VisualStory®
Structure and storyboard a talk
Analyze your audience and organize your ideas into a story structure that will move them. Transform content into visual concepts and build a storyboard for your presentation.
Making Q&A prep part of your presentation ritual is crucial to delivering a successful presentation. But facilitating an effective Q&A session isn’t as simple as it once was.
Passing around a microphone is no longer the only way for audience members to ask questions; technology has opened up new avenues for Q&A, and audience interaction. It’s rare these days to attend any event, speaking engagement, or lecture that doesn’t have a hashtag on Twitter, an Instagram handle, and a Facebook event page. An event is almost non-existent if it doesn’t have a presence on social media.
But are these more traditional social tools the best for Q&A? I would venture to say no.
Facebook is used most effectively to promote, share, comment, and answer questions leading up to an event. With Twitter and Instagram, people can share pictures, follow event-related news, and broadcast real-time commentary.
All these activities enhance the event experience, and should be considered as part of your overall communication strategy. But because they weren’t designed for Q&A, they don’t provide features that can help make a Q&A session more productive.
When should you consider using a social Q&A tool?
What features should you look for?
Two options to consider
Poll Everywhere and Social Q&A are two apps designed to facilitate Q&A. They both feature moderation and voting, along with other helpful features.
Have a back-up plan
If you choose to use a social tool to moderate Q&A, you should still have a backup plan for any technical malfunctions you encounter. Have a microphone and volunteer ready to help facilitate a traditional Q&A format, or, if you’re presenting remotely, determine an email address people can use if the chat feature is not working.
Good luck and happy questioning!