Are You Prepared for Q&A?

Has this ever happened to you? You spent the last week preparing for an important business presentation. You did your research and you designed beautiful, high-impact slides. You practiced the night before and now you think you know your stuff. Your delivery is excellent and the audience pays attention. They give you an appreciative round of applause. Then, during the question and answer session, your audience asks you challenging questions. Your confidence cracks, you stammer through your answers, and you leave your audience with the impression that you don’t know very much after all.

If this has never happened to you, congratulations. You’re doing something right. But you’ve probably seen it happen to someone else. It’s not uncommon to see someone deliver a beautiful presentation only to have everything fall apart in the Q&A session. Why does this happen and how can you prevent it from happening to you?

Preparing for your delivery is easy and straightforward, but you never really know what questions your audience may ask you afterwards. You can prepare yourself better for your Q&A session, however, by following just two simple guidelines.

First, really know your stuff. This is rule number one when it comes to delivering presentations. When you stand up in front of an audience, their immediate perception is that you are the expert. Why? Because they’re sitting down, and you’re standing up. Now it’s your job to fulfill their expectations. Learn your content backward and forward. Know which slide comes next before you project it on the screen. Learn relationships between your key points. Just like acting on stage, it’s more than just learning your lines. You’ve got to become the part.

Second, anticipate questions. Once you’ve mastered your content, make a list of the questions that your think your audience might ask you. If you have a partner who can help you rehearse, ask him or her to watch your presentation and ask you some questions afterwards. Practice answering them. Even if your audience asks you questions different from those you’ve rehearsed, you’ll feel more confident about fielding questions and project more credibility as a result.

Your question and answer session is as important as the content of your presentation. That’s why it’s useful for you to be as prepared for questions as you are with your information.