You're at a conference and you really want to ask a question, but it's very intimidating to do this in English in front of a big audience, so you just don't say anything at all.
Well, let me help you build up the confidence to ask your first question at a conference.
Let's crack on.
Hello and welcome back to Confident Business English.
My name is Anna.
I'm a Neural Language Coach and this podcast is for senior managers like you who want to improve their confidence in English.
This podcast is really action focused.
What I really want you to do is take the learning from here and try to put it into practice out there in the real world, because that is how you build confidence.
Not just listening.
That's the first part and learning, but then also putting things into action.
This episode was actually inspired by a specific client who I've known for a few years actually.
In one session that we had recently, they said, well, I've got this big conference coming up.
So can we have a look at how to ask a really good question to somebody that's speaking?
That's what I'm going to take you through today.
And I'm going to walk you through some technical phrases and structures, and then also some more general tips about how you can deliver the question.
Why does this matter to you?
Why should you listen to this?
Well, having your voice heard is important.
You have valuable things to add to the conversation And, as a senior manager, these types of moments at these conferences and summits can be really strategic moments for you.
You can raise your visibility.
You can help other people get to know you.
And honestly, it would just really be a shame to not have your input in the conversation.
You've got valuable things to say that could be really helpful to other people.
First things first.
Let's focus on some of the technical structures that you need to formulate a beautiful question in English that you feel comfortable asking.
Initially, we're going to have a look at a framework.
If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know I'm big on frameworks.
A framework is just a structure or a way to organize your ideas.
Why bother using them?
It makes your life easier in times when you might feel more nervous, like oh, standing up in front of 100 people and asking a question to somebody that's on the stage.
You're probably going to feel a bit nervous.
Structure can give you confidence and a starting point.
So you're not just starting from scratch and thinking for the words in your head all the time.
This is the framework that we're going to use.
There are a few steps, but I think that this gives a very complete question.
The first step is just to acknowledge the speaker.
Just a quick, polite intro.
Thank you for your talk.
Thank you for your presentation.
The second part, which is optional, I think here, is you could introduce yourself.
The third part is the bridge, and this is where you either connect with something they've said perhaps you could react to what they've said or position yourself, say where you are.
Thirdly, and this is the important thing, you ask the question.
What is the core question that you want to ask?
And not a statement.
I'm sure you've been to one of these things where you're like, okay, where's the question?
Sorry, is that a question or is it a statement?
We're in the business of asking questions.
That's what we're going to focus on here.
Finally, as the fifth step, you could just have a quick sentence to close out and show your appreciation.
Let me repeat that then.
Acknowledge, introduce, bridge, ask, close.
Five steps.
My goodness, you don't need to do all of them if you don't want to, but I'm just trying to give you what would be an ideal example, and you can modify it and change it as you wish.
Let me now show you what that looks like from start to finish.
It's not as intimidating as it sounds.
We're going to imagine that you've been to a presentation about AI.
Shocker.
That's all anyone seems to be talking about these days.
And you want to ask a question after the presentation.
The framework altogether could sound like this.
Hello, good afternoon.
Well, firstly, thank you for your insightful talk on AI integration.
My name is John Smith.
I'm a business analyst in the banking sector.
So you mentioned there how many firms struggle to scale their AI initiatives.
So I was wondering, from your experience, what factors make the difference between a pilot project and full implementation.
Thanks again, and it would be great to get your thoughts on that.
Let's shift the context and imagine you've just listened to a panel about hybrid work and company culture and you want to ask a question after their presentation.
Hello, good morning.
Thank you for your presentation.
It gave a really good overview of managing hybrid teams effectively.
I'm Emma Thompson.
I'm an HR manager at a pharmaceutical company.
And I really wanted to know.
From an HR standpoint, I'm curious about how leaders can maintain a strong company culture when people work remotely most of the time.
So from your perspective, what practices have you seen that really make that difference?
Thanks very much.
Really appreciate your insight.
Finally, let's do a different context.
Let's imagine that it's a round table on sustainability and supply chains and you want to ask a question afterwards.
Hello, good afternoon, all.
Firstly, thank you very much for your clear explanation of sustainable supply chain strategies.
My name is Oliver Harris.
I'm head of procurement at an automotive firm.
So as I'm sure you'll agree, many suppliers are at different stages in their sustainability journey.
So in your view, what's the most effective way to encourage progress without pushing too hard?
Thanks, and it would be great to get your thoughts on that.
Now that you've got a framework, here are some other pieces of advice that I would give you.
The first one is take your time.
I can imagine a situation where you're at the conference.
You're like, I'm going to go for it.
I'm going to ask the question.
You raise your hand, your nerves are like really intense.
Your tendency is going to be to speak really quickly.
So take a breath and take your time.
You'll notice there as well if you go back and listen.
There were natural parts in the sentences where I was pausing.
For example, I said something like, thanks for your presentation.
It was a really good overview of managing teams.
My name's Anna.
I'm the HR manager at a pharmaceutical company.
So I was wondering, from an HR standpoint, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So you'll see how I kind of chunk up that question into two parts, which is the acknowledgement and introduction.
And then I move into the bridge, the ask and the close.
And I tend to chunk it up like that.
Second, one question, not five.
This is something they actually teach you in coaching.
And I have to be honest, I don't always do this very well.
But this is when you have somebody says, okay, so what do you think about that?
And then also, how did you manage to do that?
And then where would you suggest working on first?
It's very confusing when you get three questions at the same time, because the person who's receiving those questions is like okay, which one do you want me to answer first?
Or they might say something back to you like okay.
Well, I'll answer the first one and then we'll come back to the second ones.
This all comes down to the prep, right?
And really thinking about what is the exact question I want to ask them.
What I would really recommend is try to make it one question and avoid that temptation to then ask four or five questions afterwards, because that can be confusing to the listener.
As an extra point to wrap up the episode.
Another thing that I did with this client is we looked at alternatives from just saying interesting.
That presentation was really interesting.
That was an interesting point.
This is interesting.
That's interesting.
Lots of interesting.
It's a beautiful adjective, but we can certainly try and push you and challenge you to use other adjectives.
For example, that was really insightful.
That was really informative.
Secondly, I wanted to move them away from always saying I think, I think, I think, I think, which is great.
It does the job.
But here's a quick swap.
It's a little bit more advanced, but you can do it.
Rather than saying I think it was very interesting or I thought it was very interesting, you can say I found it very interesting.
Oh, no, sorry, we're not using interesting.
Thank you so much for your presentation.
I found it very insightful.
I found it very valuable.
I found it very informative.
That's just a nice little swap and an alternative from always saying, I thought it was interesting.
Great.
That's your session done for today then.
So you've got a framework that you can go away and put into practice about how to order your question.
I've given you some tips there about delivery and some ways that you can sound more advanced.
Now it's over to you.
What I would suggest is, with this episode, take the framework and write an example that you could actually use at your next conference.
If you haven't got a conference coming up, think about one that you've been to recently and you wanted to ask a question but you didn't.
But this time imagine it in the eyes of the framework, write it down and write out exactly what you would have asked.
And finally, of course, if you really want to go for it, if you've got a conference coming up and you feel ready to take the step to ask a question, go for it.
Just do it.
Ask the question.
See how it goes.
If that feels a little bit out of your reach now.
If you're like oof, I'm not sure if I could ask a question in front of an audience of 50 100 people.
That's fine.
Start a little bit smaller and then work up.
It needs to be something that is going to be achievable and something that you can imagine yourself doing.
That's just a little bit outside your comfort zone.
It could be then instead at a beating, for example, or maybe a smaller group, like a workshop with maybe 10 people, and you could push yourself to ask there, work up from there, get used to that and then go for something a little bit bigger.
Always in steps.
If you go from zero to 100, it could have the opposite effect.
And then you could feel even less confident and it could actually make your progress go backwards.
So little steps that are achievable.
I'm going to put all of that framework, plus some extra bonus tips I haven't mentioned, on here in my newsletter this Friday.
If you love the episodes and you aren't subscribed to the newsletter I really don't know what you're doing go to the link in the description box of this episode and sign up.
It's completely free and I send it every single Friday.
All right.
Thank you so much for getting your session in with me today.
And if you're ever in doubt about whether you should say something or speak up or ask a question, just go for it.
Go for it.
See what happens.
It might not be perfect, but you're taking action and you are moving forward.
Have a great rest of your day, whatever you're doing.
And I will see you same time, same place next week.
Bye bye.
