ctivnan
02/11/09, 02:17 PM
Successful Presentations in English
QUESTION TIME
The most difficult part of the presentation is often dealing with questions from your audience. The four tools below can help you to structure the questions and give you time to respond.
Telling the audience when you would like questions
Please feel free to interrupt and ask questions at any time.
Feel free to interrupt me with questions at any time.
I can take your questions at any time during my presentation.
Perhaps you could hold back your questions until the end, when we’ll have a question-and-answer session.
Giving yourself time to think
Let me think about that for a moment.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure I quite understood the question.
Could you repeat the question, please?
So, if I understood you correctly, what you are asking is…
Getting help from the audience
I’m not sure about that. Is there anyone here who knows?
I’m afraid I haven’t got that information at the moment. Perhaps one of my colleagues here can help me.
I don’t know, to be honest. What’s your experience?
Deferring the question to save time
That’s a very complicated question. To save time, may I suggest that we discuss this together I the coffee break? Anyone else who is interested, please join us.
I’ll find out as soon as I am back in the office and then I’ll send you an e-mail. Is that okay?
This is connected to what we will be talking about this afternoon. Could we take it up then?
TIPS:
Make sure you know exactly how long your presentation will take. Many speakers allow too little time for questions, which can be very frustrating to the audience.
If you don’t know the answer, admit it. Don’t try to pretend that you do. Say, “I don’t know the answer, but I can find it out for you.”
Source: Business Spotlight "The Essential Series" 2007
QUESTION TIME
The most difficult part of the presentation is often dealing with questions from your audience. The four tools below can help you to structure the questions and give you time to respond.
Telling the audience when you would like questions
Please feel free to interrupt and ask questions at any time.
Feel free to interrupt me with questions at any time.
I can take your questions at any time during my presentation.
Perhaps you could hold back your questions until the end, when we’ll have a question-and-answer session.
Giving yourself time to think
Let me think about that for a moment.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure I quite understood the question.
Could you repeat the question, please?
So, if I understood you correctly, what you are asking is…
Getting help from the audience
I’m not sure about that. Is there anyone here who knows?
I’m afraid I haven’t got that information at the moment. Perhaps one of my colleagues here can help me.
I don’t know, to be honest. What’s your experience?
Deferring the question to save time
That’s a very complicated question. To save time, may I suggest that we discuss this together I the coffee break? Anyone else who is interested, please join us.
I’ll find out as soon as I am back in the office and then I’ll send you an e-mail. Is that okay?
This is connected to what we will be talking about this afternoon. Could we take it up then?
TIPS:
Make sure you know exactly how long your presentation will take. Many speakers allow too little time for questions, which can be very frustrating to the audience.
If you don’t know the answer, admit it. Don’t try to pretend that you do. Say, “I don’t know the answer, but I can find it out for you.”
Source: Business Spotlight "The Essential Series" 2007