When it comes to Q&A - have some questions ready to ask yourself!

“And that’s the end of my presentation, so now I would be happy to answer any questions you may have”.

“Any questions?..............................”

“Would anyone like me to expand on any of the points I have made?..........................”

“I’m really very happy to talk about anything……………………………….”

“Last chance………………………………”

“Well, if there are really no questions……………..we had better go to lunch.”

We have all witnessed such situations and you may even have been on the receiving end at a presentation of your own. It all feels a little awkward, and the bigger the venue the worse it feels for all concerned. The most ghastly one I experienced was on board a ship where I was giving a talk in a medium-sized room. Topping the bill was a Scandinavian futurologist who was flown in by helicopter to speak to all 1,500 of us in the main theatre. When no one wanted to ask her a question the collective feeling was quite excruciating and it completely overwhelmed any impact she had achieved in her presentation.

You could blame this on bad chairmanship – the chairman of such as session should see it as their duty to manage the situation using means such as planted questions or questions of their own. I, however, urge anyone I am coaching to seize and maintain control of the whole scenario whenever they are presenting.   

So, don’t let any silence linger when you open the floor to questions. If none are forthcoming then pose one of your own! Use the line: “Something I am often asked is…..”; then pose a question and answer it, all of which should be very easy. What you will invariably find is that this starts a flow of genuine questions.

You need to bear in mind that the main reason for no questions is generally that no one wants to go first. By going first yourself – probably with a question that is even personalised to the audience – you make another key point and keep everything moving along. 

So next time you present be sure to have a few FAQ-type questions up your sleeve.

Adapted from Nick Fitzherbert's book, Presentation Magic

The Scottish debate's big reminder for business presenters in targeting & focusing communication

One thing for sure about the Scottish independence debate is that it provides a crystal-clear lesson for business presenters in targeting and focusing their communication.

The plain fact is that any message that is going to succeed boils down to WII FM.  That’s not a radio station – it stands for ‘What’s In It For Me’?

It has to be said that this is a whole lot easier for Salmond and the Yes camp who can paint dreamy future scenarios while tapping into gripes and prejudices that have festered for hundreds of years.

This is inevitably going to be a lot stronger than ‘Please don’t go’. When did that ever work?  ‘Better together’ is certainly a big step in the right direction but too many of the messages come over as threats and danger signals rather than benefits in the form of What’s In It For Me? messages. It’s all ended up as a bit of muddle that, whatever the result, we are going keep feeling for the rest of our lives. 

Even with the benefit of hindsight there is no easy solution but, as I said, the starting point for any message that is going to succeed is WII FM. So, what the Better Together team needed to tell the people of Scotland was: a) this is What’s In It For the Scots; b) this is What’s In It For the rest of the UK; c) it all adds up to a sum that is greater than its parts.