Did you state the question clearly? If you’re getting blank stares or wrinkled brows, then maybe not.The more personal, complicated, or risky the question, the more time they’ll need. Did you give them an appropriate amount of time to consider and answer? If no, then be quiet and let them consider your question.Did you give the appropriate cue? If no, then give it.For example, you ask a question anticipating an answer, but instead you hear the crickets – now what? Follow the steps below and ask yourself some questions. The second line of defense is situational assessment. In a minute, I’ll ask you to share – for right now, can you think of an example….
Below are some sample phrases to cue your audience. Clearly let them know you’ve asked a rhetorical question or one you actually expect an answer. So what’s a trainer to do? The first line of defense is to cue your audience appropriately. The more times this occurs, the more the trainer reinforces the rhetorical question pattern. It doesn’t matter if the trainer offers clarification, restates the question, or answers the question themselves, it cues the audience to remain quiet. Unfortunately, some trainers are uncomfortable with silence and if a response is not immediate, the trainer will continue to talk. doesn’t allow time for the audience to consider the question.If you then ask a rhetorical question and don’t prepare them, they’ll attempt to answer your question out loud instead of pondering the question internally. The same thing happens when you repeatedly ask questions and take responses. If you have established and reinforced the rhetorical questioning pattern, by only asking rhetorical questions thus far, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when you ask a question in the same manner and don’t get a response. doesn’t prepare the audience for the type of question being asked.If your next question is rhetorical, you’ve established the norm. However, you’ve just initiated a possible norm. It gets the audience members mentally prepared and engaged for the topic at hand. Using a rhetorical question to open a session is a great technique. uses a rhetorical question as a grabber or opener to the session.Below are some trainer behaviors that initiate, establish, and reinforce the rhetorical questioning pattern. Audience members take cues from the trainer to determine their participation expectations. Trainers don’t always realize they have created that norm until they hear the crickets, so to speak. You may have created a rhetorical questioning pattern. How silly is that? If you ask a question, of course you expect an answer, right? You may think that’s so, but that may not be what you’ve established as a norm since you began speaking.
One of the most common reasons audience members don’t answer a question is that they don’t know they are supposed to answer the question. A moment passes – you see blinking eyes and you’d swear you hear crickets. Thinking someone surely would respond, you look at them with anticipation. There you are in front of the class, speaking eloquently and dynamically, keeping them engaged, and you ask a question.
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