A major factor in a technical communication professional’s success is asking questions—the right questions—of SMEs, managers, clients, users, and yourself. If you’ve ever suffered expensive consequences because you didn’t ask the right question or you framed your question poorly, join Elizabeth (Bette) Frick for the live Web seminar That’s a Good Question on Thursday, 24 April, from 4:00-5:00 PM EDT (GMT-4). You’ll benefit from this lively and interactive session on learning to ask the right questions.
Learn how other professions (physicians, attorneys, educators) learn oral-questioning skills: by practicing defining and developing questions that will elicit the right information they need to do their jobs. You will participate in a group exercise (by poll) and by chatting answers to the presenter’s questions and posting your own questions in the chat.
This session will help you overcome your reticence and help you avoid walking away from SME interviews or departmental meetings wishing you’d asked X, Y, or Z.
Outline of presentation
- Why should you care about questions?
- Who needs discovery skills?
- What types of questions should you use?
- What kind of questioning strategies should you use? What strategies should you avoid?
- How can you handle questions asked of you in presentations and meetings?
- When should you not ask questions?
I’ve seen Bette present this at the Summit and it’s EXCELLENT. Asking the right questions of SMEs is critical to the success of a technical communicator.