Craigstrachan.com – Keep talking!

“What Questions do you have for my answers?” – Henry Kissinger

When roles are reversed, and audience members are handed the microphone, many public speakers turn a brighter shade of purple. But this article will outline 5 practical steps for beating Question & Answer Sessions, and help you leave the stage as victor.

But first, the preliminaries: Questions and Answer sessions have become routine with many forms of public speaking and will often be expected by a host. It entails giving the audience members opportunity to reply to the material you’ve been presenting by having them ask questions. It does not necessarily entail simply asking for comment (that can be long, boring and often useless), but specifically setting apart a short time frame where you direct audience members to raise their hands if they have questions.

This can naturally be scary for even seasoned speakers, especially when speaking on a new topic. Its one thing to have the microphone in hand, with all the natural authority that it conveys, but it’s a different and more vulnerable thing to open yourself up to the audience. So here are seven tips for conquering Q&A:

1) Use the Bucket Method. This is the best way I know of to prepare for Q&A, and I stumbled upon it in Carmine Gallo’s book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Used by smart CEO’s and diplomats alike, it basically entails placing anticipated questions into separate categories (or buckets) and then preparing set answers for each category.

For example: Let’s say you’re marketing a new toaster that your company has developed. You’ll likely have a “features” bucket since audience members are sure to want to know what makes your toaster so special. Perhaps you’ll have a “funding” bucket, or a “patent” bucket and certainly a “price” bucket.

The benefit of this method is that it streamlines your preparation. There’s no way you can prepare and memorize answers for hundreds of potential questions, so dividing questions into categories like these, simplifies the process.

2) Anticipate Questions. This one ties on to point one above. Certain questions are just naturally to be expected and for these, you can and should prepare laser-like answers that come straight from the textbook and convey the authority you have on your topic.

3) Get Experience. This is obvious, but there’s a side benefit: Most public speakers will tell you that nearly 90% of questions asked by an audience on one single topic, will be repeated by the next audience. If you’re giving your toaster speech in front of Audience A, then tomorrow when you do the same in front of Audience B, you’ll already have answered nine out of every ten questions possibly coming your way!

4) Never, ever take a question personally. I recently saw a video of Steve Jobs being personally insulted by an angry audience member who asked a demeaning question. Jobs’ reply was absolutely masterful. He never took the insult personally, refused to retaliate and instead, by focusing on the solution to the question, he never got angry (surely the response the audience member was hoping to elicit).

Some people are impossible to satisfy and you’ll occasionally stumble upon a smarter-than-thou who simply thinks you don’t know what you’re talking about. These people are true tests of your character and self-confidence and you can beat them by refusing to indulge them.

5) Don’t end with a Q&A session. Toastmasters recommend that a speaker never end a delivery with Q&A, and it makes sense. Since it certainly won’t be the most exciting part of your speech, it might be a good idea to interrupt yourself before your final (hopefully climatic point), give time for Q&A, and then proceed to end your speech strongly.

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Leon Potgieter is an English Teacher, Christian Minister and Public Speaking Enthusiast who’s been living in the Republic of Korea since 2008. His website effective-public-speaking-tips.com is an ever growing online portal for public speaking tips, speechwriting help and presentation techniques, and compliments a lot of my content, so well worth checking out.

(and he is South African).

I saw this sign on one of the movie cameras at the recent Toastmasters Convention.

A short and simple way to get your message across.

How do you get your message across?

I am working with a large company in Cape Town on some web development. The total value of the project is in the millions of Rands.

Recently I contacted a potential vendor to set-up a meeting to discuss how they could assist and work on the project. They never responded to my  my requests. So we are not going to be working with them, and they have lost a potential huge customer and a lot of business.

I contacted three people to fix some damp in my house. One never got back to me, another quoted over 5 times the going rate for the job, and the other is finishing off the job today. This is while businesses are complaining about the “tough economy”.

Do you return messages? How much business have you lost because you did not get around to answering an email?

A tongue in cheek look at some of the changes in the Toastmasters organisation over the last few years.

You have been a member for more than a few years if:

1. You achieved a CTM award. Do you remember the Able Toastmaster award?
2. Your CTM manual had 15 speeches in it
3. As VP Education, you had to fax programmes to members, and if you were a member the programme was faxed to you by the VPE
4. You remember carbon-copied area visit reports which needed to be mailed to the district governor
5. Club and district performance reports were mailed to clubs and district on a quarterly basis. You could not view them online
6. Membership application forms needed to be mailed or faxed to WHQ
7. Educational awards needed to be mailed or faxed to WHQ
8. You were not admitted to a club meeting unless you were wearing a jacket and tie (ok some clubs still enforce this, but very few)
9. New membership dues was $16, and renewals $18 (or even less)

While this list is in jest, it shows how the organisation has progressed over the last several years, and how it continues to be a dynamic and growing organisation. Now we have:

1. A very strong communication and leadership track
2. Programmes are placed on club websites and emailed to members
3. Area visit reports are electronically processed and automatically emailed to relevant people
4. All club and district reports (as well as archives) are available online
5. Most forms can now be processed online, including new membership applications, dues payment and  educational awards
6. It is far less formal than in the past, and clubs have adapted their formality to suit their markets
7. We now have a podcast, and online training
8. Yes dues are now $20 and $27 respectively, but still astonishingly good value

What should be added to the list?

Grow your Voice to Speak with Confidence

Dr Petro Janse van Vuuren

This book discusses aspects of public speaking that we often neglect, and that is using your voice as an effective tool to get your message across.  Instead of telling you how to structure your presentation, how to use the stage or to use body language, she focuses understanding, developing and using the core muscles required to have an effective speaking voice.

It is a little like a Pilates or Yoga course for developing your speaking voice. It is written in 6 chapters, each building on the previous chapter to help you to develop your speaking voice. The accompanying CD takes you through the physical and vocal exercise in the book. While the exercise are good for developing the core muscles (hence my Pilates comment), they are also good for general warm-up (thinking about it they remind me of choir warm-up exercises from high school).

Dr van Vuuren has plenty of experience in the theatre, and many case studies to backup her approach. The book is for sale on her website for R190. You can find out more about her book and workshops on her website.

This is a good book to compliment traditional public speaking training, and I see a place in my bookshelf for it.

(Slightly off topic)

Here is something a little unusual. On Saturday. a song that I wrote using Garage Band on my IPAD was broadcast live as the opening song on Geek Speak, a radio show from KUSP (Central Coast Public Radio, Santa Cruz). It is syndicatd via the US National Public Radio podcasts. You can listen to the show here (but you have to wait until the end to hear the credits).

You can downoad the song off my photo-blog here: Geek Speak Theme

Why do so many companies make it so difficult to give them money? Here are just 5 ways to make me take my money elsewhere?

• Don’t have a website
• Have a website, but don’t provide contact details
• Have a website with contact details, but don’t respond to my queries
• Don’t return my phone calls
• Break your promises, or make unreasonable promises

I bet you are thinking that your business would never do any of these. These are not difficult things to get write; they really are the basics. If you can’t get these right, how are you going to get a complex task like implementing a 5 year growth strategy right?
But in this week alone, every one of these has happened to me several times, when trying to work with both small and large organisations.

At the end of February Symphonia will be hosting our very popular 2-day workshop based on Peter Block’s book “Community: The Structure of belonging”. This is an opportunity to learn the art of community building whilst experiencing what it means to be in community with a diverse group of people from across South Africa.

I have personally attended some of these workshops, and they are not to be missed.

This is an experience not to be missed by anyone wanting to learn practical ways to reenergize the quality of life in the workplace and strengthen the fabric of our communities. By identifying essential questions and actions, we can all transform the places we live, work, and play into authentic, effective communities filled with possibility, generosity, accountability and deep engagement.

If you are a business leader or community builder keen to develop your community building skills, then please don’t miss this workshop. The next opportunity to attend this workshop will only be early 2012.

Dates are below, and you can speak directly to Johleen on 021 913 3507 or email johleen@symphonia.net for bookings or questions.

CAPE TOWN
Thurs, 24 and Fri, 25 February 2011

JOHANNESBURG
Dates: Mon, 28 February, Tues, 1 March 2011

DURBAN
Dates: Mon, 28, Tues, 29 March 2011

Yesterday, I saw Ben Zander speaking in Cape Town. He and his wife Ros were here for the launch of the Alive With Possibility DVD, a DVD celebrating the possibility in South Africa. Ben is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and one of the most transformational speakers that I have ever heard.

He speaks about downward spiral thinking, and radiating possibility speaking, and leaves us with the challenge of looking for possibility in our thoughts and our actions. This is the third time that I have seen him, and every time is a transformational experience.

If you are in Johannesburg, there are still a few tickets available for Friday’s presentation. Speak to johleen@symphonia.net about tickets, or visit www.benjaminzander.com to find out more about Ben.

We are alive with Possibility

If you want to see a brilliant and inspirational speaker, you have to get tickets to see Ben speak. I have been twice, an it is an incredible inspiring presentation! He will be in Cape Town and Johannesburg in Jan 2011. It is worth every cent.

For details, email Johleen@symphonia.net, or goto www.symphonia.net.

Benjamin Zander, world renowned conductor and speaker on leadership, captivates and inspires with his unique style.

Benjamin Zander

Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, is a world renowned speaker on leadership. He has presented at the World Economic Forum many times, and was the opening keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2009.

Benjamin Zander’s presentation takes an audience on a journey that offers a startling new perspective on leadership. Through stories, music and concepts it causes a radical shift in perception. This is not a speech, it is an experience!

In this new model of leadership, the conductor sees his job as awakening possibility in others. The orchestra is a group of highly trained individuals poised to coalesce into an effective whole. Passion, creativity and the desire to contribute are basic human instincts to be released.

World famous conductor, Benjamin Zander uses the metaphor of the orchestra and a life-time of experience conducting, coaching and teaching musicians to work his magic to overcome barriers to corporate productivity. This presentation sources fundamental changes in organizations.

For more information see www.benjaminzander.com.

CAPE TOWN

Dates: Tues, 25 January 2011
Registration: 08:30 – 09:00
Time: 09:00 – 13:00
Venue: TBC

JOHANNESBURG

Dates: Fri, 28 January 2011
Registration: 08:30 – 09:00
Time: 09:00 – 13:00
Venue: Vodaworld, Midrand