16.10 Always be polite

Sometimes you will get two-part questions. It’s generally the best option to choose the part of the question that is simplest to answer first. If you forget the other part of the question, you can ask them again, or move on to another question, and then go up to the person after the presentation and talk to them directly.

There are some questions that you could discuss for hours, but the questioner is not asking you to tell them everything you know about the topic, but just what is relevant to now. If you are tempted to begin a long conversation with someone in the audience, offer to meet up later.

16.10 Always be polite

Very occasionally questioners in the audience seem to want to provoke us, and one natural tendency is to become defensive. However, if you watch professional presenters they never say anything negative about other researchers or their findings. Likewise, you don’t need to take any criticisms or objections personally. Simply say

I think you have raised an interesting point and it would be great if we could discuss it in the bar.

I was not aware of those findings. Perhaps you could tell me about them at the social dinner.

Be aware that some people just ask questions to demonstrate their own knowledge. In this case, you can say,

You are absolutely right. I didn’t mention that point because it is quite technical/because there was no time. But it is covered in my paper.

For more on handling questions and understanding native English speakers, see the companion volume English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing.