It was a classic end of talk routine.
The speaker is looking for questions, and to avoid the silence, the audience is teeing them up with easy predictable questions.
The speaker then dodges all controversial areas and rambles on so long that they finish with a ‘did that answer your question?’ showing that they completely forgot the question in the first place.
It’s typical and the waffle makes it boring.
Then all of a sudden someone asks a brave question, a job-threatening question and it changes everything.
The audience is now listening intently and the speaker is on the back foot. The mood changes from ‘let me out of here’ to ‘I can’t believe I’m witnessing this’.
I thank you audience member for your bravery it made for a much more interesting experience and could potentially bring about some change. It certainly sparked a few conversations for all present.
As my hero, Seth Godin once said a good audience question should:
A) challenge the speaker or
B) be something that everyone is thinking about but no one is brave enough to say.
Thomas Duggan 