How can you handle Q&A sessions after your speakers' presentation?

Whether you're dealing with a VIP Guest, or a technophobic keynote speaker, Talent Management is critical. - Be sure to provide a singular point of contact for all communications. Everything from calendar invites to pre-event deck collection, to green M&M requests should go through this person. - Except for very specific scenarios, talent that will be on screen or stage together, should have a change to meet in advance -- Bonus Points if it's in an informal setting. Chemistry and trust make a huge difference in the flow of your sessions! - Flow Rehearsals. Don't just rehearse each session in isolation. Practice transitioning from one set of speakers to the next!

It often helps to determine if various speakers have preferences around Q&A - if not overly onerous, let them voice opinions and thoughts around how it will be handled. Should they be submitted in advance, do they want to choose, how do they prefer being (gently) told to move on, etc.

Always let the audience know how it will work - ideally as soon as possible. Let them know the session will be open for questions at the end, or if they need to submit on an ongoing basis, or if they have to queue at a mic. Especially note how long of a session you're aiming for, and once Q&A begins, it's helpful to note the time remaining as you go along to continue to set expectations around how many questions will actually be able to be answered.

Graphics can be your best friend! - Don't be afraid to cut away from your speaker's face. While your presenter is instructing the audience, throw up a clear graphic or video that clearly articulates the process. Bonus points if it's visual and not just text-based. - If you're collecting questions, put the active one on screen while it's being answered. - Timers don't have to be scary, big red block numbers counting down to an explosion. If time is a critical factor, an easy point of reference for speakers and question-askers is totally OK.

It is always helpful for a speaker to have someone act as air traffic controller, especially if they know the audience members themselves. The speaker has likely just spoken alone for 30-45 minutes, so having a breather and having someone else to connect with, since the audience can be quite physically far away, is always appreciated.

I see a lot of groups missing a huge opportunity for engagement with Q&A. If you aren't going to allow people to ask questions directly to the speakers, consider getting questions in advance, but specifically calling out the people who is asking, "Sally from Omaha" or "Lance from Accounting." It actually gives the speaker some context, and helps build a direct connection between the speaker and audience.

Um dos objetivos da sessão de perguntas e respostas é criar um diálogo e uma conexão entre os palestrantes e o público. Para isso, é preciso engajar o público e fazer com que ele se sinta envolvido e valorizado. As ferramentas interativas, como enquetes, questionários, pesquisas ou jogos, podem ajudar a coletar feedback, opiniões ou insights do público. Isso pode ajudar a tornar a sessão mais envolvente e participativa. Elogios, agradecimentos ou elogios podem ajudar a fazer com que o público se sinta valorizado e incentivado a participar.

This is easier done with a host or dedicated moderator, but it has a huge impact. There's very few things as an audience member that feel as terrible as having all the questions held until the end, and then suddenly. "Okay, that was our last question, Thanks for coming. Goodbye *End of Stream*". A bit of a wind-down is okay. Seeing your viewership number slowly drop away at the end is okay. Don't panic and hard-cut unless you have no other choice.

As a general rule, I would allow your speaker to take Q&A during their presentation. It keeps the audience engaged the whole time and helps the presenter know if they’re on track. The audience should know they can ask questions at any time. Do not tell them to hold their questions to the end. Anyone answering questions should repeat, or rephrase every question, and answer the question not just to the questioner, but to the whole group, ending their eye contact on anyone in the audience except the questioner to avoid follow up questions. This technique also works to manage hecklers in the audience if there are any. this is for face-to-face presentations, slightly different for zoom