You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod for today's lesson on video conferences and presenting online.
Today, we're going to focus on handling questions and managing the Q&A.
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With the rise of hybrid teams, presenting online is just a regular part of work for many professionals.
And while the basics of delivering information in a virtual setting may seem simple, interacting with your audience and dealing with questions feels very different online than in person.
Skilled presenters have a variety of tricks for ensuring a productive QA or question and answer session.
For example, when someone asks a good question, you might redirect it to the entire group.
That gives the Q&A more of a discussion feel.
And if people aren't asking questions, you can ask some yourself.
Of course, sometimes people introduce ideas that you don't really have time to explore.
In this case, you can suggest more discussion at a later time.
Good presenters are also ready to admit any limitations to what they've presented.
Nobody has all the answers, so don't pretend you do.
And finally, once the QA is finished, it's a great idea to encourage people to follow up with you later if they have any other questions.
In today's dialogue, we'll listen to the end of a presentation by Adam, a business consultant.
He's handling some questions and encouraging discussion after presenting his ideas on ways to increase sales.
We'll also hear Adam's colleague Nancy and his boss Heather ask questions and participate in the discussion.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
One, what question does Nancy ask that Adam redirects to the entire group?
Two, what question does Adam ask everyone to encourage them to share their ideas?
Three, what key point does Adam admit they're still not sure about?
Yeah, thanks, Adam.
So, just a little question about company size.
I get that medium and big companies have more money to spend on consultants.
But just thinking over time, wouldn't early growth be a good focus too?
Thanks, Nancy.
That's a good question.
And before I tell you what I think, maybe I'll just put that to the entire group.
Thoughts about company size?
Yeah, Heather.
I'd say that depends a lot on the industry.
There are a ton of early growth startups around, but that's not our bread and butter and I don't think it ever will be.
But healthcare seniors, those service-based companies.
Definitely early growth in that sector has huge potential, something I'd like to dig into more at our next Strategic Ops meeting.
Fantastic.
And I'd say you're bang on.
Early growth companies in these expanding industries are definitely fertile ground.
And I look forward to continuing this discussion in the Ops meeting.
So, any other questions?
No?
Then maybe I can pose one for you.
I mentioned some follow-up services and value adds.
Any others you can think of?
Nancy again.
Yeah.
When I worked at McGillis, we built a one-year follow-up into every strategic planning contract.
Typically, it was a facilitated team check-in, but sometimes something more robust.
I like that.
More to talk about there for sure.
Maybe that's something else for the ops meeting.
Heather?
One step ahead of you.
Thanks, Nancy.
I like it.
So Adam, if I can ask a different question here.
You suggested that repeat business was higher in situations where the consultant did the follow-up work rather than the client coordinator.
Are we certain there's a cause-effect thing going on there?
Well, I will say that it's not a huge data set we're working with.
So, I like that you used the word suggest, because that's what the data is doing.
It's definitely a limitation.
And we'd need more info to confirm that's true.
Yeah, because I'm wary of shifting admin tasks to consultants unless there's a clear return on it.
Fair enough.
I've already asked Olivia to take a closer look, so we'll have to return to this once we get more data.
Now just to be mindful of time here.
If anybody has any further questions, I'll be happy to follow up in Teams or call me anytime.
Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts.
And with that, I'll wish you a good rest of the day.
Thanks, everyone.
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the language and techniques Adam used to manage the QA.
Just before this dialogue begins, Adam has asked the group if they have any questions.
Yeah, thanks, Adam.
So, just a little question about company size.
I get that medium and big companies have more money to spend on consultants, but just thinking over time, Wouldn't early growth be a good focus too?
Thanks, Nancy.
That's a good question.
And before I tell you what I think, maybe I'll just put that to the entire group.
Thoughts about company size?
Yeah, Heather.
Nancy is wondering if they should put more focus on younger companies if they want to increase sales.
Adam could simply give an answer to the question, but instead he decides to put the question to everyone.
There are a couple of reasons you might do this.
First, if you think many people will have opinions about the topic, you'll be giving the group a chance to discuss these.
That's Adam's purpose here.
He knows that people will have some ideas on this question.
Secondly, if you're not quite sure what the answer is, you might find out from others or gain a bit of time to think.
What are some other ways we can put a question to the entire group?
Let's try some more examples.
Great question, Phil.
I'm curious if anyone else has thoughts on that issue.
Okay.
Can anyone tell us where these concerns are coming from?
I have an idea about that, but I'd like to hear some other perspectives first.
Just how big is the Shanghai factory?
Does anyone have any info on that?
As we can hear, Heather certainly has some opinions on whether they should focus on early growth companies.
I'd say that depends a lot on the industry.
There are a ton of early growth startups around, but that's not our bread and butter and I don't think it ever will be.
But healthcare seniors, those service-based companies.
Definitely early growth in that sector has huge potential, something I'd like to dig into more at our next Strategic Ops meeting.
Fantastic.
And I'd say you're bang on.
Early growth companies in these expanding industries are definitely fertile ground.
And I look forward to continuing this discussion in the Ops meeting.
Heather provides some great support for the potential or possibilities of focusing on early growth companies in some industries and this matches Adam's opinion, which he indicates by saying Heather is bang on or totally correct.
It sounds like they'll be talking more about this idea in a future Strategic Ops or Operations meeting.
Now let's hear if there are any other questions from the audience.
So, any other questions?
No?
Then maybe I can pose one for you.
I mentioned some follow up services and value adds.
Any others you can think of?
Nancy again.
Adam doesn't immediately hear any other questions about his presentation, but he's got more time for discussion, so he decides to ask a question of his own.
This is a great way of getting people thinking and talking a bit more.
Sometimes if you start with a question, others are more likely to ask questions of their own.
In this case, Adam is inviting people to add to his ideas for follow-up services and value ads.
A value add is anything extra we provide to a transaction to make sure clients are happy.
Asking your own question is a great way to encourage your audience to ask questions of their own and focus their thinking.
So let's practice some more examples.
I went over our biggest costs, but does anyone think I've missed anything?
Anyone have thoughts on those two possibilities I've just outlined?
Are there any other ways we might increase sales this quarter?
I'm curious if any of you have ideas about the causes of the problems I mentioned.
Nancy has some ideas about follow-up services.
Let's listen.
Yeah.
When I worked at McGillis, we built a one-year follow-up into every strategic planning contract.
Typically, it was a facilitated team check-in, but sometimes something more robust.
I like that.
More to talk about there for sure.
Maybe that's something else for the ops meeting.
Heather?
Heather?
Nancy's idea is to have a meeting or check-in with clients long after their initial engagement.
Adam receives this idea very positively and while he appreciates the input, they don't really have time to fully explore the idea during the QA.
You have to be a bit careful when you invite ideas and input from your audience.
It's very easy to get sidetracked and spend too much time discussing related topics.
To prevent this, it's a good idea to suggest continuing the discussion at a later time.
Keeping the QA focused is an important skill, so let's try some more ways of suggesting further discussion after your presentation.
We don't have time to look at that today, but we could put it on our agenda for next week.
Considering we only have a few minutes left, maybe we can talk about that more tomorrow.
I really think that question would be a good topic for our next staff meeting.
Remember that one purpose of asking people for input is to get them thinking and sharing ideas.
That might in turn encourage people to ask further questions.
And as we hear, Heather indeed has another question.
One step ahead of you.
Thanks, Nancy.
I like it.
So, Adam, if I can ask a different question here.
You suggested that repeat business was higher in situations where the consultant did the follow-up work rather than the client coordinator.
Are we certain there's a cause-effect thing going on there?
A cause-effect relationship is one where we're sure that something happened, because something else happened first.
In this case, Heather is wondering if the repeat business really came about because a consultant did the follow-up work.
Let's hear how Adam responds.
Well, I will say that it's not a huge data set we're working with.
So, I like that you used the word suggest, because that's what the data is doing.
It's definitely a limitation, and we'd need more info to confirm that's true.
When someone challenges an idea in your presentation, you need to be careful.
If you're not really sure about something, but you insist it's true, you can damage your credibility.
If the information is incomplete or you're making assumptions, then admit it.
There are always limitations to our knowledge, perspectives, and data.
And in most cases, the best thing to do is to acknowledge this.
It doesn't invalidate your ideas, but it does make you sound reasonable and logical.
Let's run through some other ways of admitting limitations to the ideas we presented.
Yes, that's very true.
We would really need to talk to more people to confirm this.
One thing to keep in mind is that these statistics are from two years ago.
Are these things true about all our branches?
Well, we don't really know for sure.
One limitation here is that we've only tried this with one team so far.
Now let's hear Heather explain her concern and listen as Adam wraps up his presentation.
Basically, Heather is wary or worried about giving more administrative work to consultants.
Yeah, because I'm wary of shifting admin tasks to consultants unless there's a clear return on it.
Fair enough.
I've already asked Olivia to take a closer look, so we'll have to return to this once we get more data.
Now just to be mindful of time here.
If anybody has any further questions, I'll be happy to follow up in Teams or call me anytime.
Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts.
And with that, I'll wish you a good rest of the day.
Thanks, everyone.
One thing you'll hear in Adam's wrap-up is that he wants to be mindful or aware of time.
One of the biggest complaints about presentations and meetings is that they go on too long.
So respect your audience's time by finishing on time or even before your time is up.
Of course, there might be more questions that you haven't had time to deal with.
In that case, simply do what Adam has done.
Encourage people to come to you later with any questions or follow-up.
Notice.
He also indicates how people can follow up by calling him or contacting him in Teams, which is Microsoft's video conferencing and collaboration platform.
What are some other ways we can encourage further questions or follow-up?
Let's try some more examples.
Okay, so if you have any further questions, please just send me an email.
I encourage you to contact me if you'd like to discuss this some more.
We'll have to leave it there today, but I'll be happy to discuss these ideas later.
Throughout his presentation, Adam has demonstrated some great skills.
In this final Q&A section, he's handled audience questions well and asked some of his own.
And you can bet his audience is happy.
He wrapped up on time while still feeling that the presentation is complete.
Now let's practice some of the language we learned in today's lesson.
Imagine you are giving a presentation about the idea of moving your company to a smaller office to save money.
You'll hear a cue from the audience.
Then I'll give you some suggestions for what you can say in response.
We'll guide you through each step in the practice and provide an example answer for each response.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Do you think staff will be happy moving to a smaller office?
Start by complementing the question and ask if anyone else has thoughts on the topic.
Answer.
Great question.
And I'm curious, does anyone else have any thoughts on that?
I think most people will be fine, especially if they understand the cost savings.
Now thank the person and ask if people agree with the cost savings estimates.
Answer.
Thank you.
And can I ask if everyone agrees with the cost savings estimates?
I think they're realistic, but I'm curious about savings in other areas.
Next, say that savings in other areas is a good topic for the next finance meeting.
Answer Savings in other areas could be a topic for the next finance meeting.
Fair enough.
Then, can I ask about possible changes in real estate prices?
Answer Well, one limitation of my estimates is that they assume no change in real estate prices.
Finally, say that if there are any more questions, people can call or email you.
Great!
Well, if there are any more questions, please just call or email me.
Now let's practice some of the vocabulary we've covered in this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat each sentence, including the missing word.
For example, if you hear...
Hi there.
I'm calling to... that our order will arrive this afternoon?
You can say... Hi there.
I'm calling to confirm that our order will arrive this afternoon?
After each response, we'll provide the correct answer.
Let's begin.
Answer I came in early to take care of some of my admin tasks.
We've seen an excellent on our investments this year.
Answer.
We've seen an excellent return on our investments this year.
If you have any questions, please don't... to ask.
Answer.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
We do some commercial projects, but residential is our bread and Answer.
We do some commercial projects, but residential is our bread and butter.
We've reached the end of this lesson, the third in our series about online presentations.
We've learned how to redirect a question to the audience, ask a question of your own and how to suggest discussing something further at a later time.
We've also looked at admitting limitations to our ideas and encouraging people to follow up later if they have more questions.
For more practice.
Premium members can access the online quizzes and PDF transcripts for this and other lessons on the BEP website.
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Then head over to wwwbusinessenglishpodcom and sign up for a free trial to preview some of the extra resources available to members.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
