You will be able to prepare for likely and difficult questions before a talk.
Wei Ling finished her training proposal, took a breath, and invited questions. The finance head went first: "What happens to the two trainers if most of the training goes online?" She had not thought about it. She said something about redeployment, then something about natural attrition, then stopped and admitted she would need to check with HR. The rest of the Q&A went fine, but that was the moment everyone remembered.
Most questions after a talk can be predicted. The ones that catch speakers out are usually the ones they hoped nobody would ask, so they never prepared for them. This lesson is about finding those questions in advance and having short answers ready.
Sit down with your outline and write the ten questions you would least like to be asked about your talk, leaving out the friendly ones and keeping the awkward, sceptical, detailed and personal ones.
To find them, look at your talk from the audience's side. The audience profile from lesson 1.2, Who is listening and what do they need, helps most here, because every answer you gave to "what worries them" is a question waiting to be asked. Then go looking for weak spots in your own argument, such as an assumption you have not tested, a cost you have only estimated or a risk you mention in passing, since a sharp listener will find them too.
Some types come up in most work talks: how much will it cost, what happens if it does not work, why now, why not the alternative, who does the extra work, what does this mean for my team, and where did that number come from.
Wei Ling's list, written for her second attempt at the proposal, included: what happens to the trainers, what if new hires cannot use the online system, how do we know the pilot results will hold at a bigger site, why not wait for the new warehouse system next year, who checks that people actually complete the modules, and what happens to the pilot hires' safety record.
Then write a short answer to each. Two sentences is usually enough: the direct answer, and one reason or piece of evidence. For a question you genuinely cannot answer yet, write down what you would say instead. Lesson 7.3, Say I do not know without losing credibility, covers how.
Your own list will have blind spots, because you are too close to the material. The fastest way to fill them is to ask someone else.
Find a colleague, or better, someone in the same role as your audience, and give them a two-minute summary of the talk. Then ask: "If you were in the room, what would you ask?" People in the audience's role know what their colleagues worry about, and they will often name a question you had never considered.
Arjun asked a clinic manager he knew well from another project. She said the first question from her colleagues would be whether patients who prefer phone calls to text messages would be left out. That question was not on his list. It came up in the real meeting within the first two minutes, and he had an answer ready.
For questions that need detail, prepare backup slides or numbers. These go in the appendix of your deck, after your closing slide, where the audience will not see them unless you need them. Lesson 4.4, Your slide deck is not your handout, described how to use an appendix.
Good candidates are the detailed cost breakdown, the full data behind a chart, the method you used, a comparison with alternatives, and a timeline. Give each backup slide a clear headline, so you can find it fast. If someone asks about cost, you can say, "I have the breakdown here," jump straight to it, and come back.
Not every question needs a slide. For most, a prepared spoken answer is enough. Keep backup slides for the few questions where a number or a chart will answer better than words.
Before the talk, decide whether you will take questions during the talk or at the end, and tell the audience at the start.
Questions during the talk suit small, informal groups and talks where people need to understand one part before the next makes sense. The risk is that one question leads to a long discussion and you run out of time. Questions at the end suit larger groups and talks with a tight time slot. The risk is that someone sits with a confusion for ten minutes.
A middle option works well for many work talks: take quick clarifying questions during the talk, hold bigger discussion questions for the end, and tell people at the start that this is how it will work. "If anything is unclear as I go, stop me. Bigger questions, I'll take at the end." Then the audience knows the rules, and you have a polite way to park a long question until later.
Remember that questions at the end still come before your final close, as lesson 2.3, Close with the message and the ask, explained.
The activity asks you to write those ten unwelcome questions for your own talk, with a two-sentence answer to each.
Write the ten questions you would least like to hear about your talk, with a two-sentence answer for each.
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