Speaker’s Guide

How should I structure my questions?

There are six basic ways to structure a multiple choice question:

  • Yes/No
  • True/False
  • Multiple Choice (1-9 or A-E)
  • Range on a Scale
    (Examples include:
    A scale of 1 to 5, from strongly disagree to strongly agree
    1 to 7, extremely unimportant to extremely important
    1 to 9, very unlikely to very likely)
  • Vote
    (Yes/No/Abstain)
  • Top X Poll
    (For example: Choosing the top 3 items from a list of 8 choices.
    The audience is polled 3 times and then a graphic is displayed of
    the overall results. Response is weighted higher for the more
    important/significant items.)

To help hold the audience’s attention, a combination of the different formats may be used.

When should I ask the questions?

All meetings are different, so there is no correct answer. If possible, the Response System should be incorporated throughout the meeting. Some presenters like to use a ’10-2′ rule, one or two questions for every ten minutes of presentation to help the audience absorb new information. This helps keep the attendees involved.

Some suggestions for designing questions to enhance presentations:
Ask questions about your audience:

  • Who are they? A couple of demographic questions will help you define your audience.
  • What do they already know about your subject?
  • How interested are they in your subject? Do they use this information frequently?
  • What kind of problems are they capable of solving?
  • What difficulties have they had understanding the material you intend to present?

Questions may be asked before a presentation to get the feel for the overall knowledge of the group on a subject matter. A review question may be asked in the middle of the presentation to find out if the group is comprehending the material, or if a review is in order.

Asking questions during the presentation is a good way to stimulate discussion and get the audience more involved rather than just pressing buttons. After the question results are displayed, invite discussion of responses that indicate disagreements or misunderstandings. Ask participants to defend their choice by sharing their reasoning for the selection.

Monitor the Progress of the Audience:
This can give you valuable guidance on where to take your presentation; however, you have to be ready and willing to make adjustments as you go.

Provide Diversion and Humor:
You can do a lot to keep an audience engaged and sympathetic by interspersing some occasional questions that bring a light touch or a bit of humor.

Summarizing the Audience’s Progress:
At the end of the presentation you may want to determine the audience’s level of understanding of their opinions, either as an absolute measure or as a contrast to the initial information you gathered about them. When you’ve had to dispense a lot of information, a few knowledge assessment questions at the end of a meeting will let you know if the methods of relaying that information have been successful.

 

Do you have some suggestions for wording the questions?

To get the audience involved, questions should be provocative, and a bit challenging. The choices given should be thought producing. Your objective is to get a graph which shows strong support to some choices and weaker support for other choices, thereby giving you material for providing feedback to the audience.

Individual responses MAY be tracked, but aren’t usually unless attendance is taken through the system or a test is given. Although responses are anonymous, questions must be carefully structured with two rules in mind:

  • Never ask anything you don’t want publicly answered.
  • Never ask anything that might appear to jeopardize or compromise the speaker, audience, or organization sponsoring the meeting.

Characteristics of Good Questions

  • Brief – Questions should be worded in a way so they can be grasped quickly – many audiences become impatient. Provide only as many response choices as needed for your purpose.
  • Worthy – The audience will become restless if they dismiss the questions as too obvious, superficial, or unimportant.
  • Clear/Unambiguous – Carefully edited to assure maximum clarity. It helps to read the question out loud and to have other experts in your field review your questions in advance for clarity, relevance and freedom from ambiguity.
  • Engaging/Intriguing – Audiences like to be engaged when they want to know the correct answer, or the opinions of their colleagues.
  • Personal – Questions should be directed at individuals and not to the group as a whole.

How should I introduce the system?

The audience needs a quick introduction to the keypads in order to get them acquainted and comfortable with it. Take the time to explain why you are using the system.

To help you introduce the system, we have written a Moderator Introduction Script which you might find useful. We recommend that the speaker hold up a keypad and point out the various keys to be used followed by a couple of warm-up questions, which demonstrate use to the keys to be used.

What will be my role as Speaker/Moderator?

The role of speaker/moderator is an extremely important one. The speaker reads the questions to the audience, begins the polling period and facilitates the dialogue that the response system electronically creates. It is the speaker who translates the graphs into sentences that carry the participant’s thoughts and encourages audience discussion. Without the speaker, the response system would be no more than another piece of technology.

To help speakers feel comfortable with the system, this Speaker’s Guide has been prepared so the speaker can understand the system more fully. Also, please allow time for rehearsal. We highly encourage all presenters who are using the system to take a few minutes to cover their portion of the event with the system operator. We will be there to help you. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions.