Handling Questions and Answers
If you are successful in arousing interest and stimulating thinking, your listeners may want to ask questions at the end of your speech.
First, prepare for questions. Try to anticipate what you might be asked, think about how you will answer these questions, and do the research required to answer them effectively. Practice your speech before friends and urge them to ask you tough questions.
Second, repeat or paraphrase the question. This is especially important if the question was long or complicated and your audience is large. Paraphrasing ensures that everyone in the audience hears the question. It gives you time to think of your answer, and it helps you be sure you understood the question. Paraphrasing also enables you to steer the question to the type of answer you are prepared to give.
Third, maintain eye contact with the audience as you answer. Note that we say “with the audience,” not just “with the questioner.” Look first at the questioner, then make eye contact with other audience members, returning your gaze to the questioner as you finish your answer. The purpose of a question- and-answer period should be to extend the understanding of the entire audience, not to carry on a private conversation with one person.
Fourth, defuse hostile questions. Reword emotional questions in more objective language. For example, if you are asked, “Why do you want to throw away our money on people who are too lazy to work?” you might respond with something like, “1 understand your frustration and think what you really want to know is ‘Why aren’t our current programs helping people break out of the chains of unemployment?”
Simply saying “I don’t know” can also help defuse a hostile questioner. Roger Ailes, a political media adviser for three U.S. presidents, described how former New York City Mayor Ed Koch once used this technique. Koch had spent three hundred thousand dollars putting bike lanes in Manhattan. Cars were driving in the bike lanes. Cyclists were running over pedestrians. The money seemed wasted. Soon thereafter, when Koch was running for reelection, he appeared on a “meet-the-press” type of show. This is how the questioning went:
One reporter led off with “Mayor Koch, in light of the financial difficulties in New York City, how could you possibly Iustif’ wasting three hundred thousand dollars on bike lanes?.. .“ Koch smiled and he
said, “You’re right. It was a terrible idea.” He went on. “I thought it would work. It didn’t. It was one of the worst mistakes I ever made.” And he stopped. Now nobody knew what to do. They had another
twenty-six minutes of the program left. They all had prepared questions about the bike lanes, and so the next person feebly asked, “But, Mayor Koch, how could you do this?” And Mayor Koch said, “I already told you, it was stupid. I did a dumb thing. It didn’t work.” And he stopped again. Now there were twenty-five minutes left and nothing to ask him. It was brilliant.8
Fifth, keep your answers short and direct. Don’t give another speech.
Sixth, handle non questions politely. If someone starts to give a speech rather than ask a question, wait until he or she pauses for breath and then cut in with something like, “Thank you for your comment” or “I appreciate your remarks. Your question, then, is . . .“ or “That’s an interesting perspective. Can we have another question?” Don’t get caught up in a shouting match. Stay in command of the situation.
Finally, bring the question-and-answer session to a close. Call for a final question and, as you complete the answer, summarize your message again to refocus listeners on your central points.
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