[teampractices] Methods for improving the quality of Q&A time after a presentation

[Maria Cruz]

Thanks for sharing this, Joel, I found it very useful!


*María Cruz * \\  Communications and Outreach manager, Community Engagement
\\ Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
mcruz at wikimedia.org  |  Twitter:  @marianarra_
<https://twitter.com/marianarra_>


On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 11:43 AM Joel Aufrecht <jaufrecht at wikimedia.org>
wrote:

> I saw this thread over the weekend, from Eve Tuck:
> https://twitter.com/tuckeve/status/1141501422611128320, about grad
> student seminars and Q&A, and the concepts seem broadly relevant.
>
> … I make it clear that it is the audience’s responsibility to help craft a
>> positive public speaking experience for graduate students and early career
>> scholars. I tell the audience to help keep the good experience going and
>> tell them not to ask violent questions.  Right after I am finished talking
>> or all the panelists have shared their papers, I invite the audience to
>> take 5-10 minutes to talk to each other. After 45-70 minutes of listening,
>> people are bursting to talk, and taking the time to turn to talk to a
>> neighbor keeps the first question from being from a person who just felt
>> the urgency to talk. … I suggest that they use the time to peer review
>> their questions.  I say that this is a time for them to share a question
>> they are considering posing in the q and a, and that they should a) make
>> sure it is really a question; b) make sure they aren’t actually trying to
>> say that THEY should have given the paper; c) figure out if the question
>> needs to be posed and answered in front of everyone; d) I remind the
>> audience that the speaker has just done a lot of work, so they should
>> figure out if their question is asking the speaker to do work that really
>> the question-asker should do. …
>>
>
> It's specific to the academic context and the face-to-face setting of an
> academic seminar or other controlled meeting room, so these techniques
> aren't literally transferable to, e.g., mailing lists or talk pages.  But I
> think the problems they are intended to address, such as violent,
> off-putting, or unconstructive questions, sound familiar, I wonder how we
> can adopt and apply these ideas.
>
> Joel Aufrecht (he/him, they/them)
>
> Program Manager (Technology)
> Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
>
>
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