Q&A Time

Last week we talked about eliminating the humble brags from your entire presentation? How'd it go?

This week's little thing is all about Q&A time....

A lot of event organizers ask you to leave time for Q&A after your presentation. For example, at a recent corporate event, they scheduled 90 minutes for my session - 75 minutes of a keynote speech and 15 minutes for questions.

I love taking questions - and you should too - but taking questions at the very end of your presentation and then walking off the stage is like letting the air out of a balloon really slowly.

Here's what I mean:

73 minutes into my 90-minute slot, I deliver my really awesome last two minutes of my presentation... I graciously thank the audience and then instead of leaving the stage I stand there awkwardly and ask if anyone has any questions... As the hands slowly go up and the momentum of Q&A builds - my time is up... which leads me to a good bye that feels like this:

Thank you so much - sorry we didn't get to all of the questions - I'll be around this afternoon- so feel free to find me and I'd be happy to chat....

Now - we get a mediocre applause (It's the second time they've applauded for me) and my time is over...

There's a much better way to structure this so YOU control the time and YOU own the stage and YOU own your exit....

Let's kill the awkwardness by fixing how we approach Q&A time in this week's Little Thing.