Question & Answer Sessions and Delayed Guest of Honor

Ask the Protocol Lady: How can I run the question and answer session at my event more effectively?

One of the more educational components of a conference, meeting or presentation is the question and answer session. It can be very interactive and allow the participants to get specific questions addressed by experts. However, if not managed well, it can result in story time, speakers being insulted, the rest of your participants being frustrated that the same few people are always asking questions or making comments instead of asking questions.

Question: So how do you manage this more effectively and allow the maximum number of questions to be answered?

• 1. Know your audience. Once your audience grows beyond the number where you can reasonably know most of the members you may need to change the format.
• 2. Have rules, state them, show them on a screen and print on any materials. For example, “We only have 20 minutes for questions so we ask that you respect the people who have questions and not share comments or stories. The panelists will try to remain a few minutes at the end of the Q&A to speak to others who would like to talk with them. If you have a question please stand and a microphone will be brought to you. Identify yourself and ask one question. To allow others the opportunity to ask questions, if you have a follow-up or second question it will be taken at the end if time remains.”
• 3. Advise your moderators on the rules of engagement. Let the moderators know that they can cut off people who are not following the rules.

Question: What are some formats you can use for Question and Answer sessions?

• 1. Depending on the size of the group, you can position standing microphones and have people go to them or you can have volunteers/staff bring microphones to the people. This format works well for smaller groups and allows for more personal interaction. However, you then have no control over people who talk too long, just want to make a comment, tell a story, insult the speaker or make a political statement.
• 2. The most common format for large groups is to distribute cards where audience members write their questions. This allows the moderator to “screen” them and maximizes time. The speaker can also be given the questions at the end so if there isn’t enough time he/she may answer them later and send the responses to the organization which can then post them on the website. The organization should have pens/pencils and cards, preferably pre-printed with their logo, available. Volunteers/staff then collect and give these to the moderator. Organizers avoid the added cost of the microphones.
• 3. Technology is providing new tools. The moderator’s cell phone number can be shown on a screen or given to the audience and they can text questions to the moderator. This provides all of the benefits of the second option without the need for staff.

Case Study

The delayed guest of honor: what happens when your luncheon speaker is late?

What happens when your guest of honor is two hours late, how to cope, and how to prevent?

Unfortunately this happens and it can be quite painful for all involved as the two following cases will show. I personally witnessed one case and was told the other by the then chief of protocol.

Many, many years ago a South American President was scheduled to visit and give a major address at a business luncheon. He was coming from Washington, D.C. where he was meeting with the U.S. President. Unfortunately, his meeting with the President ran late so he arrived late in Houston delaying all of his program. The consul general was frantic because he knew that as much as the business leaders wanted to stay they could only wait so long before they would have to return to their offices. As a result he decided to start the luncheon without his President who arrived after 1pm. When the President did arrive he went straight to the podium and gave his remarks. Guests started leaving during the question and answer session.

Even more years ago a mayor was invited as the guest of honor to the national day of a middle eastern country. The consul general was thrilled. The day of the event, the mayor’s scheduling event informed the chief of protocol that the mayor had another event and would be a little late so the consul general was informed. At the event the consul general and chief of protocol were waiting and waiting. An hour passed and the mayor had not arrived. The consul general would not start his program without the mayor as the guest of honor. The chief of protocol was frantic but the mayor was at a political event. Finally the guests started to leave. The consul general asked his guests to please not leave since he didn’t want the room to be empty when the mayor arrived. It was now almost time for the event to end and the guests left. When the mayor finally arrived only a handful of people remained. The consul general was humiliated.

When I joined the protocol office, we were no longer being invited to this country’s national day receptions. It took years of reaching out before we were able to re-eastablish a relationship.

In the first case, there wasn’t too much that could be done. Ideally, for a major address I try to get guest speakers in the day before but when it’s a chief of state and he is trying to fit in a meeting with the U.S. President you have to be flexible. The consul general adapted as best as he could.

In the second case, the protocol office learned a powerful lesson. Know what else is on the mayor’s calendar–what is on before and after your event and what has priority. During an election year, priorities may shift or there may be a crucial city issue: budget, police, etc. that may impact your event so you need to know what’s going on locally that may impact your global event. On the flip side you need to educate the scheduling office and the mayor that these things have lasting repercussions for the city’s global relationships and can impact trade and the business community.

If you need help training your team on proper greetings, titles, and forms of address, Garza Protocol Associates can help.

One of the interesting things about being in my field is that I am always observing how people do things and looking for ways to do them more effectively. Many of my clients tell me they now suffer from this as well. Recently I have seen several different methods used for question and answer sessions at conferences, seminars, and large meetings. It still surprises me that even the most simple things like asking questions have a protocol or should have to function better.

Have you ever been at a large meeting where a guest speaker or panel of speakers has made a presentation followed by a question and answer session? Inevitably certain personalities will appear: “Ms. I Never Met a Microphone I Didn’t Love,” also known as “Ms. I Love the Sound of My Voice,” who doesn’t have a question but a story to tell, usually one that isn’t relevant.Then there’s “Mr. I Know More and Should Have Been the Speaker” so I’ll tell you what you didn’t cover.

There are others but these seem to be the most obvious. This Month the Protocol Lady gives some guidelines on how to organize the question and answer sessions for these events.

Many students are preparing to go back to school where most will interact with students from other cultures. This month’s book focuses on persons who have spent a significant part of their early childhood outside the parents culture. However, it provides useful real-life experiences on helping us all live in this multi-cultural world.