Over the last 2 days, I shared much about what you can do to deliver a high-impact free workshop.
In this email, I want to share something important that many speakers miss out on.
And that is the power of Question & Answer Sessions.
While it’s hard to plan for Q&A because you can’t anticipate the questions you get and must react on the spot…
There are some guidelines you can follow to prepare…
Firstly, you have to consider the Factor of Time.
As Q&A is usually the last event, you have a limited time to give value.
Case in point:
My speaker slot was scheduled at about 5:30PM and after my sharing, it was already 6:30PM. (Our event ran for 30 min).
If I wasn’t speaking to a friend’s mastermind, I could even be allocated a shorter time for Q&A.
First, you must understand the power of a good Q&A session…
When conducted correctly, it helps you to
- Demonstrate Authority: Apply your unique framework or strategy to help another person in front of a crowd. Tony Robbins used to do this, and it helped him generate a lot of credibility.
- Build Rapport and Intimacy: Q&A is a segment where you can interact with your audience. A good session would help you appear more relatable and human in front of your crowd.
- Deliver Value at Scale: There is a value exchange When someone with the same issue gets his question answered. Because of this, you can scale how you deliver value compared to answering his question 1-to-1.
So the challenge of conducting a Q&A is you want to deliver the maximum value in the minimum amount of time.
Here’s how you do this:
- When answering long questions, simplify the answer you give. (In the interest of time).
- If the question is complex, you can refer to the advice above. Or take the question offline one-on-one so that many other people can benefit.
- Try to understand the full picture before prescribing advice. Feel free to ask more questions if you have doubts.
- Use the Q&A as an opportunity to strengthen the points in your Keynote. (Address limiting beliefs, systemic issues or implementation bottlenecks).
- Ensure that everyone has an opportunity to ask as much as possible.
In case you’re wondering if this structure is only relevant during a LIVE Q&A at a physical meetup it’s not…
You could do this during a Livestream too.
Remember, although you can’t control the entire flow during a Q&A… it’s tremendously helpful if you have a structure.
The more systems you have, the more order you create.
