Q&A
Great Presentation, Great Q&A Session
Questions are a good opportunity for you to interact with your audience. Be polite with all questioners, even if they ask difficult questions. They are showing interest in what you have to say and they deserve attention. You can also ask the audience questions to help stimulate their thinking or to check if they understood the material. The Q&A session is as important as the body of your presentation because it is the place to make your final impression.
#1 Rule of Q&A
Always take care of the questioner.
Dealing with Questions
| Function | Possible Language |
| Acknowledging a question | That’s a good question/point. I’m glad you asked that. You bring up an interesting point. That’s interesting. |
| Clarifying a question | Sorry, I didn’t quite catch what you were saying. Could you say that again? Sorry, could you repeat what you just said. I’m not quite sure what you trying to say. If I understand you correctly, you are saying… |
| Avoid giving an answer | I’m sorry, but I’m not able to comment on that at this time. Can we talk about that after my presentation? That’s a good question, but perhaps we can discuss it at a later time. I think that falls outside the scope of my presentation. |
| Don’t have the answer | I’m sorry, but that is not in my field. Well, it might be a bit early to say. I don’t have those figures with me today… Truthfully, I don’t know the answer to that question… …but I’d be happy to get back to you on that. |
| Deferring the question | I’m not the best person to answer that. I believe Sarah Tsai is the person to ask. I’d like to direct that question to John Wu. John, what do you think…? I’ll bring up your question at our manager’s meeting next Monday. |
| Playing for time | Actually, that’s an interesting question. What do you think? I’m glad you asked that. I’m curious what some others think. You’ve raised an important point. How do you see it? |
| Asking for more information | Could you be a little more specific? Sorry, could you give me a few more details about…? Could you expand on that a bit? |
| Already answered the question | As I mentioned in my presentation… As I was saying earlier… You may recall, but earlier I mentioned that… |
| Checking for satisfaction | Does that answer your question? Is that clear for you? |
Exercise: Respond to these questions with a suitable answer from above.
Do know if the project will be completed this month? _________________________
I noticed that clients rarely pay on time. Why is that? _________________________
How much do they pay the new employees? __________________
I completely disagree with your analysis. ___________________
