Presentation Skills: Is it best to take questions at the beginning or the end of the presentation?
Presentation Skills: Is it best to take questions at the beginning or the end of the presentation?
That totally depends on you and on the degree of acceptance or resistance there is to what you’re talking about.
If there is a high amount of resistance, it’s better to table questions until the end, but voice what you believe to be the resistant questions in your audience’s mind. For example, “Today we’re here to talk about a new payroll system. Now many of you may be thinking, ‘Why do we even need a new payroll system? Why does management keep complicating things?’ I’m going to share with you why we’re doing a new payroll system, what the benefits are to you, and how we will put it in place. After I’ve shared that I will open up the floor for any questions. If you think of any questions while I’m talking, please hold them until the end so I can make sure I honor the time constraints for everyone in the room.”
If you are a person that hates to have questions, I highly recommend that you always let your audience know you will take questions at the end of the presentation. The key is to say this in a tone of voice that doesn’t sound as though they’re bothering you if they ask questions in the middle.
When you learn how to present properly, you will find that the questions you get are very thought-provoking and add to the presentation because the audience understands your messaging and how to interact with you.
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