If you remember only this
Do not wait until the final slide to ask, "Any questions?" While the talk is in progress:
- Put the submission link on screen.
- Allow the audience to submit questions anonymously.
- Have two opening questions ready.
When the Q&A starts, select the questions that will help the audience. Do not answer them in arrival order.
Why a willing audience says nothing
To ask from the floor, a person must compose a question, decide it deserves the room's time, and risk sounding foolish in public. Most people decide to stay seated. Their silence tells you little about their interest.
A raised hand proves confidence, not curiosity. If it is your only way to take questions, a few bold people will choose the subject for everyone else.
Private submission asks much less of them. People can think before they write. The moderator can then judge the question itself, not the confidence of the person asking it.
Do not ask, "Any questions?"
"Any questions?" gives the audience no direction. A useful invitation tells people what sort of question belongs and assures them they will not have to perform at a microphone.
"We'll take questions in a few minutes. If you want an example, disagree with something, or need a point made clearer, scan the code and send it now. Your name is optional. I'll combine similar questions so we can cover more ground."
People now know what to ask and what will happen to it. More important, they have time to write before every face in the room turns toward them.
The first question need not be answered first
Reading questions in the order received sounds fair. It often wastes the short time available. The first may concern one person, the second may repeat it, and the third may have nothing to do with the talk. Put them in the order that gives the room the best ten minutes.
Begin with a question already in hand
Never open by looking down at a screen and saying, "Let's see whether we have anything." Read a prepared question or one you approved during the talk. Once the first answer begins, new questions usually follow.
Combine repeated questions
When several people ask the same thing, tell the room. It shows the speaker where the interest lies and saves you from asking the same question twice.
"Six people have asked about cost and time. Let me put their questions together: what would you do first if both were in short supply?"
Shorten without changing the meaning
Written questions often arrive with a paragraph of background. Read enough to understand the point, then ask the shortest fair version. Remove throat clearing, but do not soften a disagreement or substitute the question you wish had been asked.
Do not stay in one narrow corner
Several technical questions in a row can lose most of the room. Several broad ones produce airy answers. When you need to change course, ask one of these:
- "What does that term mean here?"
- "How would a small team use this?"
- "What is the strongest case against your view?"
- "What made you change your mind?"
Interrupt an answer that has spent its value
The moderator owns the clock. When an answer begins repeating itself, step in: "I'm going to stop you there so we can hear one more question." A courteous interruption serves the room better than an answer that consumes the remaining time.
Use the question and discard the speech
Some difficult questions deserve an answer. A long accusation does not deserve the microphone. State the useful question in neutral words and give it to the speaker.
When it is off topic
"That may be worth discussing, but it is outside today's subject. I'm going to keep our remaining time on the talk."
When the wording is hostile
"Let me remove the accusation and ask the point underneath it: what should people do when they disagree with this decision?"
When no one in the room knows
"We don't have the facts needed to answer that here. Which principle would you use to make the decision?"
Do not quarrel with the questioner, and do not reward a long preamble by reading it aloud. Give the useful part of the question to the speaker and move on.
When part of the audience is online
A remote audience is easily forgotten because the moderator cannot see its hands. Take an online question among the first few. Do not wait until every question in the room has been exhausted.
- Put the submission address in the chat and on the screen.
- Say whether the person's name and company will be shown.
- Read each question aloud before the speaker answers.
- Test the sound with someone joining from outside the venue. A test from the back row does not prove the online audience can hear.
The ten-minute preparation
Use the ten minutes to prepare these five items:
- Brief the speakers. Ask them to keep each answer under 90 seconds. For a panel, direct each question to one person. Ask the other panelists to speak only when they can add new information.
- Prepare the first question. Write the question and the name of the person who will answer it. Keep one follow-up that asks for a specific example. Do not open with "Who wants to take this?"
- Prompt the audience early. Ask for an example or a point that needs explanation. Put the prompt and submission link on screen at least five minutes before the Q&A.
- Test the question inbox. Send a test question from a phone. Confirm that it appears on the moderator's screen. Ask one person to remove repeats and keep the next three usable questions ready.
- Control the time. Write the end time at the top of your notes. Write this line below it: "I am going to stop you there so we can hear one more question." Start the final question when two minutes remain.
End as if you planned to
Do not finish with, "I guess that's all we have time for." The time limit was known from the start. Close by naming what the audience cared about and telling them whether unanswered questions will receive a reply.
"We received more questions than we could take. Most concerned using this idea with limited time and money. We'll send the remaining questions to the speakers and include their replies in tomorrow's notes."
Promise follow-up only if somebody has agreed to do it. A clean ending is better than a promise that disappears after the event.
PanelQ
Make it easier for the whole room to ask
Collect and moderate live questions from any phone. Set up your first session in under a minute.
Create a Q&A session