Should you take questions when you're speaking? Well, let's talk about that. q&a. It's a double edged sword. I suppose it's good in that people can get more information from you and get their specific questions answered. But it doesn't work very well does it if you're not able to give good answers at the time, or if it drags on, and certainly if somebody decides to pipe up and have a moon or introduce something negative, so I would approach QA with great caution.
One thing you can do is make sure that you don't do it as the last thing. Make sure it's the penultimate thing. And then after that, you have got something interesting to say to close on. Keep back a story. Perhaps you want to close a loop that you've opened earlier, or a new anecdote or a strong message to leave people with? Whatever happens, you've got to control troll the energy and the feel in the room.
Don't let q&a takeover when you've done all of that work to create an engaging speech. And then within the questions, there are certain techniques that you can use that might make it a bit more interesting. One of the things that I do is sometimes I take questions on a post it note or on a postcard, and I will then group those together and answer four or five questions in one go on something that seems like a theme. And I'll also ignore some of them, which is harder to do when someone asks you a question verbally. So I'll make a joke of it. I look at it, I'll read it.
And then I'll say, No, that's a boring question. I'll screw it up and throw it over my shoulder and then the audience find that quite fun and funny. So think about how you're going to survive q&a. Are you very good at answering questions straight off the cuff? Or is this really going to be a negative part of the speech that you might be better avoiding? If so, then thank you.
Ask the questions in a different way. Maybe write a blog about them afterwards or answer them on social media. Maybe it could be in a panel later in the day of speakers and then everybody's answering questions at the same time. Whatever you do take control of q&a. Make sure that it's serving your needs and the audience's needs the best. And whatever you do, then the audience out on a high not on a question.