How to Moderate a Questions and Answers Session

Co-authored by Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM and Eric McClure

Last Updated: October 25, 2022 References

Have you been elected to moderate a Q&A? Are you looking to expand your public speaking skills by stepping up as a moderator? If so, you’re in the right place. Moderating a questions and answers session may seem intimidating, but it’s not as difficult as you might be imagining. So long as you put the work into prep and you keep an eye on the clock, you’ll be directing questions and managing speakers like a pro in no time. Read on to learn everything you need to know about moderating a questions and answers session.

Things You Should Know

Decide on the Q&A format and solicit questions before the day of the event. You may also want to prepare a few questions of your own.
Kick off the Q&A by introducing the speakers and topic. Then, ask questions to each panelist, jumping in or soliciting further information as needed.
Keep close track of time. Wrap things up at the end by thanking your panelists and audience members and, if applicable, announcing the next speaker(s).

1

Determine the format of the Q&A.

There are a few different ways to run a Q&A so talk to the organizers. If you are in charge of organizing the event, ask the panelists or speakers how they’d like to run the Q&A. If you aren’t in charge, ask the folks running the event how they’d like you to run things and plan accordingly. Here are your main options:^{[1]
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- Closed Q&A—This is where you collect audience questions ahead of time, screen them, and then you read them off on behalf of the person asking it. This is ideal if you want total control over the material and the flow of the conversation.
- Open Q&A—This is where anyone can raise their hand and ask questions. This is a good idea if you want to facilitate organic conversation, but risky if you may have an audience who isn’t interested in participating.
- Reverse Q&A—This is where the speakers probe the audience with their own questions. This is a great option for educational panels, or company Q&As where you want employee feedback.

2

Meet with the panelists to discuss their needs.

Ask the participants if they have requests, restrictions, or desires. Reach out to the speakers to let them know you’re going to have a Q&A session at the event and confirm that this is okay with them. Ask if they have any preferences or requests for the Q&A.^{[2]
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- Some panelists may not want to address certain topics or answer a particular question. It is your job as the moderator to redirect or deflect these questions.
- Speakers may really want to touch on something they couldn’t cover in their formal presentation, and the Q&A session may be the perfect time for that.

3

Solicit questions from the audience in advance.

For a closed Q&A, reach out to the audience members online. If it’s a company presentation, you might reach out to employees/coworkers on Slack or Zoom to let them know you want any and all questions. If people buy tickets in advance, include an email link for them to send you questions. If you don’t get any questions, don’t hesitate to send reminders.^{[3]
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- You might say, “Please give me your questions before Thursday so that I can compile the most interesting questions for our panelists!”
- For a less formal panel, you can get on stage at the beginning of the event, explain that you will have a Q&A session, pass out pencils and paper, and ask the audience to come up with questions while they listen.
- Include the Q&A on the agenda for the event and put it on the flyer or program if you’re in charge of the materials.

4

Screen the questions.

For a closed Q&A, go through the submissions to find the best ones. If there is a particular question that comes up over and over again, it’s a major sign you should include it in the Q&A. If you come across any especially interesting questions, be sure to include those too. Feel free to disregard any jokey or disrespectful additions.^{[4]
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- You can sort the questions by most interesting to least interesting to ensure that you get to everything that seems worth addressing.
- Alternatively, you can try to arrange the questions so that you provide a diverse range of unique and interesting convo topics.
- If you want to reward the audience for submitting questions ahead of time, present the questions in the order you received them,

5

Prepare questions of your own.

If you’re doing an open Q&A, you may not get enough material. You never know what an audience’s contributions are going to look like, and if you’re doing an open Q&A, they may not provide that much material from your participants. Craft a handful of questions of your own so that you can fill in any awkward silences with things you just so happen to be curious about.^{[5]
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- Try to come up with a question for each panelist if there are multiple speakers.
- You could ask questions about a speaker’s thought on a current cultural problem, a topic that’s adjacent to their field, or ask them to expand on a comment they made while presenting.
- For a company Q&A with the management, you might ask the managers about future plans for the company, or for the managers to comment on the state of certain projects.

6

Learn how to use the software for digital Q&As.

Pick a platform for your event and practice using the controls. Almost every major video conferencing software allows you to display screens, move forward or back on the slides, or change the settings for a presentation. If you’re doing a Q&A for work, use your company’s video conferencing platform. Otherwise, choose whichever platform makes the most sense to you.
- Slack is a popular video chat platform among companies. If you’re doing a Q&A for work on Slack, set up a new channel for the Q&A and allow users to submit questions.^{[6]
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- Zoom is a popular, easy-to-use option. It has a “raise hand” feature that will allow people to signal that they have questions, and you can mute or unmute users as needed to control discussions.^{[7]
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- Airmeet is a live video presentation program that’s perfect for Q&A panels. It has a built-in Q&A feature that allows people to enter questions in a queue.^{[8]
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- Microsoft Teams has a dedicated Q&A feature where users can submit their inquiries to speakers.^{[9]
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7

Introduce the start of the Q&A section.

Once it’s time to transition, it’s your job to introduce the Q&A. Step in and explain that the questions and answers sections is about to start, and break down the format of the Q&A. Speak authoritatively and warmly to set the right tone. For an open Q&A, clarify how the audience can ask their questions. Include a note of encouragement if you don’t see a lot of raised hands or people moving to the mic.^{[10]
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- You might say, “Thank you, Mr. Gordon for that wonderful presentation. Now we’re moving on to the Q&A section. If you’d like to ask a question, please raise your hand. We’ll take questions one at a time, and an usher will bring you a microphone.”
- For a closed Q&A, you might say, “Now, we’re going to start the Q&A. You’ve submitted your questions to us and we’ve compiled them here. Our first question comes from Amanda…”

8

Facilitate discussion by directing questions.

For panels, make it clear who is supposed to answer each question. At the beginning of each question you ask, signal who it is for. With open Q&As, if the audience doesn’t specify who the question is for, it’s up to you to offer it up for any speaker to answer or to throw it at a specific participant.^{[11]
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- If an open question is provided and a particular speaker signals that they want to take it by sitting up excitedly or by making eye contact with you, give it to them first.
- If you get a question about a topic and you have an expert on that topic on stage, you might say, “Professor Jones, this sounds like it’s relevant to your work, would you mind answering this one?”
- This is especially important for digital Q&As where you can’t really rely on body language or gestures to determine who a question is meant for.

9

Keep your opinions to yourself.

The moderator’s job is to remain neutral and simply control the convo. As tempting as it may be to insert yourself, don’t share any personal viewpoints you may have on the subject. It’s perfectly fine to say “great question” or “interesting” if you want to fill in some dead space in the conversation, but don’t share any opinions of your own.^{[12]
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- If the audience walks away from the event and they have no idea what your beliefs are, you’ve done a successful job remaining impartial!

10

Rephrase confusing questions.

If the question is awkwardly worded, rephrase it for the speakers. The audience’s questions aren’t always going to be the most succinct. If the speakers seem confused or it’s obvious to you that there may be some wires crossed, repeat the question back loudly and clearly to make sure everyone is on the same page.^{[13]
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- For example, if an audience member asks, “Why do you think that…we’re expanding in Michigan, right, and so…I’m curious if we’ll go to Wisconsin next?” you might say, “I think Amber is wondering if the company has any plans to expand into Wisconsin. Could you speak to that, Jason?”
- You might repeat questions if you’re doing an open Q&A and the audience doesn’t have access to a microphone, since people in the back may not be able to hear.
- For a digital Q&A, rephrase any questions where the person asking it seems to have a spotty connection, since some people may not have heard it.

11

Respond kindly to pointed questions.

Validate criticisms and sharp questions to keep things calm. If you run into an audience question where there’s a little edge or harsh energy coming from the audience speaker, keep things civil and calm. Thank the audience for their question, rephrase it to make it kinder if necessary, and be as fair and balanced as possible.^{[14]
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- For example, if someone asks, “Do you think your argument about the colonization of Australia has some racist implications?” you might say, “Thank you for that important question. Ms. Gibson, race is certainly important when we talk about Australian history, how does your work comment on that?”

12

Jump in if speakers overdo it.

If the audience or participants go too long, hop in to cut them off kindly. Here’s where moderating is more of an art than a science. If a speaker is captivating the audience and they’re clearly in the middle of a powerful comment, let them keep going. But if you get the vibe that someone is hogging the microphone or that they’re going overboard, it’s your job to jump in and get things back on track.^{[15]
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- Always blame the time. When you jump in, you might say something like, “Sorry to hop in here Andy, but I know we are short on time, and we have a few more questions to get into.”
- Keep your audience in mind here. A bunch of grade-school students will probably struggle to follow longer answers, while a room full of grad school students will likely appreciate it if the speaker goes in-depth on an answer and really takes their time.

13

Ask for additional explanations as needed.

If a panelist’s answer comes up a little short, ask them for more info. It’s normal for experts to dip into some jargon or assume that everyone knows as much about a subject as they do. If this happens and you get the vibe that the audience isn’t keeping track or might get lost, feel free to ask a follow-up question on their behalf.^{[16]
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- You might say, “Thank you for that wonderful answer, Professor. Just to clarify, I know we have some younger audience members here, could you say a little bit about what you mean when you said Hawking’s thesis wasn’t particularly complete? What did you mean there?”

14

Pull up previous slides as needed.

If there is a visual aid, refer back to it whenever it is relevant. If a speaker refers to information during the Q&A that would benefit from their visual aid, go back to the relevant information. This will allow the speaker to expand on their answer using the visual information if they’d like.^{[17]
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- Don’t pull a slide up if it would distract anyone or interrupt the speaker. For example, if a participant casually references a slide and moves on immediately, don’t worry about it. If they want a specific figure or chart though, pull it up.

15

Keep track of the time to anticipate the end.

Periodically check the clock so you know when to wrap things up. One of your jobs as a moderator is to keep everything on schedule. Keep an eye on the clock to ensure that you aren’t running super long. Try to keep things moving and let the audience know when the Q&A session is about to end.^{[18]
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- If you aren’t doing a digital Q&A and there is no visible clock at the back of room, check your watch. Don’t pull your phone out—even if it’s just to check the time. It’s a bad look as a moderator.
- The organizers of the event will tell you how much time you have for the Q&A. If you’re choosing the time, 15-30 minutes will allow for some solid, meaningful discussion.

16

Thank the audience and panelists.

At the end of the Q&A, close things down for the event. Once the session is over, make an announcement that the session is over. If there’s something coming up next, introduce that for your audience. Otherwise, thank everybody for coming out. Thank every speaker and the audience for coming out.^{[19]
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- You might say, “That’s it for today’s Q&A, thank you Mr. Jones, Dr. Thompson, and Ms. Tosh, your insights have been absolutely wonderful, and I’d like to thank you all for being a brilliant audience. Thank you for coming out, and good night.”