How do I write down questions?

Writing down questions - a necessary part of a successful presentation

NOTE! Writing down questions is step 3 of the preparations! If you havn't red this part, do it now!

(You must know who will be your target group and what do you want to accomplish with your presentation – ahead of writing down questions!)

Starting with the Bottom Line and getting away from the Logical-Historical Model isn't enough. Writing down questions is a necessary part of a successful presentation.
It's the key – the heart and soul of the Headlining Technique.

How many questions should I write down?

If you are going to hold a presentation of 5–50 minutes, you should try to write down as many as 50 questions. I'm serious, even if I'm quite aware that you have other things to do! I've been involved with presentations where we've prepared over 3,000 questions!
If you know enough about the way your target group thinks, and you are knowledgeable about the topic, it probably won't take you more than 16–18 minutes to write 50 questions. Maybe not the very first time, but after the second or third time when you've got into the habit.
And it's fun! Even before you have begun looking for the answers you will understand it will be a good presentation!

How do I phrase questions?

A mistake made by many beginners is only to write down the questions they want to answer – and to ignore the rest. Naturally, you need to do just the opposite. It's the difficult questions you need to think through ahead of time.
Another beginners' mistake is to write down areas to be covered instead of questions. Don't write economic aspects, technical performance, guarantee conditions, etc. – write out the individual question – including the question mark! And try to formulate the question as you believe it would be phrased if your listener or reader had asked it.

NOTE! Don't stop with writing down just the questions you think your listeners will ask,
but try to write down even the questions they would ask – if they could have imagined
your presentation, if they had considered the topic, if they dared to ask, if they had been
there and seen what you've seen, if they had seen your experiment, if they had read or
heard competing views, theories and solutions – in short...
... if they had understood what they should ask about!

Give yourself a chance to be thorough. You may not think of all the questions at one sitting. Make sure that you start early! Write down your questions when the inspiration strikes you – I make notes on busses, while flying etc. Make sure that you have paper or a taperecorder handy.
Seek the help of a friend or colleague – or even an enemy. I'm not sure how you will get an enemy to help, but the idea is to make sure that you include the tough and provocative questions. Someone who doesn't know too much about the details can help you ask the key questions.
Låt oss ta ett exempel:
Suppose that the day after tomorrow you will be presenting your board of directors with a proposal for a major investment. Ask your husband/wife what he/she thinks the group would like to know. With a little luck, you may get the following questions:

– Is this a good proposal?
– Are there other ways to do this?
– Was the work group unanimous in supporting this proposal?
– What can go wrong?
– Why hasn't the proposal been made before?
– If we should agree to this, have we locked ourselves in, so that we have to continue?
– How do we know that the prognosis is right?
– What happens if the environmental requirements change?
– Is this the best proposal or has it been tailored to what you think we'll accept?
– If we can't manage the entire investment now, do you suggest waiting, or implementing part of the proposal now?

It's actually pretty easy to become speechless when faced with the big questions. But you need never be at loss for words if you just think of the question ahead of time – and make the effort to find the answer, too.

The whole secret is in being able to answer your listeners' questions – even the ones they don't ask you!
Det är att verkligen skriva frågorna, som är knepet!

Let's do an experiment!
Suppose that you are going to give a talk about chameleons
to a group that doesn't know very much about them.
Try, as a practice exercise, to write down a number of questions
that you think the group would like to have answered,
especially if they knew what to ask. When you're finished, click on next page
and see my questions. This is what I think would be interesting to find out!

Writing down a set of questions can't be enough, can it?

No, but its the best start you could possibly make! What remains is to find the answers. And you have to make sure to start in time.
If you know a lot about the topic, this may not be a problem, but frequently a speaker will realize that he or she doesn't really have the answers. It may be a matter of calling a colleague, checking some old figures or regulations, visiting a library, doing an Internet search, etc., in order to get the answers you need.

There is another built-in benefit to putting the questions in writing, above and beyond the positive effect on the presentation.
If you're making a proposal, writing down questions makes you analyze it more thoroughly and consider the consequences in advance!
Many proposals and motions are unnecessarily shelved or otherwise delayed, simply because relevant questions can't be answered.
Often this could have been avoided; the answer probably would not take long to find
– if only the question had been thought of ahead of time!

You don't have to be able to answer any question that turns up, but you should be able
to answer all the reasonable questions that you are asked!

Why not just key words – why complete questions?

You need the complete questions during the presentationen! If you make the effort to think about what the listener would like to know, it will be easier for you to formulate more interesting and specific questions.
If you only have key words, you'll have to phrase a question from the key word when you are standing in front of your audience. If you are calm and collected, this usually works, but it may not if you are nervous, if you notice that people aren't listening, or if you lose your place!
Complete questions are a sort of safety net. You've always got another chance
to approach the topic from another angle. If the question works and attracts the audience's attention, then you answer the question. If the question doesn't arouse
any interest, don't bother answering, just try another question!
If none of your questions work, then you are in trouble. In this case, you haven't prepared for your audience and have probably misunderstood its interest and the extent of its knowledge.
This situation should never actually occur if you are well prepared!
________
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Copyright © Bengt Hemlin 2002