"Any Questions?" - purely a vent

[Shagley]

It is especially annoying when someone is always about 15 minutes late to the meeting, then makes the meeting run long because they are asking questions about things that were covered during the first 15 minutes when they couldn't bother to be there. At work we have one woman who does this EVERY TIME we have a staff meeting.

 

[Squidgyness]

I have a lot of these from my days in education, lectures were the worst. Sometimes the question would be about something completely different! (My favourite was the girl who asked if humble was a fruit. You know, as in humble pie...)

Bonus points if the person has waited right until the end of the lecture to ask a question that was only relevant 45 minutes ago. This despite the lecturer pausing and asking at that exact point 45 minutes ago if anyone needed help, not only screwing up the timekeeping and preventing us from getting out to our next meeting but stopping the next group from getting in... Sigh. I'm all for asking appropriate questions at the right time, but come on people. Don't wait until the last possible moment!

 

[CathrynRose]

Ok, I do realize.... and I'm serious about this... that I probably have undiagnosed adult ADD, but I have to just vent a little here. When a speaker asks "any questions," please take a fraction of a second to think about whether your question will benefit the entire group. Please do not pose a 5-minute long question. Please save your questions for later if the session has already run long. Please realize that you do not get bonus points just for asking questions and understand that multiple questions will not earn you more friends (so refrain from the stupid questions!!.) Please know the difference between a statement and a question. And please keep in mind that this will almost certainly not be your last opportunity to ask your question - the telephone and email are magical inventions - have mercy on people like me, desperate to escape this session! We may be smiling, but we are dying inside each time a hand goes up.

And may God bless the presenters who have the guts to say "that's it for the questions." You are a rare and precious breed!

Can you tell that I've been traumatized by the department "questioners!"

Thanks for listening, I have nothing further and will not be taking questions

OMGosh - I love you!

I agree!!! This is why I hated school. Seriously.

 

[amg35]

Ugh, this just happened today at a staff meeting.

We had a speaker who gave this ungodly long speech, and then asks if there are any questions. Of course, someone asks one (with follow ups) that had nothing to do with anything. You could hear the entire room sighing...

I wanted to throw a shoe at her.

 

[Disney Doll]

I remember waayyy back in college when the professor would finish early & let everyone go home, there was invariably one person who would complain that they had paid good money to go to college and expected to get their money's worth and not be let out early. I was college age, but took a couple of courses that also had "adult learners" in them.

Thank God the professor would say "Anyone who wants to stay for questions is welcome to and I'll discuss whatever you want until the 'official' end of the class, but those of you who have no questions or concerns are free to leave".

I would be the one stampeding out the door.

 

[POPCITY]

Remember. There is no such thing as a stupid question....only stupid people.

There are lots and lots of stupid questions. Stupid people invented that saying so they wouldn't feel so stupid.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I thought about this post today when I was in a parent's meeting for a community theater children's play that my dd is in.

Most of the parents there have children that have been in multiple productions. They always require everyone to come and listen to the same information about scheduling and volunteering, yada,yada, yada. There's usually a few new children/parents but this production seems to have a lot of first timers with very young children.

One mother, in particular, seemed to have a lot of questions that pertained to her child only. It was all I could do not to stand up and yell for her to request her private meeting after everyone left!! She also decided that it was okay for her to give her thoughts on costuming and props. The looks on the staff's faces was priceless.

 

[skoi]

Oldest recently went off to college, on an ROTC scholarship. When all the parents dropped their little darlings off before the brief boot camp/orientation period, the unit had a brief, explaining what would happen in the next few days, what would be expected over the course of the program, etc. All things an informed parent could have learned through research beforehand. Seriously-- some of the parents didn't know their potential Navy officer children would have to know how to swim, or have to meet some sort of physical requirements-- I mean, it's all on the website.

The command staff was very nice, very much wanting to bridge the military-civilian gap and reach out. Big mistake. In the middle of the general brief about expectations/ rules/requirements given by the Marine Major-- the questions started. Very specific questions, beginning with, "What if my child..." Okay, I want to hear the whole brief. I do have questions about my child's specific trajectory/ issues, but will ask later, independently, because I don't want to inflict my issues on y'all. These questions-- since the command staff was striving to be civilian friendly and helpful-- took up the rest of the brief time, so we didn't get all the information they wanted us to get. It was clear the command staff wasn't pleased (saying this as a former military wife who knows what displeased officers look like ).

This has happened to me before, but this experience was the worst. Very painful. I was embarrassed for these parents, as they had no idea what their children had signed on for, and knew nothing about military requirements, etc. Just wanted that free education.

 

[FireDancer]

While I do understand where the OP is coming from, I also believe that sometimes you don't realize you have a question or concern until someone else speaks up. It might not be anything you've considered until another person asks a question, which leads to a further discussion.

Don't ask if anyone has any questions if you don't really want any questions. Just like don't ask for someone's opinion if you don't want it.

Reminds me of the Parent Teacher night where a teacher is telling the OP she doesn't want/need to meet with her. Hate to tell you but you can't pick and choose who will show up just like you can't pick and chose who will ask questions.

I think the real problem is when someone asks a question that really has no benefit for everyone else. That is something you ask privately. Here is an example:

I'm the I.T. Coordinator for my company. That means I get the joy of conference calls with vendors in regards to product releases. If someone has a general question about the product ask away. If someone has a question about the normalized implementation of the product ask away. If someone has a home-baked solution that they are integrating the product into don't ask a question about your one-off implementation in a group setting. Just say you have a question about your one-off implementation and would like to speak to the presenter when they are done privately so you don't waste everyone's time.

That is the proper way to handle the situation. Of course some people need things explained to them 50 times before they get it and that also shouldn't be everyone's problem. Just speak to the person after the presentation.

ETA: The two posts above me are exactly what I am talking about. I didn't see them before responding.

 

[fall08CP]

As a professional, trained presenter, I think it's the speaker's responsibility to stifle questions that don't apply to the group. I would reply, "Catch me on your way out and we can discuss this further." I present regularly to a few groups and I know who the question askers are, so I collaborate with others on subjects to avoid or activities that will not require responses. Sad but true We're as uncomfortable as you are, but at the end of the day, whether I'm presenting or an attendee, I put up with it and am grateful to have any job at all.