Taking Questions
When giving presentations，it is common practice to encourage audience involvement and this often takes the form of questions from the audience．A good deal has been written recently discussing the advantages and disadvanges of various approaches to handling these．（71） ______
One approach is to take questions as and when they arise．Usually there are only a few points from the audience but in the event of receiving too many，the presenter may move the presentation on by reminding the audience of the time，and offering to continue the discussion later．（72） ______ Those who aren't will simply have to wait．
（73） ______ A danger here is that too much time may be wasted on questions and，as a consequence，important parts of other main points have to be edited out．The audience may also confuse the presenter by asking about points that he or she intends to cover later in the presentation．If this happens，it is important to make the audience aware that answering their questions now might weaken the structure of the talk．
Alternatively，mid-point questions can be discouraged by signalling that you would prefer questions at the end．If you take this approach，however，it is important to bear in mind that when you get to the end，it may take a little time for people to reflect on what they have heard and to formulate a question．（74） ______ To overcome this，it is useful to have a chairperson who is prepared to ask the first question．
（75） ______ In that case，the safest response is to tell the truth．Then the rest of the audience may appreciate your honesty．It may also be possible to move the attention away from the questioner by asking other audience if anyone else can provide an answer．
A．Another potential problem is unfriendly questioners who ask the kind of questions they know will be difficult to answer．
B．A statement such as"I will come back to this point at the end"should keep most people happy．
C．Another approach is to ask for questions after each main point has been addressed．
D．It is a good idea to be aware of the traps that this type of questioners try to set．
E．However，my intention here is simply to present the most common approaches．
F．There is even the possibility that an embarrassing silence may ensure．
G．Seeking a question can be an effective way of moving the session on．
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