dynamic presentations dvd worksheets eb

8/18/2019 Dynamic Presentations DVD Worksheets EB

1/20

1 Opening and closing

A

DISCUSS

1Which of the graphs below do you think represents audience attention levels in a typicalpresentation?

a b c d

A T T E N T I O N

A T T E N T I O N

A T T E N T I O N

A T T E N T I O N

TIMETIMETIMETIME

2 What kind of presentations do you think the other graphs refer to?

3 It’s quite common to see presenters start off by introducing themselves, thanking their

audience for coming, and checking to make sure their audio-visuals are all working OK. Howeffective is that as an opening? Do you ever open a presentation like this?

VIEW

(00:00–01:41) Watch Mark talking about the importance of having a good opening and close and

compare your answers to the questions above with his.

RECALL

1 What is the primacy-recency effect?

2 In what way does Mark say a strong opening and close are like two bookends?

3 Why do you think Mark prefers the second version of the presentation opening you saw?

B

DISCUSS

1 Look at some of the classic ways of opening a presentation below. Which of these have you

used yourself?

tell a joke quote some statistics relate an anecdote ask the audience a question

tell a true story quote somebody famous refer to a relevant book or magazine articleexplode a popular myth refer to a well-known movie or TV programme

2 Work with a partner. Can you add any different techniques to the list above? Which work bestfor you?

Dynamic Presentations DVD Worksheet 1 by Mark Powell © Cambridge University Press 2011 PHOTOCOPIABLE


2/20

VIEW

1 (01:42–03:34) Now watch the openings from two different presentations and underline any of

the techniques the presenters use from the list above. Which technique do they both use?

2 How well do you think these openings lead into the main subject of the presenters’ talks?

PRESENT

Pick one of the presentation openers below and expand it into a sentence or two using

information relevant to your work. Can your colleagues detect which technique you are using?

Did you know that …? Could I ask you to raise your hand if you …?

I think it was … who said … Could you turn to a partner and …?

Just imagine what it would be like to … There’s a joke about …

There’s a common misconception that … My favourite story about … is …

I have a question for you … A few … ago I read this book/article …

I saw this headline/cartoon the other day …

You’re all familiar with the movie / TV programme …

OK, here’s a problem for you – how would you …?

C

DISCUSS

In what way can the end of your talk be even more important than the beginning?

VIEW

(03:35–4:01) How does Mark answer the question you have just answered?

RECALL

How does Mark compare a presentation to a firework display?

D

DISCUSS

When might you need to use the following techniques to close your presentation?

a summary a touch of humour a call to action a wise saying

VIEW

(04:02–06:02) Watch two presenters wrapping up their presentations. Which two techniques

above do they each use?

Presenter 1:

Presenter 2:

RECALL

What does Mark say about starting with the end of your presentation?

PRESENT

Write a short close to accompany the opening you designed above. Deliver them both.



3/20

A

DISCUSS

1 It’s been said that a presentation is like a car journey. If it is, what might be the equivalent in apresentation of the following?

turning the key in the ignition describing your route on the map making a turn

moving into the fast lane stopping to take a closer look at something doing a U-turn

pointing out some of the sights taking a short detour arriving at your destination

2 What happens when drivers fail to signal? How about presenters?

VIEW

(00:00–00:58) Now watch Mark talking about the idea of a presentation as a car journey and

compare his views with yours.

RECALL

1 What does Mark say about presenting to non-native speaker audiences?

2 Why does he say it’s helpful to pause briefly before and after you use a signal?

B

DISCUSS

Match the signalling expressions below to the icons you think best illustrate them. The first one

has been done for you as an example.

a OK, moving on to … b So that brings you up to date on … c So to recap on …

d Just to digress for a moment… e And this brings us on to the subject of…

f So, let’s look back at … g Turning for a moment to the question of …

h Just to give you a quick snapshot of …

i OK, as time’s moving on, I’m going to briefly take you through …

j So just to expand on that a little… k There are three things I want to talk to you about …

l And, in a way, this goes back to what we were saying earlier …

a

❶❷❸ ➡● ■➡●

Smooth structure2



4/20

VIEW

(00:59–02:34) Now check your answers to the previous exercise by watching different presenters

using the signals you worked on. The icons are in the right order, but have you labelled them

correctly?

C

PRESENTMake the transition from the first to second part of the presentations below, using the key words

to help you.

OBJECTIVES

OK / first / all / going / fill you in /

project objectives ➡PROGRESS

then / bring you up to speed / how /

progressing so far

COST LEADERSHIP

just like / say / little bit more /

cost leadership / I may ➡PRICING STRATEGY

before / move on / pricing strategy

TEXT-TO-SPEECH

so that was / text-to-speech software /

first thing / wanted / share / you today ➡SPEECH-TO-TEXT

now / let’s take / look /

even more exciting speech-to-text package

OVERVIEW

OK, so / that’s /overview /

what contract covers ➡DETAILS

let’s drill down / some

OUTSOURCING

now / coming back / this later on ➡CROWDSOURCING

but just / give / quick outline /

how crowdsourcing works

BACKGROUND

so there / nutshell / have / background /

project ➡MILESTONES

now let’s look / some / milestones /

scheduled / plan

VIEW(02:35–04:07) Now watch presenters making the same transitions you just did. How close are they

to your versions? Present them again if you want to.

REFLECT

1 Signalling is one way to make what you say clearly structured and easy to follow. How

important is it to make well-defined and logical arguments in the cultures you do business

with? The more important it is, the more necessary it will be to use regular signals.

2 How can the use of signals ‘save’ you when you lose your way or have problems getting your

point across in a presentation?



5/20

A

DISCUSS

1Have you heard of Vocal Intelligence? What do you think it might mean?

2 Work with a partner. What are the five most important things you need to be able to do to use

your voice effectively in a presentation? Complete the mind map below:

VOCALINTELLIGENCE

VIEW

(00:00–02:37) Now watch Mark talking about how to use the power of your voice. How do his

ideas compare with yours?

RECALL

1 What does Mark say the word ‘personality’ literally means?

2 How does pausing help both the presenter and the audience?

3 What two kinds of words are usually stressed in spoken English and why?

REFLECT

Which vocal areas do you think you most need to work on?

B

DISCUSS

Why doesn’t Hamlet speak like this?

Do you know any presenters who do?

Who’s the worst?

VIEW

(02:38–03:23) If you use filler too frequently, it could distract your audience. Watch a presenter

reporting on the participant feedback from a sales training seminar and count the number of

times he ums and ers in just 30 seconds!

RECALL

Tick some of the other things the presenter you have just watched did. Watch again if you need to.

repeated himself stretched words out stuttered

broke off mid-sentence mispronounced words hesitated

o be or, er, not to be?Tat is, er, you know, like,

the question.

Voice power3



6/20

REFLECT

1 What effect does the presenter’s over-use of filler have?

2 What two things could the presenter have done instead of using filler?

3 What’s the difference between pausing and hesitating?

CPRESENT

Work with a partner. Each of you should deliver one of the following two extracts from a

presentation about redesigning a company’s staff induction programme. Remember to pause at

the end of each line, stress underlined words and make your intonation go up and down with the

arrows. Record yourselves if you can.

PRESENTER 1

OK. ➘

as you know, ➚

for the last three months➚

we’ve been rethinking ➚

the staff induction programme. ➘

We started out with the name

‘Induction programme’. ➘

Induction programme. ➘

Well, ➚

what does that say to you? ➘

Yeah, right. ➘

What it says to us ➚

– you’re about to be sucked into the machine! ➘

PRESENTER 2

Well, ➘

isn’t a welcome really what we’re trying to provide anyway?➘

Why are we making people’s first weeks at the company a

bore ➘

with all the health and safety regulations➚

and legal forms to fill in ➚

when we should be making them welcome? ➘

Why not a party, ➘

a well-chosen gift,➘

a couple of long lunches with the boss,➘

who, let’s not forget, ➚

is the number one reason➚

why most people quit their jobs!➘

VIEW

(03:24–04:32) Now watch the extracts you’ve just worked on. How does the presenter’s

performance compare with yours?

REFLECT

1 How does the amount you say before you pause affect how you sound? What’s the ideal: longutterances, short utterances or a combination of the two?

2 What can you learn from the presenter you have just watched? Could he learn anything from you?



7/20

4 Visual aids

A

DISCUSS

1They say ‘a picture paints a thousand words’. Why is that especially good advice for a presenter?

2 When is a visual aid not an aid?

VIEW

(00:00–00:30) Watch Mark answering the questions above and compare his ideas with yours.

RECALL

What does Mark say is the effect of reading speed being so much faster than speaking speed?

B

DISCUSS 1

1 Look at this slide. How likely do you think the audience is to

remember it half an hour after the presentation is over? Why?

2 Why do you think the presenter has designed it this way?

3 What’s going to happen if the presenter tries to present this?

VIEW 1

1 (00:31–01:17) Watch the presenter and see if you were right.

2 What exactly went wrong?

3 How could the presenter have avoided this problem, using the custom animation function in

her slideware?

4 (01:18–01:36) Watch Mark commenting on the use of this visual. How similar are his comments

to yours?

DISCUSS 2

1 Look at this second version of the same slide you just saw presented.

How well does it grab your attention now? Why?

2 What opportunity does this very minimal visual give to the

presenter? Is there a danger in having so little text?

VIEW 2

(01:37–02:37) Watch the presenter use this version of the slide. Do you

agree with Mark’s explanation of why it’s better?

• 3D movies traditionally, restrictedto theme parks and iMax cinemas

• shift to 3D versions of blockbusters likeKung Fu Panda in mainstream cinemas

• 2009 movie sensation Avatar redefinesmarket

• new-style linear 3D polarised glasses• global market for 3D eyewear est. $200

million

3D EYEWEAR iSpex

200 million



8/20

RECALL

What does Mark say about the following?

getting straight to the point a headline context and supporting data telling half the story

DISCUSS 3

Now look at two different versions of this

slide. Which one is likely to be more effective?

Why?

VIEW 3

(02:38–03:08) Watch and see what Mark thinks

about the slides.

C

REFLECT

1 How often do you need to describe graphs and charts in a presentation?

2 What sort of extra information do you sometimes need to give about them?

VIEW 1

(03:09–03:39) Watch what Mark says about graphs and charts. How far do you agree with him?

PRESENT

Work with a partner. Team-present the information in the charts below, referring to the visual aid

at 04:31 on the DVD as you speak. Some of these expressions may help you:

We all know… Have a look at this… Here are our projected estimates of … So let

me just talk you through… As you can see, we are forecasting… Let’s just put that

into perspective. The good news is… As far as … is concerned, the figures speak for

themselves. What does that mean in terms of…? So, the real question is…

1 What does the visual show?

2 Overall, is the future likely to

be greener or greyer?

3 How much will use of

renewables increase in

response to the population

explosion and rising fossil fuel

prices?

4 Is that a big change from2006?

5 What about oil, both in the

short-term and long-term?

2006

2030

Global electricity production

by source

coal

gas

renewables

nuclear

oil

2020

6 How will our reliance on

nuclear energy change?

7 But is this a good thing for

the environment (nuclear is

clean)?

8 How much will electricity

production have increased

by 2030?

9 How much of that will bederived from coal (the

dirtiest fuel)?

10 So what happened to our

more sustainable future?

VIEW 2

(03:40–05:39) Now watch a presenter presenting the same information you just did. How does his

version compare with yours? Present yours again if you want to.

70% of Indian businessesare family businesses

70%



9/20

A

DISCUSS

1 Look at the amount of information in the visuals below. Which visuals have too much?a b c d

• attract

• convert

• retain

• grow

• measure

• optimize

customer conversion

2 How much data do you typically have to present? Describe one of the more complex sets of

figures you’ve used in the past. Why did it have to be so complicated?

VIEW

(00:00–01:15) Watch Mark talking about presenting facts and figures and decide how he would

respond to the questions above.

RECALL

1 How does Mark define ‘data-dumping’?

2 What’s the five-second rule?

3 How are the expectations of technical audiences different from non-technical ones?

4 What’s a ‘slideument’?

B

DISCUSS

What four things can you do to avoid data-dumping? Complete the mind map below:

HOW TO AVOID DATA-DUMPING

VIEW

(01:16–03:46) Watch Mark outlining four ways of dealing with data-dumping and compare your

ideas with his.

REFLECT

1 In view of what you’ve seen so far in this video segment, what changes might you want to

make to the way you present facts and figures in your own presentations?

2 Is it as necessary to contextualise data when presenting to an audience of experts?

Facts and figures5



10/20

C

PRESENT

You work for @sgard, a company that produces spam filter software. With a partner, team-present

the statistics below, making sure to put each into context.

a Do you know

how much spam

is costing youannually? We have

the official figures.

b Amount of energy

used to transmit,

process and filterspam = 33bn

kilowatt hours per

year.

c = enough to power

2.4m homes > total

no. of homes in

Warsaw, Budapest

and Vienna.

d = enough to

produce greenhouse

gas emissions of

3.1m cars > total

no. of cars inLondon.

e Total cost = $5bn

pa. But what can

we do? After all, it’s

not us sending the

spam, is it?

f 80% of energy

wasted by spam not

spamming, but from

end-users deleting

junk.

@sgardwe stop spamat source

To deal with this,

our company has

taken spam filtering

tech to new levels.

We stop spam at

source.

VIEW(03:47–05:29) Now watch a presenter giving the presentation you’ve just given and compare her

performance with yours. Try again if you want to.

REFLECT

1 Why do you think contextualising figures is so very powerful?

2 How can your visuals reinforce the context?

80%

3.1m

5bn

33bn

2.4m



11/20

A

DISCUSS

1How good are you at reading other people’s body language? Can you always tell immediatelywhen someone is nervous, hostile or perhaps trying to mislead you? Give an example.

2 Which three things most impress you about the personality and manner of a presenter?

confidence charisma authenticity enthusiasm dynamism humility

a relaxed attitude

3 Do you think that non-verbal communication (NVC) might be even more important than what

you actually say?

VIEW

(00:00–01:07) Watch Mark giving some advice on NVC and compare your views with his.

RECALL

1 Why does Mark warn against thinking too much about your body language?

2 How does he say you could appear calm and confident or energetic and enthusiastic?

REFLECT

Where would you place yourself as a presenter on the scale below? Where would other peopleplace you?

static hyperactive

B

DISCUSS

1 Make a list of different types of distracting body language you’ve noticed in presentationsyou’ve attended. Which ones really bug you?

VIEW

(01:08–02:05) Watch Mark illustrating his own list of body language no-nos. Does he mention

anything you missed out? Did you list anythinghe

missed?RECALL

1 What does Mark say makes a distracting gesture worse?

2 How does he suggest you eliminate your own distracting habits?

3 What positive role should body language play in your presentation?

Body language6



12/20

C

DISCUSS

1 Which areas of NVC do you think have most impact on the audience?

NVCposture(how you stand)

mobility

(how much you move around)

gesture

(how you moveyour hands)

eye contact

(who you look at and for how long)

2 Do you think there is a vocabulary of the body? How might you use simple gestures to show

the following?

two key points a big increase a rapid change a small detail

two contrasting facts movement from one stage to the next firstly, secondly,

thirdly the long term a priority from start to finish an irrelevant issue

you, the audience me, the speaker a question

PRESENT AND VIEW

(02:06–03:48) Present the following information using whatever gestures seem most appropriateas you speak. You can keep a copy of the text in front of you if you need to. After each extract,

watch how the presenters on the video deliver the same information.

1 There are three things I want to talk to you about today and they all concern coaching for

performance. So let’s take them one at a time. Firstly, …

2 I really think this new initiative has huge potential, but it means us all working together as a team.

3 So, how are we going to address this problem? Well, on the one hand, we could just ignore it and hope

it goes away. But, on the other hand, this is losing us a lot of money.4 Now what we have seen across all divisions is a significant increase in pre-tax profit margins from three

to nine percent.

5 At every stage, from start to finish, this project has been carefully monitored and benchmarked against

best practice.

6 So, looking further ahead, what are our long-term objectives?

7 Who’d have thought that such a tiny defect in the system would have caused such chaos? But fixing it

is now our top priority.

8 So that is the situation. Any ideas? Yes, Mark?



13/20

A

DISCUSS

1Why is it so easy for audiences to lose concentration during a presentation – even when it’squite interesting?

2 What can you do to hold attention and build rapport when you present? With a partner, try to

come up with at least five things you can do to make a presentation sound more like a two-way

conversation, and complete the mind map below:

LANGUAGE OF RAPPORT

VIEW

(00:00–01.29) Watch Mark talking about the language of rapport. How do his ideas compare with

yours?

REFLECT

Apart from the linguistic techniques Mark mentions, what else can you do to connect with youraudience? What have you found works best for you?

B

DISCUSS

Mark mentions the power of ‘involvement expressions’. The examples he gives are ‘I know what

you’re thinking’, ‘If you’re anything like me,’ and ‘What if I was to say to you …?’ As a group,

brainstorm as many other examples as you can think of and write them up on a whiteboard or

flipchart.

VIEW

(01.30–02:43) Now watch a presenter talking about the causes of a decline in music CD sales and

count the number of times she uses ‘involvement expressions’. Listen carefully – some of them are

fairly subtle.

Rapport-building7



14/20

RECALL

Did the presenter use any of the expressions you brainstormed? Check in the video script.

PRESENT

Choose one of the controversial sets of statistics below and prepare to present them. Use as many

‘involvement expressions’ as you can.

ASHES TO ASHES?

Cigarette smoking in the UK has declinedevery year since 1974 and in the USA since1981. According to new research by Citigroup,if this trend continues, by 2050 almost no one inthe developed world will be smoking, though inGermany it could take until 2280 to wipe out thehabit! e industry will have to maintain profitmargins through further price increases andsales in the emerging economies of China, Indiaand Brazil – which just happen to be the world’sthree biggest producers of cigarettes!

According to a multi-country survey by

Synovate, whilst the majority of peopleasked think there are far too many ads on

the Internet, 57% of Spaniards and 52%

of Americans would be prepared to watch

web ads for money – for example, a

reduction in their cable fee. However, only

5% of people ever discuss ads they’ve

seen on Twitter and more than two-thirds

have never promoted a brand on a social

networking page – so it’s hard to see

what the ad agencies would be getting for

their money!

MONEY FOR

NOTHING?

C

DISCUSS 1

What are the two main things an audience can do to show they’re enjoying a presentation?

VIEW 1

(02:44–03:13) Compare your ideas with what Mark says. Do you agree with what he says about

‘non-verbal agreement’?

DISCUSS 2

A lot of presenters tell jokes to create rapport with their audience. What’s the danger in doing

this? What kind of jokes are safest?

VIEW 2

(03:14–03:26) See what Mark says about jokes.

DISCUSS 3

If you want to make your audience laugh, what are the less risky alternatives to telling a joke?

VIEW 3

(03:27–05:28) Watch two presenters try different ways of getting a laugh from their audience.

One’s talking about morale problems. The other’s talking about making sure you get you message

across. Which one is funnier for you?

RECALL

In what way did Mark say funny stories are often more effective than jokes?

PRESENT

Use the funny quotes your trainer gives you to build a 30-second presentation.



15/20

A

DISCUSS

Work with a partner. Can you identify the impact techniques the following famous CEOs are usingin the presentation extracts below?

‘From today onwards, in China Yahoo means

a search engine and a search engine means

Yahoo.’

Jack Ma, CEO Yahoo China and Alibaba.com

‘I think we have more representatives thanthe army, air force and navy combined inBrazil.’Andrea Jung, CEO Avon Products Inc.

‘Laws have to be changed, society has to be

impacted, all of that has to happen if women

are going to become the next big engine for

growth in India.’

Indra Nooyi, CEO PepsiCo

‘If you make meaning, you’ll probably make money. But if you set

out to make money, you will probably not make meaning and you

won’t make money.’

Guy Kawasaki, CEO Garage Technology Ventures

‘It’s fair to say also that no one, no one

had predicted how the global economy

would evolve in 2008 – no one.’

Carlos Ghosn, CEO Renault-Nissan Alliance

‘So what do I know about change? First thing

I know is that everybody is afraid of something.’

Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard

‘We’re promoting Linux ... because we reallythink it’s the best system. Best meaningcheapest, fastest, most reliable.’Larry Ellison, CEO Oracle Corporation

VIEW

(00:00–01:55) Watch Mark describing some of the most common impact techniques presenters

use, and see how many you managed to find in the extracts above.

RECALL

1 What does Mark say about key words, phrases and sounds?

2 Which technique gets people thinking about something before you tell them what you think?

3 What do dictionaries of quotations tend to be full of?

4 Which technique helps you paint pictures in the minds of the audience?

5 What does Mark say is the most famous technique of all? What does he warn against?

REFLECT

Can you think of any famous quotations or sayings, in your own language or in English, which

contain one or more of the impact techniques you’ve been looking at?

Impact techniques8



16/20

B

VIEW

(01:56–04:49) Watch short extracts from four different presentations and tick the impact

techniques the presenters use once or more.

REPETITION QUESTIONS CONTRASTS METAPHOR THREES

Extract 1

Extract 2

Extract 3

Extract 4

RECALL

Which impact technique seems to be the most common?

C

PRESENT

Use the notes in the slideware textbox below to give part of a presentation on the IT industry in

India. Try to use as many impact techniques as you can. See who can fit the most techniques into

their presentation – without overdoing it!

I NDIA TIndia vital to future of IT – 190 babies born every 90 secs (1 British, 20 Chinese, 25 Indian) – 50% of Indians

< 35 yrs old – many work in IT – 100% of college graduates speak English – in tech support future is Indian –

figures prove it!

VIEW

(04:50–05:45) Now watch how the presenter on the video delivers the same information you just

did. Did he use any of the same impact techniques as you? How effective is he?



17/20

A

DISCUSS

1In what ways is presenting like storytelling?

2 What can a good story add to the bare facts?

VIEW

(00:00–00:48) Watch Mark answer the questions above and compare your ideas with his.

RECALL

How does Mark distinguish between push- and pull-strategies in a presentation?

B

DISCUSS

What are the qualities of a good story? With a partner, complete the mind map below:

STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES

VIEW 1

(00:49–02:33) Watch a presenter telling a story about the difficulties of running a family businessand see if it gives you any more ideas about storytelling to add to your mind map.

REFLECT

The Stew Leonard story wasn’t perfect. How could the presenter have made it more effective?

VIEW 2

(02:34–03:38) Now watch Mark describing what he sees as the key qualities of a good story and

compare them with the ones you mind mapped.

RECALL

What did Mark say about true stories? Do you agree?

REFLECT

How much do you use personal anecdotes in your own presentations? Can you remember one

you’ve told before? If so, explain what it is and the response it got.

Storytelling9



18/20

C

DISCUSS

Stories don’t have to be amusing. Sometimes just a little personal disclosure can have a powerful

effect on your audience. What kind of personal disclosures do you think work best? Which would

you be comfortable making?

VIEW

(03:39–05:32) Watch an educational software designer talking about a teacher she once met atone of her presentations. The presenter seems a little nervous, but her story works quite well.

Why?

PRESENT

Use the notes below to tell one of three true stories. Don’t worry about getting the details exactly

right, just try to make it sound as natural and spontaneous as possible. What presentation theme

could you link the story to?

An of f er y ou c an’ t r ef useJ ohn S c ul l ey – pr esid ent of P e psi in ear l y 19 80 s – br il l iant mar ket er – f amous f or ‘P e psi C hal l en ge’ c ommer c ial s: C oc a-C ol a d r inker s bl ind -t ast e P e psi and C oke and say w hic h t hey pr ef er – gr eat c om par at iv e ad v er t isin g – S c ul l ey so good , A p pl e c o-f ound er S t ev e J obs w ant s him t o w or k at A p pl e – S c ul l ey : d oin g fi ne at P e psi , t hanks – w hy mov e? – J obs: D o y ou w ant t o sel l su gar -w at er f or t he r est of y our l if e or c ome w it h me and c han ge t he w or l d ?

An expensive mistakeThomas Watson – legendary founder of IBM –one of his top managers comes up with idea fornew division of company – Watson gives idea thego-ahead – disaster! – new division loses $10m –manager comes into Watson’s offi ce – apologisesand resigns – Watson asks why – because my ideawas such a miserable failure – wanted to resignbefore you fi re me – Watson: why would I do that?– I’ve just spent $10m on your education!

Zero tolerance

Andrew Carnegie – f amous industrialist –

visiting steel f actory one day – sto ps to s peak

to one of machine o perators – plant su pervisor

introduces o perator as Wilson – fi rm’s oldest

em ployee – nearly 4 0 yrs with the com pany –

Carnegie : Congratulations , Wilson! – Wilson :

T hank you , sir –May I just say , sir , in all my

years here I only made one tiny mistake –

Carnegie : Good job! – shakes hand – but in

f uture please try to be more caref ul .

REFLECT

The story you just told was true, but it was not your own. Did this have an effect on how well you

told it? If you’d like to, try preparing and delivering your own personal anecdote.



19/20

A

DISCUSS

1 In general, do you think the Q&A session is easier or more difficult to prepare for than thepresentation itself? Why?

2 The advantages for the audience of having a Q&A session are clear – they can clarify thingsthey didn’t understand, raise related issues you didn’t cover and challenge you on points they

disagree with. But what are the advantages for the presenter?

VIEW

(00:00–00:24) Watch Mark answering the questions you’ve just discussed and compare his ideas

with yours.

B

DISCUSS

In your experience, what are the main types of question audiences ask?

VIEW 1

(00:25–00:35) Mark divides audience questions into three broad categories. What are they?

DISCUSS

What do you think these categories might mean? How would you deal with each type?

VIEW 2

(00:36–02:07) Watch Mark answer the questions above and complete the table below:

QUESTION TYPE DEFINITION BEST RESPONSE

G W asking and one you can

a !

1 Make the m of it

2 answer it f

B 1 C answer 1 admit you don’t k

2 offer to f out

3 Ask the a

4 Ask the q

2 Would p not to answer 1 explain w you can’t answer

2 M on

U 1 V and u C before responding

2 Already a or u

with your talk

Deal with these s and

p

3 S questions at once 1 Deal with these s

2 Identify the most i question

REFLECT

Can you see any dangers in the responses Mark recommends?

Q&A sessions10



20/20

C

VIEW

(02:08–04:09) Watch a presenter fielding questions at the end of her presentation. Can you work

out from her responses what kind of questions she’s just been asked? Tick the appropriate boxes

below:

GOOD BAD

(can’t answer)

BAD

(won’t answer)

UGLY

(unclear)

UGLY

(already answered)

UGLY

(multiple)Question 1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

Question 4:

Question 5:

Question 6:

Question 7:

Question 8:

Question 9:

D

REFLECT

What sort of questions do you most hate in a presentation? Have you ever been asked a really

hostile question? If so, what was it and how did you respond?

VIEW 1

(04:10–04:36) Watch Mark talking about how to deal with hostile questions from the audience. Do

you generally follow his advice?

RECALL

What does Mark say about preventing questioners from hijacking your presentation?

VIEW 2

(04:37–06:23) Now watch a presenter handling some hostile questions and pause the video after

each question. Think about how you’d rephrase it before seeing how the presenter does it.

PRESENT

Prepare a 90-second talk on what you’ve learned about handling questions in this module. At the

end, the other people in your group should ask you at least eight questions of different types.

VIEW 3

(06:24–07:00) What’s Mark’s advice on how to close after a Q&A session?

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