At Pagemaster we help authors prepare for marketing their book we’ve already looked at How to Handle Questions and Answers at an Author Reading in this post we’ll look at how to interact with your audience.
Here are some tips to interact better with your audience during the question and answer period.
1. Ask your audience member to stand when they have a question. One of the primary reasons for doing this is to help the rest of the room hear the question more clearly as well. Additionally, you are also able to establish a line of sight eye connection with the person asking the question.
2. Ask your audience to write their questions down on paper. They can either submit this to you or read from their paper at a designated time.
3. If your audience member is shy and does not want to ask their question, create alternative times that you will be available. You’re goal is to help them understand the points you are trying to make.
4. Have a paper and pencil for yourself to write down questions that you can’t answer. Jot the question down as well as contact information of the person asking the question so you can get back to them.
The question and answer period is a great time to interact with your audience. Many people and instructors like will also say that they learn from this time more than any other section in the presentation. You will also be able to see what exactly your audience has picked up during your presentation. Don’t avoid this section any longer!