Prepare a ‘Cue-Card’ Outline

1. Use small cards

2. On separate cards, list every major point you want to make in order to accomplish your prime objective.

3. Arrange the cards into a logical sequence or flow.

4. Put the completed outline aside for a day or two and then re-read it.

An example of a well-paced slide presentation should have a slide change every 60 to 70 seconds. In a 20 minute presentation, that is 20-25 slides.

Ex. 23. Watch the video on handling the Q&A (Questions and Answers) Session. Note down, why questions are needed and the particular expression the presenter recommends. Also, pay attention to the structure of the presentation itself and comment on the techniques the speaker used to organize it.

Ex. 24. Read through the following list of phrases for handling the Q&A session. Work in pairs. Imagine that one of you is Carl, the presenter from the previous video. Your partner should ask you three questions about the presentation you have just delivered. Answer the questions using different techniques listed below. Then, change the roles and ask other three questions.

1. Signaling your readiness to answer the questions

After you have made the last conclusion of your presentation, tell the audience that you are ready to answer their questions:

1. Thank you (very much) for your attention. If there are any questions I will do my best to answer them.

2. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.

2. Handling Interruptions

Sometimes questions may arise during the presentation. Then you will need to apply tactics to handle interruptions during your talk.

That’s a very interesting	comment question	and I’ll be coming onto that later. and I’ll come back to it at the end.
	idea	can I come back to it at the end?
		perhaps I can deal with it more fully after this talk.

If I could just finish this point …

Does that answer your question? Can I continue?

3. Clarifying questions

Before you answer any question, make sure you really understand it.

Here are some useful tactics you can use.

a) Rephrasing the original question

So, do we plan to …

So, what you’re asking is …

If I understand the questions correctly, you would like to know …

b) Asking further questions to clarify the question

Are you looking at the … figures/ graph

When you say … do you mean .. ?

c) Asking for repetition

I’m sorry, I didn’t hear. Which slide was it?

Sorry, could you repeat that?

4. Handling difficult or hostile questions

Sometimes you may have to handle difficult or hostile questions from the audience. These can be handled using a variety of tactics, e.g. by delaying answering the question or evading the question altogether.

a) Evading difficult or hostile question

One way of evading difficult or hostile questions is to show you understand the questioner’s position, and then to introduce an alternative way of looking at the situation.

Show you understand	Introduce an alternative point of view
Yes, I quite see your point …	However, I know you’ll appreciate …
Yes, it’s something we’ve thought about a lot.	But the results show …
That’s an accurate observation …	On the other hand, if we consider …
I know it’s difficult to accept the decision	But the evidence is there …

Two other useful tactics are:

• not to accept responsibility for answering

• to delay your answer

b) Evade by not accepting responsibility

I’m afraid I’m not the right person to answer that.

John Parsons is a much better person to answer this.

c) Evade by delaying

Could we leave that till later/ the end of the seminar?

That is scheduled for discussion at the next meeting.

I’m not sure this is the right place/time to discuss this particular question.