4 ms·
It is often downright embarrassing to witness how the speaker has to stay interested and answer irrelevant or extremely niche questions in front of an audience.
by jamesbritt 15y ago
It is often downright embarrassing to witness how the speaker has to stay interested and answer irrelevant or extremely niche questions in front of an audience.
The speaker has no such obligation.
The speaker should consider the audience at large and politely defer niche or obtuse or self-serving questions.
- MichaelApproved 15y agoThough I personally feel this would be perfectly acceptable, the speaker might come off sounding like a jerk to some people. I suggest the moderator "take the bullet" and make a statement similar to this blog and cut out questions that don't follow the rules.
- jamesbritt 15y agoYeah, having a "designated asshole" to keep things rolling is a big help. Sadly, it's not always arranged.
- Protonk 15y agoA designated asshole is nearly mandatory, especially for mixed technical audiences and issues where someone can have an [opinion on the bike shed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_Law_of_Triviality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_Law_of_Triviality). Most people can't fill this role because they don't like conflict or have a reputation to protect (real or imaginary) but conferences should always assign a moderator to play the jerk.
- bm1362 15y agoI know this might be off topic, but did you just try to use Markdown?
- MichaelApproved 15y agoThat's how you link on Reddit. Maybe he thought it worked the same way here.
- jseliger 15y agoThough I personally feel this would be perfectly acceptable, the speaker might come off sounding like a jerk to some people. I have the same problem when teaching class, and I usually say, "That's a good question, but talk to me about it after class." Switch "class" to "the talk," and you can probably get the same effect.