How to handle questions and objections during a presentation

Hold your questions, please

While you might be confident in your notes and your delivery, you never know what a questioner might throw at you during your presentation. And if you have presentation anxiety, the idea of an unplanned interaction can just be one more thing to worry about. One simple way to offset those spur-the-moment interruptions is to set up the structure of the presentation, including when you’re taking questions, as part of your presentation’s introduction. Here’s two distinct approaches to handling questions.

• Ask your audience to hold all questions until the end. This approach can hopefully help you get through your entire presentation uninterrupted. It may even cut down on the volume of questions if you’re able to answer common curiosities by covering your subject thoroughly or even including an FAQ slide or section towards the end of your talk. If you choose this tactic, you can encourage your audience to write questions down so they can remember their questions and ask them during the appropriate time.
• Allow question time at the end of a topic section. This approach can help group likely questions or objections by subject matter and can be a flexible way to give your audience a more in-the-moment feel while still allowing you to cover your material in a way that feels comfortable. You can even provide a timeframe, i.e., “Now we’ll have three minutes for questions” to further structure this moment.

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Your approach will probably be dictated by the overall length of your presentation and how your material is organized. But in general, it can save you a bit of time and sanity to have designated Q+A periods rather than allowing questions to be peppered in willy-nilly. A secret benefit to saving questions until the end is that by that point, you and the audience likely have built rapport with the audience, hopefully because you’ve demonstrated that you’re a competent, thoughtful presenter. Establishing that relationship may head off a listener’s desire to challenge or object to you that they may have walked in with an hour ago. But audiences can be unpredictable, so be prepared to field a few questions or comments that might not be as friendly as you hoped.

The question that’s more of a comment, and more

Perhaps you’ve succeeded in holding questions at the end of the presentation. Or, maybe despite your best efforts, someone really had to satisfy their curiosity on slide 26. No matter when these questions, comments or concerns come up, these tips will help you handle inquires with grace and aplomb.

• Prepare ahead of time. If you know your subject matter, you know what questions you’re likely to get, what parts an audience might find confusing or upsetting. By thinking of responses that you can share in the moment, you’ll be able to draw upon those responses more easily when similar questions arise. The preparation will also help you feel more confident if someone attempts to rattle you by asking a “gotcha”-type question.
• Think about what you want to convey. What is this presentation really about? This is the material you can use to help refocus when someone’s question threatens to derail your point. You can acknowledge what they’re saying and then redirect towards what is more important for the audience or more familiar to you.
• Empathize but don’t get sucked in. If someone’s confused or upset, it’s good to acknowledge those feelings. It helps them feel heard and may lessen their desire to antagonize or challenge you. At the same time, you have a job to do, and the rest of the audience will feel left out, and time will run short if you make this exchange the sudden focus of your moment in the spotlight. Try to avoid defensiveness. Think of yourself as separate from the question and material to helps you become less personally invested in the situation. You can also offer up to follow up with the person later if the interaction risks becoming bigger than the presentation itself—and then keep your promise.
• All eyes are on you, but also the other person. How you handle this question or objection might just stick out in people’s minds and may be an additional opportunity to impress them. But it’s also possible that if the questioner is belligerent or rude, their approach may be reflecting poorly on them and direct others’ sympathy to you, so focus on being the best you that you can be in that moment, a you that knows your subject and wants to help others understand it.

Handled thoughtfully, questions and objections during a presentation are an additional learning opportunity for everyone involved—if perhaps not the learning opportunity you expected.