> What ended up happening was that I spoke for about 15 minutes and then asked for questions and discussion topics. Nobody had anything to say, so that was that

> What ended up happening was that I spoke for about 15 minutes and then asked for questions and discussion topics. Nobody had anything to say, so that was that! I noticed that happening with me in England when I first went there. It's not something I was familiar with in America, where it is normal for people to ask questions no matter what. Why are English audiences so reserved, I wondered for a long time, without understanding what was going on. Actually, I was wondering what was wrong with me. Was I pissing them off? How? Did I appear clueless? Smug? Wrong? Was I talking over their heads? What was it? Eventually an English colleague told me that English (technical) people default to not asking questions until they are absolutely sure they understand what the speaker is saying. They do that to avoid the possibility of sounding like they are going off half cocked.