Summarising and dealing with questions

4.2.5 Summarising and dealing with questions

Once you have given your conclusion, your presentation is NOT over! Now it's time for the Question and Answer session. This part is an area that scares a lot of people, professionals as well as amateurs. First of all, about 80 percent of all questions can be anticipated, e.g.

o What's the costing breakdown?

require?

o What is our goal? o Who will be responsible for it? o What has to be done?

o What is the next step to make sure it o What advantages do I have?

works?

o What are the alternatives?

o Why can I rely upon it?

o How will it work?

o When will we be finished?

o How much will it cost?

o When does it begin?

o What support and resources do you

You need to take the extra time to prepare for those questions in advance. This is an integral part of the presentation preparation

The Q&A Session consists of three parts:

1. The bridge from the conclusion to the Q&A session The bridge should last about 20-30 seconds and gives the audience the time to move from your conclusion to the questions It also allows you to move the audience in the direction you desire

2. The Q&A session itself

3. The summary and final call for action. Remember, this is your last chance!

Activity 1.

14 Audio Track.aiff

Listen to Sophie Rawlings giving a talk about creating web pages for small businesses. How does she

deal with each of the five questions?

1. She replies positively to the question.

2. She deals with the question in a humorous way.

3. She implies she’s already talked about it.

4. She says the next speaker will address the issue.

14 Audio Track.aiff

Listen again to Sophie dealing with questions and complete the expressions used to introduce the audience’s questions.

1. ………………….. were the main differences between government websites and those in the private business

sector?

2. …………………… how a company can actually improve its online sales through web-page design.

3. ………………….. about copy writing ………………. What kind of language you think works well in websites?

4. …………………… whether there was any kind of language that you would avoid using?

Assignment

Prepare a 5-minute talk on one of the topics below. Write up the main points for the summary of your talk and make a note of any questions you anticipate. Tell your audience when you will take questions: either during the presentation or at the end. Some of you will be asked to do the talk in class.

Topics for a talk

a) What are some of the ways in which the Internet can be used for education?

b) What are some of the ways in which the Internet can be used for politics?

c) What are the sites you most commonly access?

d) What is the best thing about the Internet?

e) What problems does the Internet create? What problems does it solve?

f) How new technologies may affect your job in the future?

g) Your favourite website and why do you think it’s effective? h)

A comparison between effectiveness and usability of two websites.

i) Why companies shouldn’t bother having websites? j) What is the most important feature of the Internet? k) How has the Internet changed society? l) We can use the Internet to find jobs overseas. Is this good or bad for both the employer and

employee? m) What is copyright? How do we break copyright law on the Internet? n) Do you think that the Internet usage is an anti-social activity? o) E-commerce (buying and selling things on the Internet) has become very popular. Give a reason for

this. p) Is it better to buy online or to go to a shop? Why?