presentation tips question

How to Answer Questions After A Presentation – 11 Tips

August 12, 2022

How do you answer questions after your presentation? For many people, handling questions is the scariest part of presenting.

Answering questions becomes much easier if you prepare properly. so how do the best presenters answer challenging questions effectively, answering presentation questions is a real skill.  and it’s a skill you can learn.  over the last 15 years we’ve coached thousands of people to be brilliant at presentation questions and answers. , do please call us and we’ll tell you about our presentation coaching – it’s fast and good value., having coached executives for critical presentations for nearly 15 years, we recently asked our team of experts for their top tips., whether you are a business executive or from the c-suite or just want to improve how you present, these ten tips will help you shine when you answer questions:, ten steps for answering questions after a presentation., 1. listen to the question fully 2. think like a teacher 3. remember, every question is different 4. think, all questions are good questions 5. use each presentation question is an opportunity 6. it’s more then just what you say 7. prepare your answers properly 8. avoid unanswerable questions 9. end your answer strongly 10.avoid question traps 11. extra question answering tip.

Let’s review each tip in turn:

To Answer Questions Tip #1. Listen to the question!

Take a mental step back when you hear a question.

• What’s really being asked?
• What’s behind the query?
• Is there a hidden agenda?

Don’t be tempted to think of the answer as soon as you hear the start of the question. Instead be an active listener. You may need to clarify the question before answering. If you are not certain what you are being asked, you may answer the question you want, rather than the question they asked. And as you listen, you will learn something . Most questioners are looking for something specific.

How to clarify the question you are asked If you are not 100% sure what you are being asked, then use one of these question clarification techniques. 1. Repeat the question back and rephrase – then check that’s what they want to hear 2. Ask a question 3. Ask them to repeat the question. 4. Apologies, and say you did not understand, could they please repeat.

Answer Questions Confidently Tip #2. Have the mind-set of a teacher

A question is not an exam test . If you are asked a question, its because someone wants to know something. Your job is to help them understand. Whatever is on their mind, how can you help them?

So, put yourself in the role of a teacher. You have presented on a subject you understand, and you have a someone who wants to know more. Your can inform, educate and perhaps even entertain. If you do it right, you will look good in the eyes of the questioner and in the eyes of the audience. Enjoy the prospect of helping people when you answer questions.

Answering Questions Tip #3. Every question is different

We can never know what’s going on in the minds of the audience. That means each person in the audience will see you differently. For some, it will be about protecting their own interests, for others it may be about gathering more information.

And people have their own style – from super soft to nail hard . You’ll have to assess where they are coming from, what they re looking for and how they think. The best way to answer questions is to listen and learn from the comments they make and the questions they ask.

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Answering Questions Tip #4. There’s no such thing as a stupid question

It may sound stupid to you, but every audience question is aimed at understanding something. Don’t assume that you know what the person really wants. Perhaps they don’t understand – or perhaps they are testing how you react (yes, some people do this!). So treat every question with respect, consideration and then use it as an opportunity to help the audience understand better.

Presentation Questions Tip #5. Every question is an opportunity

If you are properly prepared for your presentation, then you will have key messages to get across. Use your answers to reinforce, restate, or reframe your messages.

Beware of feeling challenged by tough questions . You do not want to look defensive of uncertain. Instead, like a teacher, you want to help your questioner and perhaps help the audience see the world the way you see it. One powerful piece of advice is Show, Don’t Tell. Use stories , examples and illustrations to bring your business to life when answering tough questions.

Answering Questions Tip #6. How you answer questions is as important as what you say

As we said before, your meeting is not an exam. It’s more like a meeting of minds. So work out what the other person believes and is feeling. How can you do this?

You could ask probing questions, such as:

• Does what I’ve just said explain it?
• Do you want to know more?

For more hypothetical questions you could explore what they believe: “And what do you think?” The more it feels like a conversation rather then a quiz, the more likely you’ll be successful.

Give Great Answers Tip #7. You must prepare

We have seen too many people turn up to presentation Q&A sessions unprepared. By contrast, successful presenters and management teams prepare to answer questions with the intensity of an elite athlete.

After all, you want to be seen at your peak when presenting.

There are three best practice techniques for preparing your Q&A:

• List the tough questions you may be asked – especially the ones you don’t want to be asked. Work out answers to these in advance, decide which should be answered before the Q&A by incorporating it into an earlier part of your presentation, and which will wait for the Q&A.
• Select who in your team will respond – You will feel more confident and, if the questions do get asked, you will be properly prepared.
• Bring in a fresh perspective . Get someone outside the organisation to identify new questions you may get asked – and get the outsider to listen to your answers to the tough questions. A neutral third party (like Benjamin Ball Associates ) can give you insight and expose the weaknesses in your arguments and answers.
• Stress-test your answer s. Spend time as a team firing questions back and forth. Then review how you answer these. Keep at this until you have got it right. The more you prepare, the more natural you will sound.

For important presenting events, we frequently spend many hours preparing teams with tough questions, video review and rehearsals. Just like elite athletes, you only build muscle strength with practice.

Answering Questions Tip #8. Don’t try and answer impossible questions

There are some audience questions you cannot answer. If you learn our approach of Question Triage (a technique for classifying questions up front) you can spot these a mile off. Then you can use proven techniques to get yourself back to safe ground and onto a topic that you can talk about with confidence.

Presentation Question Answering Tip #9. Finish strong

Audience question sessions often end flat. Frequently, people feel pressured to finish quickly, especially if time is short. This is a mistake.

Never miss this opportunity to reinforce your important messages while also showing that you have listened to what the other person has said. Even a strong 30-second summary at the end will show that you have listened. This can also highlight what they need to hear.

Tough Question Tip #10. Beware the last question trap

AKA the Columbo moment. If you are a child of the ‘70s you may remember the TV series Columbo .

The bumbling detective always finished his interview with a suspect and, as he walked away, would say “Just, one more thing….’  With that one line he caught the suspect off guard and got the information he needed.

How to answer questions confidently

Top tips for answering questions confidently

What To Do Next to Better Answer Presentation Questions

I f you’d like to improve how you handle tough questions, please give us a call.

We’d be happy to discuss ways we can help you. For example, we run extensive Q&A rehearsals to build skills and increase confidence. You’ll find that working with our experts is a small investment that can deliver amazingly high returns. We offer short, intensive coaching sessions.

To discuss how you can improve your next presentation question session, please call Louise Angus on 020 7018 0922 or email [email protected] .

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We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too .

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Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email [email protected] to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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• Plan your delivery (decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and over).
• Work on stage presence (but remember that your story matters more than how you stand or whether you’re visibly nervous).
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According to Anderson, presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. It’s about substance—not style. In fact, it’s fairly easy to “coach out” the problems in a talk, but there’s no way to “coach in” the basic story—the presenter has to have the raw material. So if your thinking is not there yet, he advises, decline that invitation to speak. Instead, keep working until you have an idea that’s worth sharing.

Lessons from TED

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn’t deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he’d been interested in electronics, teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents’ radio. He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn on and off in sequence—using solar panels, a car battery, and a motorcycle indicator box—and thereby create a sense of movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. He installed the lights, and the lions stopped attacking. Soon villages elsewhere in Kenya began installing Richard’s “lion lights.”

• CA Chris Anderson is the curator of TED.

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Many otherwise extremely competent and confident presenters will tell you that they really dread the question and answer session of a presentation.

They seek ways to ‘avoid’ difficult questions. But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Dealing with questions in a presentation is a skill which anyone can master.

Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that, as a general rule, if people ask you questions, even hostile ones, it’s not to trip you up but because they genuinely want the answer.

Staying in Control of the Questions

Most people dread the question session because they fear losing control.

A little thought and some early planning can avoid this risk. But you can also avoid it by remembering that any presentation is an information exchange. It is as much for you to hear what people want to know as for them to hear from you.

However, if your presentation starts to get diverted by an interesting question, try saying something like:

“I think we’re getting a bit off topic here. Let’s put that to one side and you and I can chat about it later. Come and find me at the end and we’ll exchange contact details.”

“I’d really like to get on with the presentation, otherwise I may not have time to finish, but let’s talk about this later.”

Setting out some Ground Rules

At the start of your presentation, you should make it clear whether and when you would prefer to deal with questions - as you go along or at the end of the presentation.

Some speakers prefer questions to be raised as they arise during the presentation. The advantage of this approach is that any misunderstandings can be dealt with immediately. However, there is also a danger that the question will disrupt or distract the speaker, or that questions are raised that would have been covered later in the presentation.

Top tip! Categorising Questions

If you like to deal with questions as they arise, but you are concerned about the pitfalls, there is an easy way to handle this. In your introduction, explain that there are three types of questions:

• The sort that seeks clarification of something that has just been said – you will answer those immediately;
• The sort that asks a related question about something that you plan to cover later – you will answer those later in the presentation; and
• The sort that is best dealt with offline because most of the audience probably won’t be interested, or it’s outside the topic of the presentation – you will make a note of the question and come back to the questioner afterwards.

When a Type 2 or 3 question is asked, you can then say something like:

“ That’s a Type 2 question, so I’ll park that for now, and cover it later. If you don’t think I’ve covered it by the end, remind me, and I’ll go over it.”

Other speakers prefer to deal with questions at the end of the presentation.

If you prefer this approach, ensure that you set aside sufficient time for questions but also limit the amount of time available. The amount of time will depend on the type of presentation you are giving but usually 10 minutes of question time should be sufficient.

The big advantage of this approach is that if you talk too quickly, you will simply have a longer question session: a big incentive to talk slowly and carefully, and make sure that your audience understands everything as you go.

You should not close the presentation with the question and answer session.

When you have finished answering questions, make sure that you have the last word with a strong assertion of your main message(s).

In other words, you can thank the audience for their questions and then summarise once again the main point or points that your presentation was designed to communicate.

An Introduction to Question Sessions

The main rule of question sessions is to treat your audience with the respect you would like to have shown to you, and answer their questions directly and honestly.

If they have asked a question, it is because they want to know the answer.

It is very unlikely that anyone will ask a question solely to trip you up, although this does happen.

If a question is provocative, answer it directly. Never be rude to the questioner or show you are upset. Do not compromise yourself but maintain your point of view and never lose your temper.

This tactic can be difficult to maintain but the key is being assertive.

Visit our section on assertiveness to learn some more tips, start with: Assertiveness - An Introduction .

Managing Questions

Listen carefully to the question and, if the audience is large, repeat it to ensure everyone in the audience has heard.

If you’re not sure you understood correctly, paraphrase it back to the questioner and check that you have it right. Answer briefly and to the point.

If you do not know the answer, then say so and offer to find out. Then ensure that you follow up . To be able to respond, you will need the questioner’s name and email address, so make sure that you speak to them before they or you leave.

“ I don’t know ” is a very acceptable answer to some difficult questions and it is much more acceptable than stumbling through an answer or making something up. “ I don’t know, but I’ll find out and let you know ” is even more acceptable.

Relax and do not feel as if you have to know everything. If you don’t know it is better to be honest than to try to pretend.

Trust takes a long time to build up, but it can be lost in moments, and audiences will almost always know when you are not being genuine.

An Alternative Tactic: Involving your Audience

If you are speaking to a well-informed audience, a professional group for example , and the question is a fairly general one to which you do not know the answer, consider asking the room if anyone else would like to respond. You may have the world expert on that subject sitting there who would be delighted to share their expertise with you all. If you have noticed someone in particular, you can even say:

“ I noticed that Professor X is in the room, so I wonder if he would like to comment on that to save me displaying my ignorance ”

“ My colleague over there is more familiar with that area than I am so, while I don’t want to put him on the spot, maybe he would be prepared to shed some light on this? ”

Most people will be fine with that approach, especially if they really do know more about it than you, and it will mean that the room gets a much better response. Yes, you’re the one standing at the front, but you don’t know everything.

You may also find our general pages on questioning useful see Questioning and Question Types .

Continue to: Coping with Presentation Nerves Managing the Presentation Event

See Also: Preparing for a Presentation | Organising the Material Deciding the Presentation Method Working with Visual Aids

Presentation Guru

The most successful ways to answer questions from your audience.

Every presenter will eventually have to deal with questions from an audience, but what are the best ways to prepare for the questions they may ask? In this article Simon gives a few tips to make sure you’re always ready to answer your audience’s questions effectively, and with confidence .

Let’s face it, presentations are scary. And that’s quite right – they should be. Nerves show you care. If you’re not nervous, why are you bothering? I’ve met good presenters and I’ve met presenters who aren’t nervous: I can count the number of presenters who are in both camps on the thumbs of one foot.

So far, so obvious. But when I ask clients what the most scary bit of presentations is, they most common answer I get is, the questions section.

If I probe deeper, the reasons it’s the most nerve-wracking include things like:

• I can control the rest of the presentation but not this bit
• I can’t rehearse the questions – or the answers!
• I have to think too fast
• I might not know the answers
• I might find out people didn’t like it
• I might have made a mistake

The scary bit, then. The bit of the presentation which brings even experienced presenters out in a cold sweat. Before we get into the tools and techniques for handling questions, let’s look at some of these, very quickly. We can shoot a few of these issues down without breaking sweat – particularly the last few…

Get your ego out of the way

Let’s face it, if you’ve made mistakes, wouldn’t you like to know? If you’d rather people didn’t tell you that you’ve screwed up, you’re not ever going to get a job on my team. The same is true if you’d rather not know that people didn’t like it. Grow up.

And while we’re at it, if you don’t know the answers, that’s fine. Not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world. So long as you know enough, it’s okay. Not knowing the answers is only a problem if you don’t know too many of the answers.

So let’s move on and look at bit more at the ‘real’ issues.

The first thing to say is that more or less any and all of the tricks you learn as a presenter for handling nerves can be used at the start of questions. At the moment when you invite the questions, do your nerves-control-techniques , just like you did at the start of the presentation. (If you don’t have any, pay me to learn some 😉 )

The second key point is very simple. People only ask questions for one of two reasons. Firstly, to show off and secondly because they’re interested. The first group will be transparent to the audience, so don’t lose any sleep over anyone whose ego is bigger than their common sense. The second group, those who ask questions because they want to know more, are to be celebrated. They’re a good thing. Honestly.

Remember, people only ask questions if they care. The very fact that they’re asking questions is a great thing because it shows you did the key thing a presentation is supposed to do – you got them interested. When the questions happen, allow yourself a little smile inside. Result!

Predicting the future – and guessing the questions

But what about this idea that you don’t know what the questions are going to be?

Sorry, but that’s tosh. You might not be able to predict exactly what question, but you can certainly predict the sort of question. A structured, sensible process for designing your presentation – whatever process you use – will certainly throw up more content than you can fit into your presentation. The process of designing your presentation should start off by deciding what to remove.

Chances are, the questions you get will lie in that area you’ve cut out. And if that’s the case, you know what the content is, so you can design your answers just like you’d design the rest of your presentation . Simple.

Well yes… but just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy. Just ask anyone who’s ever tried to lose weight. The rules of “Eat less: move more” are simple – but not easy!

So let’s break it down a bit to make it more practical. I’m going to start by looking at how to handle the worst case scenario… the blank head where you just don’t know the answer. (Note, I’m dealing with it first because it’s easy to get out of the way, not because it happens often!)

I have no idea

The worst case scenario is simply not to know the answer, so let’s deal with that first. The best way I’ve ever found to handle this issue is to be honest about it, but to respond in a very structured way, so that my credibility stays intact. The formula is this:

• I don’t know, but it’s a good point
• so I’ll find out
• and if you give me your email address I’ll get back to you about it
• by lunchtime on Thursday

Obviously you change the time in the last part to be something you can handle. The first line is a simple admission that you’ve not got the answer to hand. The second part is where you start to recover. The last line is the critical one though. This is how you sound credible to the audience.

Try it for yourself: just say the first line and see how ‘shallow’ it sounds. Then start from the beginning and go through the first two lines. It’s better, but it’s not trustworthy. Finally, run through the whole set of lines and see how much more ‘weight’ the whole thing has when you make a specific promise.

It goes without saying that you need to deliver on that promise!

I still have no idea

A couple of alternative techniques are useful here, too… you can use these in a mix-and-match way.

• Open up to the audience. Try something like “That’ a very good question – what does everyone else in the room think?”. If you do it with enough style and you’ve used an approach up until that point which has been sufficiently collaborative and informal, it can work seamlessly.
• Use a broader-brush answer . Sometimes the question isn’t one that requires a very specific response. You’d be surprised how often one broad-brush answer can be applied to different questions. Take a few moments to consider if this is one of those times. If you’ve got (say) five or six such ‘generic’ answers sorted out in your head before you start your presentation you can often apply one of them instead of trying to improvise an answer.

Save yourself some thinking and PREP

Answering questions means you have to think hard and fast – about both the content of what you say and the way that you say it. One very handy trick is to use structured formulae to give your response a shape. That way you only need to think about the actual content – halving the work on your brain. Once you’ve learned these tools, not only will you love ‘em, you’ll spot them almost every time you listen to a political interview.

This formula is particularly handy for dealing with challenging questions: it stands for Past, Present and Future.

You use it like this:

•  “You’re absolutely right to point out that in the past our response times have been too slow. It often took us up to a week to get back to users who emailed in with questions – although the average response time was only 36 hours.”
• “What we’re doing right now is investing in training 14 new members of the online help team. They’re all experts in the software already, so we’re just bringing them up to speed about how the helpdesk works.”
• “What this means that starting next Monday we’ll have a bigger response team standing by, as these new people come on-stream: they should all be up-and-running within only ten days.”

(Numbers 1, 2 and 3 representing Past, Present and Future, in this example.)

This is the most subtle of the formulae, and it stands for Point, Reason, Example, Point. The last point is a restatement of the first one to really hammer it home, not a new point.

The Reason section of your response deals with big picture, data and statistical responses. It puts a logical set of facts to your audience. To make it more impactful with your audience you need to back it up with an Example . Finally you recap your Point .

This example shows you how I used it to respond to a challenging question about women’s rights from someone who was genuinely surprised that women and (more or less) equal rights to men in the UK, including being able to vote…

• “Do I believe women should have the right to vote? Yes, absolutely!”
• “Let’s face it, women make up a bit over half the population of the country and they bring in about forty-eight percent of our GDP – nearly half the money they country gets in.”
• “In fact, in my own household, my wife has a great job and bring in nearly twice the amount I do. It makes her the economic head of the household, although we don’t think of it in those terms. It would seem daft to have the economic head of the household able to vote!”
• “So yeah, absolutely, I think women should vote!”

I’ve labeled the PREP parts as numbers 1 to 4 so you can see what’s what, but the words should flow naturally.

That’s it. Actually it’s not – there’s always more to be said… but it’s a great start.

Predict your questions, prepare your answers. Celebrate them when you get them, and use formulae to help you structure your answers. You’ll be great!

Don’t finish with questions

It all too easily means your presentation gradually runs out of energy and finishes with a whimper. Better to end with a bang. What I do is to take the questions and then when there are (almost) no questions left, go back into ‘ delivery ’ mode to give a very (very!) brief summary before wrapping up with my trademark close. It means the presentation finishes with high energy, on my terms…

• Latest Posts

Simon Raybould

+simon raybould, latest posts by simon raybould ( see all ).

• Motivational Speakers – Are They All They’re Cracked Up To Be? - 4th April 2017
• Do I Really Need Slides in Every Presentation? - 18th October 2016
• The Most Successful Ways to Answer Questions From Your Audience - 8th September 2016

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10 Tips for Handling Questions after a Presentation

In this article, we’ll provide 10 tips for handling questions effectively, from being prepared to staying calm and concise. By following these tips, you can feel confident and prepared to handle any questions that come your way.

As a presenter, handling questions after a presentation can be nerve-wracking. However, it’s an essential part of engaging with your audience and demonstrating your expertise. 

1. Listen Carefully

2. repeat the question, 3. don’t interrupt, 4. encourage dialogue, 5. be respectful, 6. be honest, 7. keep it brief, 8. repeat key points, 9. don’t overpromise, 10. be prepared, final thoughts.

When someone asks you a question, take a moment to listen carefully to what they are saying. This will not only help you understand the question better but will also give you time to collect your thoughts and formulate an appropriate response.

To ensure that you have understood the question correctly and to give the audience a chance to hear it, repeat the question aloud before answering. This also helps to clarify any ambiguity in the question and ensures that you are answering the right question.

Allow the person asking the question to finish speaking before responding. Interrupting can come across as rude and may make the audience feel uncomfortable. Wait until they have finished speaking before responding.

Encourage dialogue by asking follow-up questions or inviting others in the audience to share their thoughts or opinions. This can create a more engaging and interactive experience for everyone involved.

It’s important to be respectful and professional when answering questions, even if the person asking the question is being difficult or confrontational. Respond in a calm and collected manner and avoid getting defensive or argumentative.

If you do not know the answer to a question, do not try to bluff your way through it. Instead, be honest and admit that you do not have the information at hand. You can offer to follow up with the person after the presentation or direct them to someone who may be able to provide a more suitable answer.

When answering questions, be concise and to the point. Avoid rambling or going off-topic, as this can lead to confusion or boredom for the audience. Stick to the main point of the question and provide a clear and concise response.

When answering questions, repeat key points from your presentation to reinforce the information and help the audience understand it better. This can also help to contextualize the answer within the larger framework of your presentation.

Be honest and realistic when answering questions. Don’t over promise or make claims that you can’t back up. If you don’t know the answer to a question, admit it and offer to follow up with the person later.

Before giving a presentation, it is essential to anticipate the types of questions that your audience may have. This will help you prepare appropriate responses and feel more confident when the time comes to answer them. Take the time to research your topic thoroughly and consider any potential areas of confusion or points of interest that may spark questions.

In conclusion, handling questions after a presentation can be challenging, but with the right preparation and approach, it can also be an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and engage with your audience. By following these tips, you can feel confident and prepared to handle any questions that come your way.

Related Posts:

• Effective Presentation Skills Tutorial
• Handling Questions and Answers

At the end of your presentation, if it is appropriate for the type of presentation, solicit questions from the audience.

Responding to Audience Questions

When someone is asking a question, make eye contact with that person, listen positively, and acknowledge by saying "thank you for that question," or say "that is an excellent question" or "that is an important question".

If the audience is in a large room and cannot hear each other's questions, repeat the question loudly for everyone to hear, before answering it.

If you know the answer to the question, respond appropriately and briefly so you can take more questions and not spend too much time on one question.

Effective Response to Question

This video clip is an example of a presenter effectively responding to an audience member's question .

Ineffective Response to Question

This video clip is an example of a presenter ineffectively responding to an audience member's question .

If the question is not relevant to the presentation, say something like, "I am really sorry that question is outside the scope of this presentation, but I will be happy to stay after the presentation and discuss it with you."

Effective Response to Off-topic Question

This video clip is an example of a presenter effectively responding to an off-topic question or one in which he or she does not know the answer .

Inappropriate Response to Off-topic Question

This video clip is an example of a presenter inappropriately responding to an off-topic question or one in which he or she does not know the answer .

If time is running out for answering all of the questions, say, "I am sorry. I am running out of time, but I will take one last question, and then I will be available at the end to answer any remaining questions."

If you do not know the answer to a question say, "That is an interesting question, and I will have to get back to you later on that" or ask the audience "Can someone help me with this?" or be gracious and acknowledge you do not know the answer at that time.

If an audience member criticizes or attacks what you had covered in your presentation, do not attack back, but separate the valid criticism from the personal attack, and respond to the criticism appropriately.

Some things not to do during the question and answer period:

• Shuffling papers or technology and not making eye contact with the questioner
• Belittling the questioner
• Calling those who want to ask questions by their physical characteristics
• Not taking questions in the sequence they are asked, but focusing on certain people or a side of the room

Asking Good Questions

If you are in the audience, know also how to ask good questions to indicate that you are following the presentation.

You can ask some general questions about any topic, and you may be genuinely curious about some things presented.

• What were the most challenging aspects, or what surprised you the most, in conducting this project?
• Why did you choose this particular methodology or argument instead of another one?
• How did you collect the data? Were there any problems in collecting data? What was the sample size?
• How did you validate your work? Did you validate with a real problem or situation?
• What are some of the limitations of your work?
• What recommendations do you have for further exploration in this project?

Learning to ask good questions at the end of a presentation demonstrates your active participation.

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6 Presentation Tips to Answer Questions With Confidence

Nov 21, 2015 by maurice decastro in advice.

In our training workshops we are often asked to help presenters to answer questions with confidence.

Most presentations involve some form of question and answer session. For many professionals, it’s major source of anxiety .

Many presenters dread the question and answer session

Having invested so much time and energy researching and crafting their presentation this is where they really feel vulnerable.

– Will they ask me a question I just don’t know the answer to? 

– What if I can’t answer, will I look stupid and lose credibility?

– They may not like or agree with my answer? 

– What if the question derails my presentation? 

These 6 tips will go long way to helping you to answer questions with confidence and ease. 

1. Step into the question 

When many presenters are asked a question, the first thing they do is to take a step back.

When it’s a question they don’t know the answer to, you will see it. 

There’s even a term for it: ‘Being on the back foot’ 

In our presentation training workshops we encourage people to do the opposite.

We ask them to step into or lean into the question. Especially if it’s one that makes you uncomfortable or you don’t know the answer to.

The forward movement towards your audience makes a statement that you’re in control. It conveys confidence even if you don’t feel it in that moment. 

Try it out and see for yourself. 

2. Reframe it 

Our primitive fight or flight system kicks in with a vengeance when we are unable to answer a question or feel challenged. 

It’s entirely normal.

Consider this for a moment

If your audience asks questions, it suggests you have engaged them and stimulated thought.

High impact presenting isn’t about telling people what you think, imposing ideas and then running for the hills. 

It’s about inspiring thought, sometimes challenging beliefs and at the very least creating a conversation.

The nervous energy you feel in the moment is entirely natural

It’s your body telling you that you are alive, that you care and that you want to do well. 

Acknowledge the nerves and channel the energy to your advantage. 

The best way to do that is to breathe deeply as you listen to and consider the question.

Your audience wants you to do well; no one is there to catch you out or watch you squirm. They also know that you are human just like them and simply can’t know the answer to everything.

 3. Look at them 

When we don’t know the answer to a question our eyes are often the first things to hit the floor.

A good way to answer questions with confidence is by making eye contact with your audience.

Many presenters who are able to do so, tend to hold eye contact with the questioner only.

They often forget about the rest of the audience

You will exude more confidence and retain rapport if you involve the rest of the audience with your response through eye contact also. 

4. Answer it anyway

If you don’t know the answer to  a question don’t make one up.

Explain that you don’t have the explicit answer for them in that moment but that you will make it your business to get it for them. 

You may still offer a thought or view on the question if you have one. The caveat is to make it very clear that your comments don’t represent the answer, they are simply thoughts. 

You’ve already promised to find out, it’s simply a perspective

Your audience will welcome and respect the fact that you’ve been honest but are also prepared to think about it on the spot. 

5. Learn from them 

Being asked questions we don’t know the answer to creates a learning opportunity. 

Life and business is a perpetual ‘work in progress’. I can’t even begin to imagine a day when any of us will stop learning. 

That’s another reframe of course

Instead of being terrified of losing credibility, try to see the benefit in that you get to find out the answer to something you don’t know.

Accept the opportunity to learn graciously.

6. Take the emotional charge out 

Every now and then you may face what feels like a hostile question.

The person asking may be frustrated, concerned or just simply doesn’t understand your perspective .

Perhaps they just don’t agree with you

You may feel that the questioner wants an argument. You may even think that they won’t rest until you concede to their way of thinking.

If you feel that’s the case and that you’re getting nowhere fast, try this:

– Listen

Listen very carefully to the question and make sure you completely understand it. 

– Search

Try to find something the person is saying that you can genuinely agree with.

That doesn’t mean agreeing with something you don’t.

Once you’ve found something in their words, no matter how small, that makes some kind of sense to you acknowledge it.

– Shut up 

You’ve listened intently.

You’ve acknowledged or agreed (genuinely) with some small element that they said .

Now you need to pause and say nothing

Many presenters are uncomfortable with the idea and feel compelled to continue speaking.

Have the courage to hold your ground for as long as it takes. Watch the emotional charge begin to dissipate. 

Rather than quaking at the thought of being asked a question you don’t know, try these 6 tips to see what works for you. 

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein

If you need help answering questions with confidence:

– Book yourself onto a powerful  public speaking course .

– Invest in some really good one to one  public speaking coaching .

– Get yourself some excellent  presentation training

Image: Courtesy of flickr.com

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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .  

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters. 

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion: 

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message. 

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations . 

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software . 

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong. 

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively . 

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence. 

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload. 

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started. 

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs. 

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account. 

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations. 

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

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350 Top Q&A Questions to Expect for Any Presentations (Save Them Now!)

Zhun Yee Chew

Preparing the slide content is nothing compared to dealing with daunting questions during the Q&A session of a presentation. Sometimes, if we are not lucky, we will face a tough crowd with even tougher questions that may leave us feeling challenged on the spot. And none of us likes the awkward moment of not being able to provide a satisfactory response to the audience.

Answering Q&A questions is a skill that everyone can master with the right resources and the right amount of preparation. You’ve searched, and we have them for you.

In this article, you will find more than 300 Q&A questions that are most commonly asked in a wide range of presentation occasions. Save them so you can be ready for even the most unexpected questions in your upcoming presentations!

What Are Q&A Questions?

Q&A questions, short for “Questions and Answers”, are inquiries posed by an audience or participants to the speaker or presenter during the Q&A session of a presentation . This Q&A segment typically follows a presentation, a talk or a lecture, providing the opportunities for the audience to seek clarification, ask additional information, or understand the speaker’s perspectives.

The whole point of Q&A sessions is to make the presentation more interactive and foster engagement . It’s a chance for the audience to pick the speaker’s brain and get a better understanding of the subject. 

What Are the Different Types of Presentations?

Business Presentations:

• Sales pitches
• Quarterly or annual reports
• Performance reviews
• Project proposals/updates
• All-hands presentations

Academic  Presentations:

• Lesson presentations
• Conference/research presentations
• Classroom quiz games

Training Sessions:

• Employee training
• Onboarding sessions
• Skills development workshops

Public Speaking:

• Motivational speeches
• Commencement addresses

Informative Presentations:

• How-to presentations
• Demonstrations
• Informational sessions

Social Events:

• Celebration speeches
• Team-building activities
• PowerPoint nights
• Presentation games

Technology Presentations:

• Software launches
• Product launches

Crisis Management:

• Crisis communication
• Emergency response briefings
• Contingency plans

Virtual Presentations:

• Online conferences

Different presentations involve different audience types, and the nature of questions posed can vary significantly based on presentation formats and occasions. However, the core of a successful and engaging presentation remains constant – ensuring  interactivity in a presentation  and transforming it into a two-way street through Q&A questions and adding interactive elements or using interactive tools in your presentations.

Academic Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for lecture presentations.

• Can you provide more examples for the concept/theory you just explained?
• Are there any common misconceptions about this topic that we should be aware of?
• What are the main differences between this and [related topic]?
• Can you explain the steps involved in [specific process] in more detail?
• What are the current research trends or developments in this field?
• How does this concept connect to what we learned in the previous lesson?
• Are there any alternative approaches to solve the problems here?
• Can you recommend additional resources or readings?
• Can you provide some tips for studying this material effectively?
• Are there any real-world examples where this concept has been successfully applied?
• What are the most common mistakes students make when working on assignments for this topic?
• Can you explain the significance of this concept in the context of future careers?
• What are the ethical considerations associated with the topics we are discussing?
• Are there any current debates or controversies related to this topic?
• How does this topic connect with interdisciplinary subjects or other courses?
• Can you share examples of how this concept might be used in different industries or professions?
• Can you summarize the key takeaways of today’s presentation?
• Can you discuss any historical or cultural context that influences this topic?
• How might this information be relevant to current events or societal issues?

Q&A Questions for Academic Conference Presentations 

• How did you decide on the research question or topic for your study?
• How did you select your sample or participants, and how representative is it of the broader population?
• Can you explain the methodology you used in your research and why you chose that approach?
• What are the main findings or key results of your study?
• How do your findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge in your field?
• Can you discuss any limitations or challenges you encountered during your research?
• What implications do your findings have for practitioners in the field?
• Can you elaborate on the theoretical framework that guided your study?
• What ethical considerations did you address in your research, and how were they managed?
• How did you validate the reliability and validity of your research instruments or methods?
• How did you address potential biases or confounding variables in your research?
• How do your findings compare to previous research on the same or similar topics?
• Can you discuss any unexpected or surprising results that you discovered during your study?
• How did you handle data analysis, and what statistical methods were employed in your study?
• What alternative explanations or interpretations of your data did you consider?
• How does your research contribute to addressing specific gaps in current knowledge?
• How did you control for potential confounding variables in your research design?
• What recommendations do you have for policymakers based on your research findings?
• How does your study relate to other recent or ongoing research in the same area?
• Are your findings generalizable to different populations or settings?
• How did you ensure the rigor of your data analysis and interpretation?
• What role did collaboration play in your research, and how did you handle disagreements within the research team?
• Can you share any unexpected challenges you faced during the research process?
• How might your findings be applied in a practical context, such as in industry or education?
• How did you establish the validity of your conclusions in light of potential bias or subjectivity?
• What potential areas for future research did your study uncover?
• Can you discuss the relevance of your research to current global or societal issues?
• How did you handle any limitations in available resources or funding for your research?
• What key takeaway message or lesson would you like the audience to remember from your presentation?

Q&A Questions for Student Presentations

• Can you elaborate on the research process you used to gather information for your presentation?
• Can you discuss the process of selecting and organizing the visual elements in your presentation, such as charts or graphs?
• How did you decide on the topic or key elements to include in your presentation?
• What challenges did you encounter while preparing for your presentation, and how did you overcome them?
• What did you learn about the topic that surprised you during your research?
• Can you explain the significance of your topic or its relevance to the course content?
• Can you discuss any alternative perspectives or counter-arguments related to your topic that you considered?
• What sources did you consult to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented?
• Can you explain the connection between your topic and current events or real-world applications?
• Can you share any specific examples or case studies that support the points you made in your presentation?
• Can you elaborate on any implications or applications of your findings beyond the scope of your presentation?
• Can you discuss any ethical considerations related to your topic that you addressed in your presentation?
• How might your presentation contribute to the understanding of the broader course themes or objectives?
• What aspects of the presentation are you most proud of, and what would you do differently next time?

Q&A Questions for Project-Based Lessons

• What is the main goal or objective of this project, and how will our work contribute to it?
• Can you provide more details about the criteria for success in this project?
• How will our progress be assessed, and what are the key milestones or deadlines?
• Can you clarify the roles and responsibilities of each team member in the project?
• Are there specific resources or materials that we should use or reference for this project?
• Can you provide examples of successful projects from previous classes or students?
• Are there specific presentation or communication requirements for showcasing our project?
• What opportunities for feedback and revision will be available throughout the project timeline?

Business Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for sales pitches.

• What makes your product or service different from competitors in the market?
• Can you provide some specific examples of companies or clients who have successfully used your product/service?
• How does your product/service address specific pain points or challenges that customers commonly face?
• Can you share some success stories or case studies related to your product/service?
• How does your product/service integrate with existing tools or systems our company uses?
• What kind of support or training is provided to customers after they purchase your product/service?
• Can you explain the implementation process and how quickly we can expect to see results?
• Are there any customization options available to tailor the product/service to our specific needs?
• What kind of ongoing maintenance or updates does your product/service require?
• How do you ensure the security and privacy of our data when using your product/service?
• Are there any limitations or restrictions we should be aware of when using your product/service?
• How often do you release updates or new features to your product/service?
• Can you explain the scalability of your solution and how it can grow with our business?
• What is your company’s roadmap for future developments or enhancements to the product/service?
• What is the typical return on investment (ROI) that your customers experience after implementing your product/service?
• How do you handle issues or challenges that may arise post-purchase?

Q&A Questions for Work Presentations

• How does your proposal align with our company’s overall goals or strategic objectives?
• What potential challenges do you foresee in implementing this plan, and how do you plan to address them?
• Can you explain the specific roles and responsibilities of each team member involved in this project?
• What kind of timeline are you envisioning for the different phases of this project?
• Have you considered alternative approaches to achieve the same goals, and if so, what are they?
• What resources, budget, and manpower will be required to execute this plan successfully?
• How do you plan to measure the success or effectiveness of this project?
• Are there any potential risks associated with your proposal, and what mitigation strategies do you have in place?
• Can you provide examples of similar projects that have been successful in the past, either within our company or in other organizations?
• How will you keep stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the project lifecycle?
• What kind of collaboration and communication tools do you plan to use to keep the team connected?
• Are there any dependencies or external factors that could impact the timeline or success of this project?
• Can you explain how this project aligns with current industry trends or best practices?
• What are the potential roadblocks or obstacles you anticipate, and how do you plan to overcome them?

Q&A Questions for Performance Review Presentations 

• Can you highlight specific projects or tasks where you feel you excelled?
• How have you demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to take initiative?
• Have there been any instances of conflict or difficult situations, and how did you handle them?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of since our last performance review?
• Where do you think you could have performed better, and what challenges did you face?
• How well do you think your current responsibilities align with your career goals?
• What new skills or responsibilities would you like to take on in the next year?
• How have you found the feedback and communication within the team or organization?
• How well do you feel you have contributed to team projects and collaborations?
• Are there ways we can enhance teamwork and collaboration within the team?
• Is there anything we can do to support you better in your role?
• What additional resources or training do you think would benefit you in your role?
• What motivates you in your work, and how can we ensure your continued motivation?
• What steps can we take to help you achieve your long-term career goals?

Q&A Questions for Annual/Quarterly Report Presentations

• How did specific projects or initiatives contribute to the overall success or challenges outlined in the report?
• What challenges or obstacles did the team face during the reporting period, and how were they addressed?
• Are there any unexpected or significant changes in the industry landscape that may affect future performance?
• What steps were taken to mitigate risks and uncertainties identified in the previous reports?
• Can you discuss the budgetary implications of the results presented in the report?
• How did the team adapt to changes in customer preferences or demands during this reporting period?
• How do the results align with the long-term strategic objectives of the organization?
• Can you discuss any feedback or concerns received from clients, customers, or stakeholders mentioned in the report?
• How did internal collaborations or cross-functional teamwork contribute to the outcomes presented?
• What initiatives or projects are planned for the upcoming quarter or year in response to the findings in the report?
• Can you elaborate on the return on investment (ROI) for specific marketing or promotional activities mentioned in the report?
• How do the current results compare to benchmarks or industry standards for similar organizations?
• Can you discuss any changes or improvements in operational processes that were implemented during the reporting period?
• Can you provide insights into any potential areas for improvement or focus in the coming reporting period based on the data presented?

Q&A Questions for All-Hands Presentations

• What are the key priorities and goals for the team in the upcoming quarter/year?
• Can you provide more details about the recent changes in team structure or leadership?
• How will recent industry trends or developments impact our team’s strategies moving forward?
• Can you discuss the reasoning behind recent policy changes or updates within the team?
• How will the team address challenges identified in recent performance reports or feedback?
• Can you provide insights into the budget allocation and resource planning for the team?
• How will the team adapt to changes in technology or tools that may affect our workflow?
• What professional development opportunities will be available to team members in the coming months?
• Can you share updates on recent achievements or milestones reached by the team?
• Can you discuss the team’s approach to fostering diversity and inclusion within the workplace?
• What strategies will be implemented to maintain team morale and motivation?
• Can you elaborate on the team’s strategy for managing workloads and preventing burnout?
• How will the team address any challenges related to communication?
• What steps will be taken to recognize and celebrate individual and team achievements in the future?

Public Speaking Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for motivational presentations.

• How did your background or experiences shape your perspective on the topic you discussed?
• How can individuals or communities apply the ideas you shared in their own lives or work?
• What impact do you hope your work will have on the future of [your topic]?
• How has your perspective on [your topic] evolved throughout your journey, and what lessons have you learned?
• How do you suggest we, as individuals, can contribute to or support the goals you outlined in your presentation?
• What advice do you have for someone who wants to get involved in or pursue a similar field or project?
• What are the common misconceptions or misunderstandings about [your topic] that you’d like to address?
• How can the audience stay informed or engaged with ongoing developments in your field or topic?
• Can you share personal experiences where you overcame significant obstacles and found motivation in [an area]?
• What advice do you have for dealing with [a personal issue]?
• How do you handle setbacks and failures in [an area]?
• What daily habits or routines do you recommend for sustaining long-term motivation?
• How can individuals at various career stages benefit from the insights you shared?
• Can you share examples of successful individuals who have been a source of inspiration for you?

Informative Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for youtube or online webinar presentations.

• How can I access the recording of this webinar for future reference?
• Can you recommend any additional resources for further learning on this topic?
• How does this information apply to different industries or professions?
• How do you suggest we adapt these concepts to our specific organizational context?
• How can we stay updated on new developments or research in this field?
• Can you suggest strategies for overcoming resistance to change when implementing these ideas?
• What role does ongoing professional development play in mastering the skills you discussed?
• How can individuals without a background in this field apply the principles you discussed?
• Can you explain the potential challenges or common mistakes people might encounter when trying this on their own?
• How do you foresee the future trends or developments affecting the subject of this webinar?
• Can you recommend specific tools or software that would enhance our implementation of these strategies?
• What are some key indicators of success when implementing the strategies you discussed?
• Can you discuss any industry standards or benchmarks related to the topics covered in this webinar?
• What would be the first step you recommend for someone looking to implement these ideas in their organization?

Q&A Questions for Demonstration Presentations

• Can you clarify the purpose or goal of the demonstration?
• What specific steps are involved in the process you just demonstrated?
• Are there alternative methods or tools that can be used for this demonstration?
• How long does it typically take to master this skill or process demonstrated?
• Are there any safety precautions that should be considered?
• Can you provide tips for troubleshooting or overcoming obstacles in the demonstrated activity?
• How does this demonstration apply to real-world scenarios or practical situations?
• Are there variations or advanced techniques related to this demonstration that you didn’t cover?
• Can you share examples of successful applications or projects that used the demonstrated technique?
• How does this demonstration align with current trends or innovations in the field?
• What feedback or suggestions do you have for individuals attempting the demonstrated task for the first time?
• Can you discuss any modifications or adaptations that may be necessary for different skill levels or abilities?

Training Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for training workshops.

• Can you provide more examples or practice exercises to reinforce the concepts you just covered?
• Are there any additional resources or recommended readings for further learning on this topic?
• Can you explain the specific steps or strategies for applying what we’ve learned in a real-world context?
• How often is this training updated to reflect changes in industry standards or best practices?
• How can we track our progress and measure the effectiveness of this training?
• Are there opportunities for practical application or hands-on exercises to reinforce the learning?
• Can you discuss any potential challenges or common difficulties participants might encounter during the training?
• Can you provide insights into how this training aligns with current trends or innovations in the industry?
• How will successful completion of this training impact our professional development or career advancement?
• What kind of ongoing support or resources will be available to participants after completing the training?
• Can you explain the relevance of each module or section of the training to our specific roles or responsibilities?
• Can you discuss any case studies or success stories related to individuals who have completed this training?
• Can you outline the specific skills or competencies participants are expected to gain by the end of the training?

Creative Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for brainstorming presentations.

• How did you arrive at the ideas presented during the brainstorming session?
• Can you provide more context on the criteria used to evaluate and prioritize the proposed ideas?
• Are there specific goals or objectives that the brainstormed ideas aim to achieve?
• How do the ideas generated align with the overall vision or mission of the team or organization?
• Can you discuss any potential challenges or constraints that may impact the implementation of these ideas?
• What steps will be taken to further develop and refine the selected ideas from the brainstorming session?
• How will the team decide which ideas to prioritize or move forward with?
• What role do you see each team member playing in the implementation or development of these ideas?
• What steps will be taken to test or prototype the most promising ideas before full implementation?
• Are there any potential synergies or connections between the different ideas presented?
• Can you discuss the anticipated impact or outcomes of implementing these ideas on the team’s objectives?

Q&A Questions for Creative Work Showcase Presentations

• What inspired your creative concept or idea?
• Can you discuss your creative process and how you generated or developed your ideas?
• How did you overcome creative blocks or challenges during the project?
• Can you share any unexpected twists or turns that occurred during the creative process?
• What influenced your choice of colors, themes, or visual elements in your presentation?
• Can you discuss any alternative concepts or ideas that you considered before finalizing your creative work?
• How did you decide on the overall tone or mood of your creative piece?
• Can you discuss any specific techniques or tools you used to bring your creative vision to life?
• How do you balance originality with meeting the expectations or objectives of the project?
• Can you elaborate on the symbolism or deeper meaning behind certain elements in your creative work?
• How did you ensure your creative work aligns with the intended message or purpose of the project?
• Can you share any unexpected challenges you encountered while executing your creative ideas?
• What advice do you have for others looking to enhance their creativity or embark on similar projects?
• Can you discuss any future plans or developments related to your creative work?

Q&A Questions for Portfolio Presentations

• How did you curate or select the pieces included in your portfolio?
• Can you discuss the overarching themes or concepts that tie your portfolio together?
• What criteria did you use to determine which projects or works to include in your portfolio?
• Can you provide insights into your creative process for one of the featured projects?
• How do you believe your portfolio reflects your growth or evolution as a professional or artist?
• Can you discuss any challenges you encountered while working on specific projects in your portfolio?
• What inspired the overall design and layout of your portfolio presentation?
• Can you share any feedback or critiques you received during the creation of your portfolio?
• How do you handle showcasing both personal and professional work in your portfolio?
• How do you stay updated on current trends or techniques in your industry, and how does this influence your portfolio?
• Can you elaborate on any technologies or tools you used to create or present your portfolio?
• How do you handle showcasing a diverse range of skills or talents in your portfolio?
• How do you balance consistency with variety in the presentation of your portfolio pieces?
• Can you provide insights into the decision-making process behind the visual and aesthetic choices in your portfolio?

Subject-Based Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for history presentations.

• Why is it important for us to study this particular historical period or event?
• Can you provide more context on the social and cultural aspects of the time you discussed?
• Are there any alternative perspectives or interpretations of the historical event you presented?
• How did political or economic factors contribute to the events you covered in your presentation?
• Can you discuss the impact of this historical period on contemporary society or global affairs?
• How do historians generally view or interpret the significance of the events you discussed?
• Can you elaborate on any controversies related to the historical topic you presented?
• Can you discuss any parallels or connections between the historical events you covered and current events?
• Can you elaborate on any lesser-known or overlooked aspects of the historical topic?
• What were the main causes and consequences of the events discussed in this lesson?
• How did global events or other regions influence the events in this specific historical context?
• Can you share more details about the key figures or individuals involved in the historical events?
• Can you discuss any social movements or cultural shifts that occurred during this time?
• Were there any controversies or debates among historians regarding the interpretation of these events?
• What primary sources or historical documents can we explore to gain a deeper understanding of this time?
• What lessons or insights can we draw from the mistakes or successes of the past?

Q&A Questions for Geography Presentations

• Can you explain the significance of the geographical features discussed in this lesson?
• What are the cultural or societal aspects that make this geographic area unique?
• Can you discuss the environmental challenges or changes occurring in the region you shared?
• Are there any connections between the geography of a region and its cultural practices or traditions?
• How has human activity impacted the natural landscapes and ecosystems in the region?
• Can you provide insights into the economic factors shaping the geography of the area?
• How do political boundaries or geopolitical factors influence the geography of the region?
• Can you discuss any current or historical conflicts related to the geography you presented?
• Can you share examples of how globalization has impacted the geography you discussed?
• How does the geography of the area influence migration patterns and population distribution?
• Can you discuss any challenges or opportunities related to urbanization in the region?
• Can you provide examples of how transportation infrastructure shapes the geography of the region?
• How do the geographical features discussed impact the local economy and lifestyle?
• Can you discuss the role of sustainable development in shaping the geography of the region?
• How does the geography of a region impact the availability and distribution of resources?

Q&A Questions for Science Presentations

• How does this scientific theory or principle apply to real-world situations?
• Can you provide examples of experiments or demonstrations that illustrate the principles being taught?
• How do current advancements or research in technology influence our understanding of this science?
• Can you provide examples of how this scientific concept has been applied in various industries?
• Can you share insights into any ongoing or future research related to the subject of the lecture?
• Can you elaborate on any potential interdisciplinary connections between this science and other fields?
• How do you see the future developments or advancements shaping the field of science you discussed?
• Can you discuss any recent advancements or breakthroughs in the field related to your presentation?
• What experiments or studies have been conducted to support the information presented in your topic?
• Are there any unanswered questions or areas of uncertainty in the scientific understanding of this topic?
• Can you discuss the importance of peer review in the scientific process?

Q&A Questions for Social Science Presentations

• Can you provide some background information on the topic?
• Can you explain the significance of any statistical analyses or data presented in this studies?
• How might cultural or societal factors influence the interpretation of the findings?
• Are there any primary sources or case studies used in the lesson to illustrate these social science concepts?
• What are the alternative opinions or perspectives that one should consider for this topic?
• How can we critically evaluate bias in the research?
• What are the roles of globalization or international perspectives in this topic?
• Why is [a perspective/opinion] the case?
• What are the potential objections for [a perspective/opinion]?
• How does the topic of this lesson relate to broader social issues or current events?
• Are there any conflicting theories or perspectives within the field related to this lesson’s content?
• Can you explain the practical implications of the theories or concepts covered in this lesson?
• How do the concepts covered in this lesson contribute to a deeper understanding of human behavior or society?
• What are some potential criticisms or limitations of the theories presented in this lesson?

Q&A Questions for Art and Design Presentations

• How do different artistic techniques contribute to the overall aesthetic of the piece?
• Can you explain the cultural or historical influences behind the art or design style being taught?
• How can personal experiences or emotions be expressed through art and design?
• Can you provide examples of famous artists or designers who are known for this particular style or technique?
• How does the use of color, shape, and composition impact the visual impact of the artwork or design?
• Are there any contemporary or modern trends in art and design that relate to the topic of this lesson?
• How does the art or design being taught relate to broader movements or styles in the art world?
• How can art and design contribute to social or cultural change?

Fun Presentation Q&A Questions

Q&a questions for powerpoint night  presentations.

• Do you remember the time when we [shared a memorable adventure or experience]?
• What’s your favorite memory from our past travels together?
• If we were to plan a group vacation, what destination would you suggest for our bucket list?
• What’s one place you’ve always wanted to visit that we haven’t explored together yet?
• What’s the most spontaneous or unplanned adventure we’ve had?
• What’s our favorite inside joke?
• If we were to create a time capsule representing our friendship, what would you include in it?
• What’s the craziest or most unexpected thing we’ve ever done together?
• What’s your go-to travel snack or comfort food?
• What’s a shared goal or dream destination you’d like to achieve with the group?
• Can you recall the first time we met, and what was your initial impression of me?
• What’s a skill or talent of mine that surprised you when you first discovered it?
• If our group had a theme song, what do you think it should be and why?
• If we were characters in a movie, how would you describe our dynamic or roles?
• What’s a shared goal or aspiration that you think our group could work towards together?
• What’s your favorite thing about our friendship that you cherish the most?
• If we had a group motto or slogan, what do you think it should be?

Q&A Questions for PowerPoint Games

• What are the rules of the game?
• How long is the expected duration of the game?
• Are there any specific materials or equipment needed to play the game?
• Can you explain the objective or goal of the game?
• Are there any hidden surprises in the game that players might not immediately notice?
• Any secret tips for success in the game?
• Are there any special prizes or incentives for winners of tonight’s games?
• How is the game scored, and what determines the winner?
• What happens if there’s a tie in the game?
• Are there any variations or optional rules we should be aware of?
• Can you explain the order of play and how turns are determined?
• Are there penalties or consequences for certain actions during the game?
• Can participants form teams, or is the game strictly individual play?
• Are there any restrictions on player movement or interaction during the game?
• Can you provide examples of common strategies or tactics used in the game?
• How is cheating or rule violations handled in the game?
• Can you recommend any strategies for newcomers or first-time players?

Feedback Q&A Questions

• What specific aspects of the presentation do you think were most effective?
• Can you provide suggestions for improving the clarity of certain points in the presentation?
• How well do you think the presenter engaged with the audience during the presentation?
• Were there any areas where you felt the presentation could have been more engaging or interactive?
• Can you offer insights into the pacing of the presentation and whether it was appropriate?
• What are your thoughts on the visual elements, such as slides or graphics, used in the presentation?
• Were there any technical issues or challenges that affected your experience during the presentation?
• Can you provide feedback on the overall organization and structure of the presentation?
• Were there any moments in the presentation that you found particularly memorable or impactful?
• Did the presenter effectively convey the key messages or takeaways of the presentation?
• How well did the presenter connect with the audience’s level of understanding or familiarity with the topic?
• Can you discuss any specific examples or anecdotes that resonated with you during the presentation?
• Were there any instances where the presenter could have provided more context or background information?
• What are your thoughts on the presenter’s use of language, tone, and overall communication style?
• Can you suggest ways in which the presenter could improve audience engagement or participation?
• Were there any aspects of the presentation that you found confusing or difficult to follow?
• Can you share your overall impression of the presentation and whether it met your expectations?
• What recommendations do you have for the presenter to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of future presentations?

Closing Thoughts

With more than 300 Q&A questions to help you with your preparation, you can save so much time thinking and anticipating the questions your audience may ask during the Q&A session of your presentation. Now, you can focus on what matters most – acing your presentation! 

BONUS: Lazy to create PowerPoint presentations from scratch? Try these  11 top-rated AI PowerPoint generators (they’re free!), as well as these  4 ways to use ChatGPT to create PowerPoint presentations . 

About Zhun Yee Chew

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The Right Way to Handle Tough Questions During Presentations [SlideShare]

Updated: July 28, 2017

Published: January 21, 2016

If you've ever spoken in front of an audience -- big or small -- it's likely that you're familiar with "Q&A paranoia."

It's not that you don't want to answer people's questions -- heck, you're the expert -- but not knowing what to expect can be a little stressful. 

What if they challenge your stance? Try to discredit you? Or ask you something you haven't the slightest clue about?

While it's smart to anticipate certain objections, others may arise that you simply can't plan for. For tough times like those, check out the helpful tips in the SlideShare from 24Slides below.

How to you handle tough presentation questions? Share you tips in the comments section below.

Don't forget to share this post!

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• 7 Tips to Encourage Audience Questions in Your Presentation Q&A

September 19, 2017

Ever seen a presenter ask “Any questions?” at the end of their presentation, and heard only crickets from the audience?

In my work as a professional emcee and trade show presenter , I see it often, and it always makes me cringe because it’s so awkward, and so completely avoidable.

Asking for questions and getting none kills a presentation’s momentum. It usually goes like this:

• The presenter, having run out of content, asks “Any questions?”
• The audience, having no questions, freezes in place.
• Everyone thinks they hear crickets, though there are none in the room.
• The presenter, getting no questions, says, “OK, I guess I’m done.”

OUCH. How’d that happen?

Chances are, you caught your audience by surprise. They didn’t know you’d take questions, so they didn’t think of any. When you asked, you caught them off guard.

I want your next presentation to end with a bang, not a whimper. So try these tips to encourage questions:

1. PREPPING YOUR Q&A: PRIME YOUR AUDIENCE

> TIP THEM OFF EARLY:  As you start your presentation, tell your audience: “I’ll take all your questions at the end, so write down your questions as you think of them along the way.”  That’ll get them active thinking of questions throughout your presentation.

> REMIND THEM:  A few minutes before you take questions, say: “I’ve got one more slide to cover, then I’ll take your questions.” That’ll remind them to think of some questions if they haven’t yet.

2. STARTING YOUR Q&A: GIVE THEM A NUDGE

> LEAVE ROOM: Starting a Q&A with little or no time left discourages questions; your audience wants to leave on time too! Instead, carve out 5-10 minutes or more for questions (and cut some content to make room if needed; your audience prioritizes the information they want to get over the information you want to share).

> USE A PLANT: Have a “plant” in the audience who’ll ask the first question (one you’re comfortable answering), which encourages other audience members to ask (and saves them the awkwardness of going first) and gives them time to think of something to ask.

> CHANGE YOUR PHRASING: Your audience may interpret the phrase “Any questions?” as a sign that you don’t expect or even want questions, which discourages them from asking. Instead, encourage questions by phrasing your question with a more upbeat, expectant tone:  “Who’s got a question?” or  “Who’d like to go first?”

> ASK IT YOURSELF: Ask yourself a common question:  “One question I get often is…” Then answer it. Again, this encourages the audience to follow suit, and gives them more time to think of a question.

3. ENDING YOUR Q&A: ADD THAT BANG!

Q&A or not, ending your presentation by saying you’re ending your presentation (“OK, I guess I’m done”) will end your presentation with a whimper. You can easily replace that whimper with a “bang” by restating your main takeaway and thanking your audience:

“Folks, I hope my presentation has shown you that when it’s raining and you want to stay dry outside, use an umbrella! You won’t regret it. Thanks so much for your time.”

And thank you so much for your time!

by Andy Saks

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Organization: Phone: type_submit_reset_5 Spark News: Coming (& Recent) Attractions Spark booth presenter shines at Las Vegas tech show Navy SEAL fundraiser books charity auctioneer Andy Saks Boston awards event books Spark master of ceremonies Read all Coming (& Recent) Attractions Sparky Says: Presentation & Public Speaking Tips 10 Tips to Boost Donations at Your Fund the Need / Paddle Raise 10 PowerPoint Alternatives That Make Your Presentation Memorable Read all Sparky Says (Speaking Tips) Presentation Frequently Asked Questions Trade show presenter 101: Your guide to booking a booth presenter (Part 1) Sales presentation skills: How much is your pitch actually worth? How do I hire the right trade show presenter? Read all Presentation FAQ Spark's Client Success Stories Emcee tips: How Spark’s master of ceremonies made AT&T’s awards dinner fun Trade show booth ideas: How to get the most value from your presenter Trade show booth ideas: Recycle your presentation script Read all Spark Success Stories Spark Presentations Andy Saks, Owner & Lead Speaker 781-454-7600 | Email | Contact page Don't miss exclusive Spark deals! Sign up for your Spark e-newsletter today. Presentation Tips 9: How to deal with audience questions Presentation Skills Most presentations end with time for questions from the audience. This is something that can strike fear into the heart of the presenter, for at least two reasons. The first is the prospect of being met with a stony silence when you ask, ‘Does anyone have any questions? ’ The second is being put on the spot and faced with tricky or controversial questions that you don’t know how to handle. In this post I will outline some ways to encourage your audience to ask questions, as well as some tips on how to deal with questions effectively. How to encourage your audience to ask questions Inviting questions at the very end of your presentation can often lead to the dreaded stony silence, which can feel uncomfortable for everyone. If the success of your presentation depends on getting interaction and ‘buy in’ from your audience, then here are some strategies to take you beyond the awkward silence. Warn your audience when you are coming towards the end of your presentation and tell them you’ll be inviting them to ask questions. First, recap your main points and then invite questions. This gives your audience some thinking time and the chance to refocus their attention. Pose a question yourself and provide the answer. You can introduce your question by saying, ‘This is something people often ask me…………. ’ By choosing your question carefully, you can highlight a particular aspect of your presentation or use it subtly as a call to action. If your audience is large, people are likely to feel inhibited about speaking out. Consider having a ‘plant’ in the audience – a friend or colleague who asks the first question. Often this is all it takes to set the ball rolling and further questions will follow. Make sure you come across as approachable, friendly and interested in your audience. No-one wants to risk asking a question and appearing foolish in front of the ‘world leading expert’! Tips for answering audience questions Remember to make it clear at the start of your presentation whether you want or expect questions, and when you would prefer to take them i.e. at the end or as you go along. If you are an inexperienced presenter or if your timescale is very short, then it’s generally best to take questions at the end. Most audience questions are fairly predictable, so you should have thought of them when preparing your presentation and figured out some good answers, especially to the tricky ones. Of course you won’t be able to predict every question, but you can develop and use a range of techniques for handling them effectively. Welcome every question and acknowledge that you have received it. If you are faced with a tricky question, don’t change your manner or respond defensively in words or body language. Repeat the question if the room is large, or if the questioner has a quiet voice. If the question is unclear, ask the questioner what they mean or rephrase it tactfully and check if you have understood correctly. Keep your answer brief and clear. Answer the question mainly to the questioner. If the answer is fairly long, make eye contact briefly with the rest of the audience so that they feel included. Check that the questioner is satisfied with your answer. Admit it if you don’t know the answer and don’t waffle. If appropriate, say that you will find out and get back to them. Refer the question to someone else in the audience – but only if they are expecting you to do so. In some circumstances you may open up the question to the whole audience. Don’t let one person dominate question time. Break eye contact with that individual and invite questions from other parts of the audience. Don’t engage in a long dialogue with one person. You risk the remainder of your audience becoming bored or restless. Say to the individual that you’ll be happy to discuss further after the presentation – if that’s the case! Never get drawn into an argument. You could undo all the good work you put into your presentation. When time is running out, warn the audience that you will take only two more questions. Question time can be the most productive element of your presentation. Follow the tips outlined above and you will find yourself not only handling questions effectively but even enjoying the process too! Click here to read one of my previous posts on  How to use visual aids. Please contact me if you would like to find out about training courses or coaching on Presentation Skills. Click her e to view a sample Presentation Skills training programme. Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! About the author: margaret johnston. Related Posts Presentation Tips 10: How to make a team presentation Presentation Tips 8: How to use visual aids Presentation Tips 7: How to use your voice effectively Presentation Tips 6: How to make a great first impression Presentation Tips 5: How to structure a presentation One comment. This is great Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed . 8 tips for encouraging questions in your presentation by Olivia Mitchell | 8 comments Most of us would like people in the audience to ask questions. A lively Q&A session is stimulating and engaging for the audience. But sometimes you ask for questions, and you’re just met with blank gazes back from your audience. It’s a let-down and your presentation ends on a sour note. Questions from the audience are like young fragile seedlings – they need nurturing. Consider when you’re in the audience – what stages do you have to mentally go through in order to ask a question? It might go something like this: So as the presenter, you need to nurture your audience’s questions through these four stages. Here are 8 tips to help make them through: 1. Pitch your presentation at the right level for your audience The first stage of questions is birth – they have to be born in your audience’s mind. If your presentation is too simple for the level of knowledge in your audience – it’s all material they’ve covered before – they won’t have any questions. Conversly, if it’s too complicated for them, they’ll turn off rather than risk asking a question which might make them look stupid. 2. Don’t cover every aspect of your topic in the presentation If you cover everything there is to know on the topic – you won’t leave room for questions. So don’t be exhaustive in your coverage. 3. Let your audience know you would like questions and when to ask them Near the beginning of your presentation let your audience know that you welcome questions. Then let them know when to ask them. There are a number of options: Take questions throughout your presentation Tell people they can interrupt you throughout the presentation to ask questions as they come to mind. This has several benefits: people won’t have to remember their question till later if they’re uncertain about something they can get that clarified at the time questions on a particular issue are dealt with at the same time that you’re discussing that issue. The downside to this strategy is that it can take you off track if people ask irrelevant questions or questions that you’re going to cover later in the presentation. If you find it tricky to get back into the flow of your presentation after an interruption it may not be the best strategy for you. Finally, it can throw the timing of your presentation if people ask a lot of questions on a particular issue. This strategy is best used in longer presentations and training courses where timing is less critical. Take questions at defined points of your presentation Tell people you will have an opportunity for questions after you’ve finished each part of your presentation. This option is a useful halfway point between having questions throughout and leaving them till the end of the presentation. You can also decide how long to take questions for during each break in your presentation, and so control the timing better. 4. Let them ask a question as soon as they have one If you’re serious about ensuring that people get their questions answered, invite people to interrupt you and ask their question. It’s the only way to ensure this. That’s when the question is burning for them. The longer you make people wait, the less likely they are to remember it. Once you’ve moved onto a new topic, their question will seem less relevant. Joey Asher from Talking Points blog says: Questions aren’t to be feared. They’re to be embraced.  There’s no better way to connect with an audience than to allow them free rein to ask as many questions as they want. 5. Invite people to write down their questions as they think of them If you don’t want to take questions throughout, you can help people remember their questions by suggesting that they write them down. 6. Validate every question It takes courage to ask a question. It’s public speaking – just not from the front of the room. People are held back by wondering if their question is stupid or did they miss something and you already answered it. So you need to do your bit to make it a safe environment for people to ask questions. Do that by responding warmly to all questions that are asked – even if the question is stupid or you had already covered it. I don’t recommend saying “Good question”. It’s become a cliche which is often used when the presenter can’t immediately think of the answer. 7. Have people discuss in pairs any questions they may have If your audience seems a little shy, give them an opportunity to discuss their questions with one other person before they ask them in front of the whole of the audience. Here’s how do do this: “I’m going to ask for questions in a moment. Please turn to the person next to you and discuss together any questions you have. Then I’ll answer those questions.” This has several benefits: It gives people the opportunity to try out their question in front of one person before risking humiliation in front of the whole audience. Any questions that are answered by material you’ve already covered can be answered by their partner. It gives people the opportunity to rehearse and fine-tune their question so that it will be shorter and clearer when they ask you. 8. Answer questions clearly and succinctly If you answer every question with a long-winded and incoherent ramble, people are going to be reluctant to ask you another one. They’ll conclude they’re unlikely to get a useful answer from you. Nor do they want to subject the rest of the audience to another ramble. More resources on other blogs Five ways to make presentations Q&A friendly from Joey Asher at Talking Points. He also recommends validating every question: Smiling at the questioner is like rewarding a dog for sitting on command.  Once rewarded, the chances are the audience will ask more. John Windsor has a useful post Making the most of a Q&A session . He stresses anticipating the questions that might be asked. And also advises that you recap and conclude your presentation after the Q&A session. That provides a stronger ending to your presentation than just lettting questions peter out. Andrew Dlugan discusses Leading the perfect Q&A . This covers all elements of the Q&A session from both the audience’s point of view and the presenters. Free Course How to tame your fear of public speaking. In this video-training series (plus workbook with transcripts) you’ll learn: The three things you must know BEFORE you begin to tackle your fear of public speaking Why the positive-negative thought classification doesn’t work for fear of public speaking The two powerful self-talk tweaks that can make an immediate difference. You have Successfully Subscribed! I ask for your email address to deliver the course to you and so that I can keep on supporting and encouraging you with tips, ideas and inspiration. I will also let you know when my group program is open for enrolment. I will keep your email safe and you can unsubscribe at any time. Hi again Olivia – just seen this following someone else’s link. It’s something I blogged about myself a while ago – and in retrospect I probably over-stated my case: http://www.curved-vision.co.uk/presentation-skills-blog/2008/03/29/questions-or-not/ To me, it’s important to differentiate between two types of question. Firstly, you’ve got questions of fact (“Did you say 200%?”) which seem to me to be necessary at any point because otherwise people won’t be able to make much of anything you say after that. Secondly though, there are questions of “application” for lack of a better term. Things like “So in my position, would it make sense to….?”. I love these questions as it shows the audience has bitten what I’ve said and is running with it. My instinct is that these questions should only surface at the end (in fact if the presentation is well structured this is probably the only place it CAN surface!). And, for the “during the presentation so askers don’t forget”, I’ve also seen Twitter used effectively – either as a displayed backchannel – so that the whole audience can see, or just visible to those who have the necessary hardware. Quite often, small questions can be answered by someone else in the audience (like whispering to the person next to you – only there are lots of people next to you!), or the presenter/room host can skim them at the end & answer the key ones. Hi Emma Yes, that’s a great use of the backchannel. Thank you for adding it to this post. Olivia You actually make it seem really easy with your presentation however I to find this topic to be actually one thing which I believe I might never understand. It seems too complex and very wide for me. I am taking a look forward to your next publish, I will attempt to get the dangle of it! Nice response in return of this query with real arguments and explaining the whole thing concerning that. Các c? ?ã có câu Nh?t dáng nhì da th? ba là váy c??i”. Right here is the right website for anybody who wishes to find out about this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa). 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Trackbacks/Pingbacks 15 ways to improve your presentations in 2009 : Speaking about Presenting - [...] When you’re just starting out presenting, it makes sense to take questions near the end of your presentation. It’s… IPDI » Blog Archive » Innovation Brainstorm: Public Speaking and Twitter - [...] with asking the audience for “out-loud” questions as well. It’s good practice to stop for questions throughout your presentation… Best Presentation Tips | Speaking about Presenting: Presentation Tips from Olivia Mitchell - [...] 8 tips for encouraging questions in your presentation [...] How to Present While People are Twittering — Pistachio - [...] with asking the audience for “out-loud” questions as well. It’s good practice to stop for questions throughout your presentation… The first five stages of speaker development - [...] to look for in a presentation skills trainer 8 tips for encouraging questions in your presentation How to survive… Sparring Sessions With Questions | The Public Speak King - [...] http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/audience/presentation-question-time/ Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like [...] How to Handle Questions during your Presentation | Moving People to Action - [...] Olivia Mitchell on 8 steps to encourage questions from the audience [...] Got an important presentation coming up? Got an important presentation coming up and: You have so much content that you can't figure out what to leave out? Don't know where to begin your design process? Worried that your material won't be of value? Feeling overwhelmed and can't get started? Can't figure out your theme? Concerned you won't be engaging? Time is running out? 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Here we provide you with 15 presentation tips for effective presentations. Whether you are an experienced presenter, or just starting out, there should be ideas here to help you improve your presentation skills. Presenting successfully: 16 tips to improve your presentation skills and give a killer presentation  How do you give a good presentation this is how to succeed. In order to be able to present successfully, not only the layout and the content of the presentation must be convincing. The decisive step is to convey the content of the presentation to the audience in the best possible way by presenting it correctly. The tips listed below should help you do this by improving your presentation skills. The most important thing to keep in mind is a healthy combination of the tips listed below. (The order of the tips does not give any information about their importance). Not every tip will lead to a successful presentation. What is important in a presentation? As mentioned earlier, you should try to implement a combination of the tips to give a successful presentation. It should be noted that not every one of these tips needs to fit in your own presentation. In addition, too many of these tips can make the presentation look overloaded and too "rehearsed". Therefore, think carefully in advance about what you want to pay particular attention to. Here are 16 tips for killer presentations: Tip 1: maintain eye contact while presenting and smile. In order to give each of your listeners the feeling of being important and to make them feel personally addressed, it is particularly important to maintain eye contact with the audience during the presentation. Not only does this exude confidence, but it also helps your audience to connect with you and your subject. It also helps you feel less nervous.  Easier said than done right? Here's what can help: Find someone in the audience who seems to be genuinely interested in the topic and is listening attentively (for example, your lecturer). Make eye contact with this person at the beginning of the presentation. Once you start feeling more calm and confident let your gaze drift over the audience to address the other listeners as well. Keep returning your gaze to the initial person to stay calm throughout the whole presentation. Another alternative is to find a fixed point in the room (preferably on the wall behind the audience) which you fix at the beginning of the presentation. Similar to the first example, after you have achieved confidence, you can let your gaze wander over the audience and return to the previously selected fixed point again and again. Don't look at the screen! Don't look at the floor! Don't just look at your index cards! Don't just look at the laptop! Tip 2: Use of gestures and facial expressions To emphasize the content of your presentation, it is advisable to use appropriate gestures and body language to get your message across. Avoid crossed arms, hands behind your back, or in your pockets during a presentation.  Always stand up straight, and try not to appear tense or stressed. You can do that by using your hands and arms to emphasize what you are saying and get your message across.  Your facial expressions should always be friendly and open. Smile and show that you enjoy the topic and you are confident in the information you are presenting. Tip 3: Avoid distractions Often you will not be able to avoid the use of aids. For example, you may need to use a laser pointer to show something on the screen, or you may need to use a pen to write something down on a flipchart. To avoid distractions for you and the audience, get into the habit of putting down tools you don't need! That way you will not be tempted to deal with them in the first place. You will also have your hands free for gestures. Tip 4: Be prepared: Practice makes perfect Practice makes perfect, right? If you prepare well before the presentation, you will feel more relaxed and confident while presenting and it will also improve your body language.  Here are some ways to help you prepare for a presentation: Rehearse in front of a crowd Time yourself Record yourself Tip 5: Be confident By appearing self-confident, you convey to the listener that you are confident in your topic and have prepared yourself sufficiently. Try to relax and not appear too stressed or nervous. Another tip for advanced speakers: Step out in front of the podium and walk around the room and get closer to the audience. This also exudes self-confidence and helps in attracting your audience's attention. Check out our undergraduate programmes Check out our graduate programmes Tip 6: Effective beginning/end Good presentation skills can help you in captivating your audience straight away. In order to do that, you should start your presentation with a bang. Many studies show that if you can capture someone’s interest straight away, there’s a good chance they’ll listen to the rest of the presentation. Shock the audience, ask them to imagine something or think of a what-if situation, share a personal story, share a joke, u se a quote, or a video. You should also give an overview of the time and structure of your presentation. This outline should run through your presentation so that you can always assign the individual contents to an outline point. It is also helpful for your audience to have the outline displayed in a slimmed-down form during the whole presentation. How you end the presentation is as important as how you start it. A weak ending will leave the audience uninspired. But a good ending will motivate them and help them walk away on a positive note. For example, include a call to action, end the presentation with a memorable quote, or a personal story, and don't forget to thank and acknowledge the audience.  Tip 7: Speak freely The headline speaks for itself. To make the presentation as lively and enjoyable as possible, you should avoid reading it off. Speak freely, slowly, and clearly. If you are not yet confident in what you are presenting, try using note cards. But keep in mind: No continuous text, but only short, concise bullet points! If you use note cards to support you, it is especially advisable at this point to memorize at least the beginning and end of your presentation, as eye contact is crucial at these points. Tip 8: Avoid filler words In order to make your presentation flow as smoothly and confidently as possible, you should avoid using filler words such as "um," "so," and so on. For your listeners, these words convey insecurity and inadequate preparation. Tip 9: Bring along something to share In addition to a handout, other small takeaways can also significantly improve your presentation. For example, if you are giving a presentation on gummy bears, why not offer some to your audience? If you are giving a presentation about your fishing hobby, why not show the audience your fishing equipment? Tip 10: Use different types of media A presentation can quickly become boring and monotonous. To avoid this, it is advisable to use different types of media. For example, combine videos and flipcharts, use the whiteboard, or show something practical on a model. This will increase the attention of your audience enormously and will help in keeping them engaged until the end. Tip 11: Use effective pauses When giving a presentation, you should keep in mind that you have already heard the content several times - your audience probably hasn't! Therefore, give your audience enough time to read and understand the content of your slides. Effective use of speech pauses is a master technique. It is one of the most versatile tools in a presenter's toolbox. Yet very few people perform it well. A pause, if used correctly, can add a great deal to your presentation or speech. Pause before, during, or after saying something that you would like to emphasize. Pausing between two different parts of your presentation can indicate to the audience that something new is coming. A quick pause could also help you in remembering your next point, without the audience noticing that you forgot what to say. Tip 12: Speak the language of the audience When creating your presentation, you should already think about your target audience. This will help you present successfully later on. It is especially important that you speak the language of the audience. Use appropriate and relevant examples. Use "strong" and meaningful words in short sentences to avoid losing the audience. Make sure to use appropriate analogies and anecdotes and avoid foreign words, empty phrases, and clichés. If you have to use foreign words, explain them in a handout or footnote within the presentation. Tip 13: Engage with the audience Always try to keep the attention of your audience and keep them engaged during a presentation. To do this, it is advisable to regularly involve the audience. One way to do this is to ask questions. Deliberately ask "easy" questions so that can easily be answered by your audience. Another way to involve the audience in your presentation is by interacting with them. To make a point clearer, you can use an example to explain it in more detail, using a person (whose name you should know). You can address participants directly and refer to their work. Tip 14: Don't fight the stage fright & take deep breaths Stage fright is one of the biggest enemies of a presentation, yet you shouldn't let yourself be a victim of your feat. Do not fight it, rather address your fear and try and accept it, and transform it into positive enthusiasm. Don't let your stage fright get you all worked up and nervous. Take a couple of deep breaths to get oxygen to your brain and relax your body. Tip 15: Choose the right angle on standing during a presentation One of the most frequent questions that speakers ask themselves during a presentation is, how do I best position myself, and where do I stand in front of the audience? You have a free stage without a podium In many cases, you will be facing your audience in a "free space", without a podium. This gives you a lot of room to move, but at the same time, it creates uncertainty because you don't know how to position yourself properly or how to move. Avoid standing frontally in front of the audience! This frontal facing is unconsciously perceived negatively by the audience. It is perceived by the audience as a kind of frontal attack and causes stress in your audience. Make sure to stand slightly to the side of the audience. If you notice during the presentation that you are again standing frontally in front of your audience, simply move your right or left foot 20 cm forward. You have a podium at your disposal A podium makes it easier to decide how to position yourself and where to stand in front of the audience. In order not to make your presentation too monotonous, it is advisable to leave the "safe position" behind the lectern from time to time, e.g. to walk to the other side of the screen or to show something on the flipchart. This brings movement into your presentation and helps keep the connection with your audience. Tip 16: Create something with the whiteboard during the lecture PowerPoint is no longer the tool of choice for a successful presentation. Photo collages, company logos on every slide and flashing text boxes often distract from the essentials. A presentation convinces the audience especially when they witness how something is being created. In addition to the classic flipchart, the whiteboard is recommended for this purpose. This is because diagrams, keywords and the results of a brainstorming session are written in real time on a whiteboard. Board markers allow a wide range of colors and the magnetic property of pinning additional information. The result of the presentation produced in this way is remembered longer than ready-made slides. Björn Rolleter Download a brochure & learn more about us. We hope that you enjoy getting to know more about our school, study programmes and what we stand for. Follow us on Instagram & Facebook , get to know us at one of our Information Events , or Contact our student advisors to get more info. 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Available inside the Visme template library, this AI Powerpoint generator is ready to receive your prompts and generate stunning ready-to-use presentations in minutes. Log in to the Visme dashboard, and open the template library by clicking on Create New button -> Project -> Presentations. Inside the template library, scroll down and click on the Generate with AI option. In the popup that opens, type in a prompt and describe in detail what aspects your presentation should feature. If you don’t provide enough information, chatbot will ask you follow-up questions. Visme Chatbot will suggest template styles; choose the most relevant for your presentation, and wait for the AI to create the design. Preview, regenerate or open your project in the Visme editor. Customize your project in Visme: Pick a color theme or create your own, edit text, and use assets from Visme’s royalty-free library of photos, videos, and graphics, or create your own with AI tools. Features of the AI Presentations Maker Ready-to-use presentations in minutes. Starting is often the hardest part of a project. Visme’s free AI presentation maker helps you overcome this block and generates results within minutes. Create AI PowerPoint online presentations quickly with a good first draft that is ready to use with minimal or no customization. Customize every part of your presentation Visme editor is easy to use and offers you an array of customization options. Change the color theme of your AI-generated presentation, text, fonts, add images, videos and graphics from Visme royalty-free library of assets or generate new ones with AI image generator, AI image touchup tools, or add your own. For more advanced customization, add data visualizations, connect them to live data, or create your own visuals. Add your branding Stay on-brand even with AI-generated presentations. Quickly and easily set up your brand kit using AI-powered Visme Brand Wizard or set it up manually. Use your brand colors and fonts in AI-generated presentations. Add your logo and upload your brand assets to make a presentation match your company’s branding. Download, share or schedule your presentation Share your presentations generated with Visme AI Designer in many ways. Download them in various formats, including PPTX, PDF and HTML5, present online, share on social media or schedule them to be published as posts on your social media channels. Additionally, you can share your presentations as private projects with a password entry. More than just an AI Presentation Maker Beautify your content Unique Elements & Graphics Browse through our library of customizable, one-of-a-kind graphics, widgets and design assets like icons, shapes, illustrations and more to accompany your AI-generated presentations. Visualize your data Charts & Graphs Choose from different chart types and create pie charts, bar charts, donut charts, pyramid charts, Mekko charts, radar charts and much more. Make it engaging Interactivity Share AI-generated presentations online with animated and interactive elements to grab your audience’s attention and promote your business. More AI tools in Visme Ai image generator. The Visme AI Image generator will automatically create any image or graphic. All you need to do is write a prompt and let AI magic do the rest. Visme AI Writer helps you write, proofread, summarize and tone switch any type of text. If you’re missing content for a project, let AI Writer help you generate it. Save yourself hours of work with AI Resize. This feature resizes your project canvas and adjusts all content to fit the new size within seconds. AI TouchUp Tools The Visme AI TouchUp Tools are a set of four image editing features that will help you change the appearance of your images inside any Visme project. Erase and replace objects that you don’t want in your photos. The Brand Wizard The AI-based Visme Brand Wizard populates your brand fonts and styles across a beautiful set of templates. Make the most of Visme’s features Choose the perfect visual from our extensive photo and video library . Search and find the ideal image or video using keywords relevant to the project. Drag and drop in your project and adjust as needed. Incorporate 3D illustrations and icons into all sorts of content types to create amazing content for your business communication strategies. You won’t see these 3D designs anywhere else as they’re made by Visme designers. When you share your Visme projects, they’ll display with a flipbook effect . Viewers can go from page to page by flipping the page like a digital magazine. If you don’t want the flipbook effect, you can disable it and share as a standard project. Remove the background from an image to create a cutout and layer it over something else, maybe an AI-generated background. Erase elements of the image and swap them for other objects with AI-powered Erase & Replace feature. Create scroll-stopping video and animation posts for social media and email communication. Embed projects with video and animation into your website landing page or create digital documents with multimedia resources. With Visme, you can make, create and design hundreds of content types . We have templates for digital documents, infographics, social media graphics, posters, banners, wireframes, whiteboards, flowcharts. Design and brainstorm collaboratively with your team on the Visme whiteboard . Build mind maps and flowcharts easily during online planning and strategy sessions. Save whiteboards as meeting minutes and ongoing notes for projects. Edit your images , photos, and AI image-generated graphics with our integrated editing tools. On top of the regular editing features like saturation and blur, we have 3 AI-based editing features. With these tools, you can unblur an image, expand it without losing quality and erase an object from it. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How can i get better results with the ai presentations maker. Like any AI generator from a text tool, the prompt is everything. To get better results with the AI Presentation maker, you need better prompts. Write the prompt to be as detailed as possible. Include all the content topics you want the presentation to cover. As for style elements, there’s no need to include it in the prompt. Focus on choosing the style that you like from the Chatbot suggestions. Try to select the style that already features the color palette and shapes that you like. AI will change icons and photos based on text it generates. How many AI Presentations can I generate? Visme AI Presentation Maker is available in all plans and works on a per-credit basis. Every free account gets 10 credits, Starter accounts get 200, Pro gets 500 and Enterprise is unlimited. Every design generation costs 2 credits and usage of other AI tools costs 1 credit. Is the Visme AI Designer a third-party API? No, Visme AI Presentation maker was developed in-house and is a unique tool. However, it does use third-party APIs: ChatGPT and Unsplash. Are the AI-generated presentations I make copyright-free? All designs you create with AI Presentation are copyright and royalty-free. You can use them both for personal and commercial use without any problems. What can Visme AI Designer do? Visme’s AI design generator can: Generate full designs for various content types, including presentations, documents, printables, and social media graphics. Click here to view the full list of document, printable, and social media graphics subcategories. Follow your instructions for the text you want in your projects, although not word for word. Adapt photos and icons to complement the generated text. Create charts, graphs, and tables. Handle one project at a time. Include animations in projects only if the selected style features animation. Generate designs with a maximum length of 10 pages. What can’t Visme AI Designer do? Visme’s AI design generator can’t: Generate infographics, charts/graphs, whiteboards, web graphics, videos, or GIFs. Reproduce your text verbatim. Customize based on your specifications for color, shapes, graphics, and design style. Select a style that already resembles what you want in your project, and you can manually edit all design elements in the Visme editor. Create or modify diagrams, data widgets or infographics. Crawl external websites and gather information from them. Handle multiple projects at once. Generate designs more than 10 pages in length. Microsoft Teams help & learning New to microsoft teams. Start here with the first things to know about the essential Microsoft Teams features. Notifications Meet Microsoft Copilot Copilot works alongside you to catch you up on chats, create meeting agendas, and much more. Learn about Copilot in Teams Where can I get Copilot? Immersive spaces in Teams Connect like never before in a 3D immersive space, helping virtual meetings and events feel more like face-to-face connections. Make it immersive Dive deeper into Teams​ A productivity guide full of tips, tricks, and answers when using Microsoft Teams at work. Tips from the experts Learn through videos​ Browse the basics or explore more with these training courses consisting of short how-to videos. Explore more videos Featured topics Sign in to Teams What's new in Teams Record a meeting Delete a chat Find and join a team Change your status Manage your notifications Change your meeting background Reduce background noise in a meeting More resources About Teams Get Teams Premium ​​​​​​ Use Teams for free Accessibility in Teams Teams features by platform Feature release roadmap ​​​​​​ Connect and learn Community forum ​​​​​​ Tech community blog ​​​​​​ Instructor-led training ​​​​​​ For admins and IT pros ​​​​​​ Apps and services Manage your apps Use LinkedIn in Teams How To Buy Gold: 5 Ways In 2024 Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin There are more ways to buy gold then you may think. Why Invest In Gold How to buy gold in 2024, considerations to make before buying gold, tips for successful gold investing, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs). Investing in gold remains a popular strategy for diversifying portfolios and safeguarding wealth, especially amid economic uncertainties. Understanding the various ways to buy gold can help you make informed decisions tailored to your financial goals. This article outlines five distinct methods to purchase gold, each with unique benefits and considerations. From traditional approaches like buying physical gold to modern options such as gold ETFs, we'll explore how these investment avenues can fit into your strategy and help you navigate the precious metals market effectively. Many choose to invest in gold for several compelling reasons. One primary motivation is to hedge against inflation and currency fluctuations. Gold has a historical track record of maintaining its value over time, making it a reliable store of wealth during rising prices and economic instability. This intrinsic stability attracts investors seeking to protect their purchasing power. Gold also enhances portfolio diversification. Gold typically exhibits a low correlation with other asset classes, unlike stocks and bonds, meaning its price movements are often independent of traditional markets. This characteristic can reduce portfolio risk and volatility, providing a stabilizing effect. Gold is also viewed as a haven asset during geopolitical tension, economic crises or market downturns. Investors flock to gold to preserve capital when confidence in traditional financial markets wanes. Its historical resilience and intrinsic value make it a trusted asset in uncertain times. The tangibility of gold adds to its appeal. Unlike paper assets, gold is a physical asset that investors can hold, providing a sense of security and ownership. This physical presence and its universal recognition and value make gold a unique and attractive investment. Gold is also valued for its long-term store of value. Throughout history, gold has maintained its worth across different civilizations, making it an attractive option for long-term investors seeking to preserve wealth across generations. Its enduring worth through various economic cycles underscores its role as a stable investment. Understanding these motivations can help investors decide if gold aligns with their financial strategies and objectives. The brain trust at Forbes has run the numbers, conducted the research, and done the analysis to come up with some of the best places for you to make money in 2024. Download Forbes' most popular report, 12 Stocks To Buy Now. Investing in gold can be approached through various methods, each offering distinct advantages and considerations. In the following sections, I'll discuss five popular ways to buy and invest in gold: buying physical gold, investing in gold exchange-traded funds, buying gold mining stocks, digital gold investments and trading gold futures and options. Understanding these methods can help you choose the best approach for your investment strategy and goals. 1. Buying Physical Gold Physical gold involves purchasing tangible assets such as coins, bars or jewelry. This method offers the advantage of direct ownership and the security of holding a physical asset. Physical gold can be bought from reputable dealers and stored at home, in a safe or secure vaults. However, investors should consider storage and insurance costs and the need for secure transportation. The appeal of physical gold lies in its tangible nature and historical value as a store of wealth. 2. Investing In Gold ETFs Gold exchange-traded funds provide a convenient and liquid way to invest in gold without handling physical gold. Gold ETFs are traded on stock exchanges and track the price of gold, offering investors exposure to gold price movements. This method allows for easy buying and selling, typically costing less than purchasing and storing physical gold. Gold ETFs are ideal for investors seeking a straightforward, low-maintenance way to gain exposure to gold. The three largest gold ETFs (by market cap) are SPDR Gold Shares SPDR Gold Shares , iShares Gold iShares Gold Trust and SPDR Gold MiniShares SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust . 3. Buying Gold Mining Stocks Investing in gold mining stocks involves buying shares of companies that mine and produce gold. This method offers leverage to the price of gold, as the profitability of mining companies is directly influenced by gold prices. Gold mining stocks can also provide dividends, offering income potential alongside capital appreciation. Some of the larger gold mining stocks are Newmont (NEM), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and Barrick Gold (GOLD), all of which have a dividend yield of 2.4%. However, investors should be aware of the risks associated with mining operations, including geopolitical risks, operational challenges and fluctuating production costs. Gold mining stocks suit investors willing to take on additional risk in exchange for potentially higher returns. 4. Digital Gold Investments Digital gold investments allow investors to buy and hold gold electronically through various online platforms. This method combines the convenience of digital transactions with the security of owning gold, as the purchased gold is typically stored in secure vaults by the platform provider. Digital gold can be easily bought, sold and transferred, making it an accessible option for modern investors. While digital gold investments eliminate the need for physical storage, investors should ensure they are dealing with reputable platforms to avoid potential fraud and mismanagement. 5. Trading Gold Futures And Options Gold futures and options are advanced investment instruments that allow investors to speculate on the future price of gold. Futures contracts obligate the buyer to purchase gold at a set price on a future date, while options provide the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell gold at a predetermined price. These instruments offer high leverage, enabling significant profit potential with a relatively small initial investment. However, trading gold futures and options also involves substantial risk, requiring a deep understanding of market dynamics and careful risk management. This method is best suited for experienced investors with a high-risk tolerance. By exploring these methods, investors can select the most appropriate strategy to include gold in their portfolios, aligning with their financial goals and risk tolerance. Before investing in gold, it's important to understand the benefits and risks associated with this commodity . Gold has been a valuable and sought-after investment for centuries, but like any investment, it has its own advantages and challenges. This section will outline the key benefits and risks to help you make an informed decision. Benefits Of Buying Gold Gold offers several benefits that make it an attractive investment option. One of the primary advantages is its ability to hedge against inflation . Unlike fiat currencies, which can lose value over time due to inflation, gold typically retains its value, preserving purchasing power. Another benefit is portfolio diversification. Gold has a low correlation with other asset classes, such as stocks and bonds, meaning its price movements are often independent of those markets. This can help reduce overall portfolio risk and volatility. Gold is also considered a haven asset. Investors often flock to gold to protect their capital during geopolitical tension, economic crises, or market downturns. Its historical resilience and intrinsic value provide a sense of security. Gold is a tangible asset you can physically hold, unlike stocks or bonds. This tangibility provides a sense of ownership and security, and gold's universal acceptance and liquidity make it easy to buy and sell. Stop chasing shadows in the market. Forbes' expert analysts have pinpointed the 12 superstars poised to ignite returns in 2024. Don't miss out—download 12 Stocks To Buy Now and claim your front-row seat to the coming boom. Risks Associated With Buying Gold While gold has many benefits, there are also risks to consider. One of the main risks is price volatility. Although gold is often seen as a stable investment, its price can fluctuate significantly in the short term due to market speculation, geopolitical events and changes in supply and demand. Another risk is the lack of income generation. Unlike stocks, which can pay dividends, or bonds, which offer interest payments, gold does not generate income. Investors rely solely on price appreciation to earn a return, which may not be sufficient to meet their financial goals. Storage and insurance costs are additional considerations for those buying physical gold. Safely storing gold requires secure storage solutions, which can be expensive, and insuring gold can add to the overall cost of the investment. Finally, while gold can be a good hedge against inflation and currency devaluation, it does not always perform well in every economic environment. For example, gold prices may fall during rising interest rates as investors seek higher-yielding investments. Understanding these benefits and risks can help determine whether gold is a suitable addition to your investment portfolio. By carefully weighing these factors, you can make a more informed decision that aligns with your financial objectives and risk tolerance. Investing in gold can be a valuable addition to your portfolio, but it's important to approach it with careful planning and strategy. Here are some key tips to help you succeed with gold investing: Understand Your Investment Goals Before investing in gold, clearly define your investment goals. Are you looking for a hedge against inflation, a safe haven during economic downturns, or a way to diversify your portfolio? Understanding your objectives will help you choose the most appropriate gold investment method, whether physical gold, gold ETFs, mining stocks, or another option. Diversify Your Investments While gold can be a great addition to your portfolio, it should not be your only investment. Diversification is crucial to reducing risk and ensuring a balanced approach. Consider combining gold with other asset classes like stocks, bonds, and real estate to create a well-rounded portfolio that can weather different market conditions. Stay Informed About Market Trends Gold prices can be influenced by various factors, including geopolitical events, economic data, and changes in interest rates. Staying informed about these trends can help you make timely investment decisions. Regularly follow financial news, market analyses, and expert opinions to stay updated on factors that might impact gold prices. Consider Costs and Storage If you're investing in physical gold, consider the associated costs. These include storage fees, insurance, and potential transportation costs. To protect your investment, ensure you have a secure storage solution, whether it's a safe at home or a professional vault service. Evaluate Different Investment Options There are multiple ways to invest in gold, each with its own pros and cons. Physical gold offers tangibility and security but comes with storage costs. Gold ETFs provide liquidity and ease of trading but may involve management fees. Gold mining stocks offer the potential for dividends and capital appreciation but have higher risks. Evaluate these options based on your risk tolerance and investment goals. Monitor Your Investments Regularly review your gold investments to ensure they align with your financial strategy. Monitor the performance of your holdings, stay updated on market conditions, and be prepared to adjust your strategy as needed. This proactive approach can help you maximize returns and minimize risks. Have A Long-Term Perspective Gold is often best suited for long-term investment strategies. While short-term price fluctuations can be significant, gold has historically maintained its value over the long term. Be patient and avoid making impulsive decisions based on short-term market movements. By following these tips, you can make more informed decisions and enhance your chances of success in gold investing. Investing in gold continues to be a popular strategy for diversifying portfolios and safeguarding wealth, particularly during economic uncertainties. As 2024 progresses, understanding the various ways to buy gold is crucial for making informed investment decisions tailored to your financial goals. Each method offers unique benefits and considerations, from buying physical gold to investing in gold ETFs, mining stocks, digital gold investments, and trading gold futures and options. Gold provides a reliable hedge against inflation, enhances portfolio diversification, and is a safe haven asset during market downturns and geopolitical tensions. However, it's essential to be aware of the risks, such as price volatility, lack of income generation, and storage costs for physical gold. By carefully evaluating these factors and following tips for successful gold investing, such as understanding your investment goals, diversifying your investments, staying informed about market trends, and having a long-term perspective, you can make strategic decisions that align with your financial objectives. Incorporating gold into your investment portfolio can offer stability and growth potential, helping you navigate the precious metals market effectively and achieve your financial goals in 2024 and beyond. Is gold a good investment? Gold can be a good investment, especially for diversifying portfolios and hedging against inflation. It has historically maintained its value and serves as a safe haven during economic and geopolitical uncertainties. Gold can enhance portfolio diversification due to its low correlation with other asset classes like stocks and bonds. However, gold also has drawbacks, such as price volatility and the lack of income generation compared to dividend-paying stocks or interest-bearing bonds.  What is the best way to buy physical gold? The best way to buy physical gold is from reputable dealers or financial institutions. Look for well-known and trusted gold dealers, whether online or in physical stores, and ensure they have good customer reviews and transparent pricing. Are gold ETFs a safe investment option? Gold ETFs are generally considered a safe investment option as they offer a convenient and liquid way to gain exposure to gold without the need to handle physical gold. They track the price of gold, providing a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty, but they carry some risks, such as market volatility and management fees. Investors should assess their risk tolerance and investment goals to determine if gold ETFs align with their overall strategy. Nvidia Vs. AMD Vs. Intel: Which AI Stock Is Best As Competition Heats Up? Average 401(k) Balance By Age And How To Catch Up 5 Top Dividend ETFs To Buff Up Your Retirement Account Editorial Standards Reprints & Permissions The Ohio State University BuckeyeLink Search Ohio State Undergraduate Research Spotlight: Ervin Cui Get to know the people of The Ohio State University's Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) through our series of Spotlight Stories. Read what our BME folks are up to-- you'll learn about our labs' latest research, our faculty and their classes, our alumni and their careers, our postdoc's research, our student's research and their plans for the future, and more. Ervin Cui (he/him) Research questions, what is the name of the current research lab you are a part of, and the name of your principal investigator. Collaboration for Organ Perfusion, Protection, Engineering and Regeneration ( COPPER) Lab PIs: Dr. Bryan Whitson and Dr. Sylvester Black How long have you been doing research in this lab? 5 semesters, beginning the second semester of my first year. What are some of the projects COPPER Lab is currently focusing on? Our lab is working towards increasing the number of suitable organs for donation in thoracic transplantation. We are doing so by investigating a particular injury, relevant to all transplantation: ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). At the bench, we are investigating if certain proteins have therapeutic benefit during the transplantation process that can mitigate IRI and improve prospective donor allografts to increase the donor pool for thoracic transplantation. Clinically, we are looking for ways to improve transplantation by using the United Network for Organ Sharing database to help guide the clinical decision-making process. Please describe your role/contribution within the research lab. I mainly focus on clinical outcomes where I use R and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database to conduct statistical analyses to answer clinical questions about heart and lung transplantation. Specifically, we utilize survival analysis, including Kaplan-Meier models and Cox Proportional Hazards models, to look at peri- and post-operative outcomes. Do you have any publications or presentations from your research in COPPER Lab? I have four publications:  Is timing everything? Examining operative time in lung transplants from 2006-2023 – Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation Open An Unexpected Partnership: Alexis Carrel, Charles Lindbergh, and Normothermic Machine Perfusion – American Society for Artificial Internal Organs Journal Is Time Scheduling Important? An Analysis of Donor Heart Cross-clamp Times During Heart Transplantatio n – Transplantation Direct The role of CD38 in ischemia reperfusion injury in cardiopulmonary bypass and thoracic transplantation: a narrative review – Journal of Thoracic Disease My work was also presented at the Department of Surgery Annual Research Conference in May 2024, and I just recently had an abstract accepted for a mini-oral presentation at the American College of Surgeons annual meeting this upcoming October. How has this research experience supported you in your personal, educational and/or career goals? I plan on attending medical school after graduating and hope to go into some surgical subspecialty. This experience has given me some of the best mentors I could ask for, all of whom have been informative about the whole process. It's especially been helpful to work so closely with surgeon-scientists and surgical residents. BME Questions Why did you choose biomedical engineering as your major. I chose BME because I really liked math and science. Engineering happened to be at the intersection of both. BME also provided the biological aspect that I was looking for, so it was a perfect match. What BME extracurricular activities have been most helpful for you and why? Biomedical Engineering Society ( BMES ) has been a great resource for me. I didn’t know what to expect coming into OSU and engineering my freshmen year but all the upperclassmen in BMES were always willing to help. It really helped me get on the right track in terms of doing the things I needed to do like research and volunteering. Do you have any words of wisdom or tips for future BME students? For anything you’re interested in, just reach out. They might say yes! You never know until you try. For inquiries on how to make your gift or to find a program to support, please contact Director of Development, Anne Strychalski ( [email protected] /614-688-4173). Thank you for helping improve lives and elevate communities. Related News 233 IMAGES Better Question Slides for PowerPoint Presentations Presentation Skills Ultimate Guide How to Give a Good Presentation 3 Tips to Handle Questions and Answers During a Presentation Use These Effective Presentation Tips For Confident Presenting Question PPT Presentation Template and Google Slides Questions & Answers Slide Design for PowerPoint VIDEO Top 3 Tips To Improve Your Presentation Skills Quick Presentation Skills Tips That Everyone Can Use: Introduction 🤔How to write exam like a topper ? SCORE 100/100 IN HINDI 🔥 #Presentation tips and tricks for students + #PowerPoint hacks English Paper Presentation in the Board Exam Sr Intermediate COMMENTS What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation. Summary. Never underestimate the power of great communication. 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Use the tips below to become more mindful about your body language and other important ... Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab The Online Writing Lab (the Purdue OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out ... Free Online AI Presentation Maker Free AI Presentation Maker for Generating Projects in Minutes. Generate ready-to-use presentations from a text prompt. Select a style and Visme's AI Presentation Maker will generate text, images, and icon. Customize your presentation with a library of royalty-free photos, videos, & graphics. Generate a presentation with AI. Microsoft Teams help & learning Get help with your questions about Microsoft Teams from our how-to articles, tutorials, and support content. How To Buy Gold As An Investment: 5 Ways In 2024 Buying gold can be one avenue to diversifying your investments. So, how do you buy gold? See our guide for help. Undergraduate Research Spotlight: Ervin Cui Research Questions What is the name of the current research lab you are a part of, and the name of your Principal Investigator? ... and I just recently had an abstract accepted for a mini-oral presentation at the American College of Surgeons annual meeting this upcoming October. ... Do you have any words of wisdom or tips for future BME ... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis