Q&A: Stop Presentation Sedation

Ian Whitworth says when it comes to presentations a lot of the time people just remember the finale.

Story by Ian Whitworth

Golfer Greg Norman’s professional career will be defined forever by putting together 3.95 days of world’s-best golf, then with the clubhouse in sight, snatching an agonizing defeat. All his great work? Forgotten. Because people just remember the bit at the end.

Presentations are like that. You can deliver an inspirational speech, then steer the whole thing into a ditch in the closing minutes. How? By following the ancient convention of ending with Q&A.

Conference managers and presenters should seriously consider taking this quaint custom and burying it. It’s fine for informal, breakout-room communication, where there’s less theatre involved. For show-style events like product launches, which rely on an excited audience, Q&A is a guaranteed barbiturate-strength room depressant.

Successful live communication is built on momentum and an understanding of how audiences form impressions. People remember the bit at the start, and the bit at the end. That’s why bands always finish their set on a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Good presenters know to finish on their core message, the most important single element that they want the audience to remember. And good presenters know that it’s part speech, and part theatrical performance, so they end with lots of energy and enthusiasm. They finish on a high, with applause ringing in their ears.

Then the MC comes out, blocks the presenter’s escape route, and says:

“Great message! Does anyone have any questions?”

There are two possibilities.

The first, particularly in a big room, is that nobody has a question. It’s too intimidating for them to speak up. So there’s a long, uncomfortable silence.

“Surely someone’s got a question after such a thought-provoking speech!”

No, just the distant chirruping of crickets outside and the gentle hum of the hotel air conditioning.

“Well… huh-huh… obviously you covered the subject so thoroughly that there’s nothing left to ask! Please thank our guest speaker…”

There’s a second, half-hearted round of applause. By now the room has been drained of energy, and the presenter shuffles off feeling like an unpopular loser. The momentum has gone.

The other possibility is that someone does have a question. But that person is usually far from a representative audience sample. Ninety per cent of questions will come from people I call “Smuggers”. Smuggers already know the answer to the question. They’re just asking it to show the rest of the audience how clever they are. You’ll remember these people from school.

At product launches, Q&A is a magnet for the disgruntled. They’ll point out flaws, focus on features they wanted but your new model doesn’t have, and generally undo all your positive messages. That’s the last thing your audience hears before they leave, when you want them to leave pumped and ready to generate some positive word of mouth.

I was at a chat show-style presentation recently, featuring one of the more recent ex-leaders of the Opposition. With no media present, he was relaxed and interesting. He told fascinating behind-the-scenes tales of dealings with world leaders. Then came the first question.

“I’d like to ask about taxation reform. I’ve been lucky enough to have some success in business, and as a result my wife and I contribute over $400,000 in tax each year. Not that it should give me a greater say in how tax dollars are spent. But…”
Followed by about five minutes of self-focused droning that didn’t even contain a question. He just wanted to make sure the whole room knew how incredibly loaded he was. The ex-L.o.t.O batted it away tactfully. The whole room was simmering with irritation. This buffoon was all that stood between them and the cocktails outside.

You see Q&A at its worst at book festivals. Question time becomes opinion time. No matter what topic or author, crusty grudge-holders stand up and launch into out-of-date rants about the evils of the Howard government.

What to do? Tell the audience that questions will be answered individually during the break. That lets you cover people’s specific interests without wasting everyone else’s time. Deprived of an audience, some of the Smuggers won’t bother with this step. Failing that, put an email address on the screen and promise to answer any question within a week.

Sorry AGM planners, much as most CEO’s would like to ban Q&A, they’re stuck with it in all its unpredictable glory. If you don’t want the hard questions, run your company better.
 

Ian Whitworth is principal of creative marketing consultancy A Lizard Drinking and director of audiovisual group Scene Change. He writes on presentations and communication at www.scenechange.com.au/blog.