of how to repeat questions effectively.
Acknowledge good questions to engage the audience.
Responding to unnecessary questions without making the asker uncomfortable.
Handling off-topic questions gracefully.
Being honest about not knowing the answer to a difficult question.
Ways to defer answering a question to a later time or to another person.
Checking for satisfaction to ensure the question was answered well.
Examples of checking if the questioner is satisfied with the answer.
Invitation for viewers to share their own tips in the comments.
Encouragement to like, share, and subscribe for more lessons.
Mention of a free vocabulary email list for additional learning.
Transcripts
mr callum during your presentation
you mentioned that you'd had some
problems recently
and that the project was behind schedule
how long do you think it will take to
get
back on schedule
i don't know
what impression would you get if a
presenter
answered your question like this
probably not a very good one
hi everybody and welcome back to english
for professionals
i'm derek and i'm here with another
short lesson for you
busy people in this business english
presentations lesson
i'm going to give you lots of useful
tips for handling questions
[Music]
before we get started if you're new to
the channel
and you're interested in short lessons
to help you with your business english
then hit the subscribe button and don't
forget to click on the little bell
that way you'll be notified every time i
upload a new lesson
and now let's get started
we're going to look at four different
things in this lesson
first how to be prepared for questions
second repeating questions
then handling different types of
questions
and finally checking for satisfaction
first of all it's good to know when
questions will
be asked if you have a more open
flexible style of presentation
you may choose to accept questions at
any time
however if you have a strict time limit
and you prefer
not to be interrupted then you'll
probably prefer to accept
questions at the end of your
presentation when you make your
introduction
make sure to let your audience know when
they can ask questions
and always be well prepared and know
your topic
it doesn't matter whether you accept
questions at any time
or only at the end the better your
preparation and knowledge of your topic
the better you will be able to handle
your audience's questions
if you want to be really well prepared
think about the questions your audience
could
ask and put them into the following
categories
category 1 questions you expect
and can definitely answer category 2
questions you would expect but would
find difficult to answer
and the final category category 3
questions you wouldn't want someone to
ask
and would find very difficult to answer
and when you're finished categorizing
these questions
try to come up with strategies for
dealing with the
questions in category 2 and 3.
when somebody asks a question it's a
good idea to repeat the question
for a couple of reasons for example if
somebody asks
are you expecting this product to be a
big success
you can repeat the question like this
you're asking me whether we're expecting
this product to be a big success
so why is this a good idea well first of
all when you repeat the question
it can help you to understand the
question better
and the person who asked will feel that
you were really paying attention
when they asked the question it can also
help
other people in the audience who maybe
didn't hear the question
by repeating the question you give them
the chance to hear the question again
and finally and this one is important it
also gives you an
extra little bit of time to think about
your answer
here are some other ways to repeat the
question
is this something we can afford to do at
the moment
you want to know if this is something we
can afford to do at the moment
well are you planning to expand into new
markets with this product
if i understand the question correctly
you would like to know
if we are planning to expand into new
markets with this product
what i can tell you is
how will this new technology help to
reduce costs
you're wondering how this new technology
will help to reduce costs
well
a good question gives you the
opportunity to give more details
about your topic it could make your
presentation better
it could also be about something you
wanted to mention
but forgot so why not thank the
questioner
for reminding you here are some
different ways to respond to good
questions
that's a really good question
i'm glad you've asked that question
an interesting question ah yes
thank you for reminding me
an unnecessary question is normally a
question that you've
already answered during the presentation
don't say i already answered that
question
that's too direct and it may make the
questioner
feel uncomfortable maybe they just
missed that part of your presentation
instead say this
when i spoke about earlier
i mentioned that
as i mentioned earlier
perhaps i didn't make that clear
sometimes people ask questions that are
not connected to the topic of your
presentation
here are some different ways to handle
these kinds of questions
i'm sorry but i don't see the connection
here
i'm sorry but i don't quite follow you
to be honest i think that raises a
different
issue maybe we could discuss it
afterwards
a difficult question is one that you
don't know the answer to
or that's difficult to answer if you
don't know the answer
it's better to be honest and say you
don't know
however let the questioner know that you
will try to answer the question at a
later point
but be careful if you have to do this
too often
it will give the impression that you
don't know your topic
and that you're not well prepared here
are some ways to handle difficult
questions
i'm afraid i don't know but i will find
out and get back to you
to be quite honest i don't really know
can i get back to you about that
i'm afraid i'm not in a position to
comment on that
or i'm afraid that's not my area of
expertise
it would be better to ask my colleague
frank winters
frank could you answer that question for
us please
and if your colleague is not present
i'll ask him to contact you
to clarify that would that be okay
and one more example i'm afraid i don't
have that
information to hand but i'd be happy to
forward it to you if
you give me your contact details when we
say we don't have something to hand
it means it's not available to us in
that moment
and finally i believe that an important
part of being a good
and professional presenter and making a
good impression
is to check with the questioner that
they are
satisfied with the answer you gave to
their question
now you don't have to do this for every
single question
with a lot of the questions you'll be
very confident
that you've answered the question well
but sometimes it is a good idea to do
this
and here are some examples of how you
can do it
does that answer your question
i hope that answers your question
would you like me to elaborate further
to elaborate
further means to give more details
i hope i've managed to clarify that for
you
is that what you wanted to know
so that brings us to the end of another
presentation skills lesson
i hope you found it helpful and if you
have any other tips for handling
questions
in a presentation please do let us know
in the comments
if you liked the lesson hit the like
button and share with your friends and
colleagues
subscribe to my channel if you haven't
done that already
and join my email list every two weeks i
send out my free vocabulary email
with additional business english words
from the news
and everyday english for you to learn
the link is in the description below
thanks a lot for watching and see you
soon
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