The Interminable Question
January 23, 2010 – 3:58 pmI was just at an event this morning and after the speaker finished with his program he opened the floor for questions. Now I am actually I huge fan of asking questions. This quickly becomes apparent in any conversation you might have with me that lasts at least five minutes.
What I am not a huge fan of are the questions asked in a setting like this, with a microphone in the middle of the room and people rushing to get in line to ask their question. I am always surprised at the urgency with which some people literally run to the microphone. I will admit that at least some of these questions are usually relevant and lead to an illuminating answer from the speaker. But what about the other kind of question? You know what I’m talking about- the person who gets to the microphone and ends up talking more than he does questioning; letting the audience know his thoughts and opinions and then asking the speaker to comment.
I have zero problem with a succinct question that gets to the point in about twenty seconds or less. It just shouldn’t take longer to ask a question. Is it that people like the opportunity to feel like they were in fact the invited speaker? Do they like the sound of their own voice?
Maybe the solution is akin to a shot-clock in a basketball game. Each person has a certain amount of time to ask their question before a buzzer goes off. Or even better, a dunk-tank! In order to ask a question you have to climb onto the platform and if your question lasts longer than those twenty seconds, SPLASH!
If I ever become a public speaker (you never know, right?), I just might have to implement one of the above solutions to the interminable question.
