In my experience, you can follow the following steps to tailor Q&A sessions to different audiences 1st Try Segmented Q&A Sessions Tailor your Q&A sessions by organizing them based on audience segments. Host sessions specifically for different demographics or interests, ensuring that each audience gets relevant information. 2nd Interactive Polls and Surveys Prior to Q&A sessions, conduct interactive polls or surveys to gauge audience preferences and concerns. Use the gathered insights to shape the Q&A content. 3rd Crowdsourced Questions You can encourage your audience to submit questions before the Q&A session. This not only helps you understand their priorities but also allows for a more curated and tailored session.

e.g. for Top Management, only the data and reference will be enough. With the Middle Management, you will have to provide supporting links for detailed references. But for the lower cadre, you will have to spend time in explaining the terms also, and provide them supporting summaries (providing links to references or providing full reports will not work with them).

One of the most challenging situations for consultants is when there are no questions in the Q&A session! A way out is to have issued the agenda, objectives, and concerned report/ document in advance and to have asked questions in advance. The rest all mentioned in the article is good.

I will write a caution here - if you ask a secondment of your understanding of each question or paraphrase each question - the audience will not like it. You will appear to be less experienced and lacking confidence. Yes paying attention, and listening rather than hearing the questions will be helpful. A good preparation to face all kinds of audiences in a Q&A session, for a consultant, is to prepare well. The consultant must read and understand the base document/ report even if written by someone else. I recommend a support to take notes so that the person responsible for handling questions is able to pay full attention to questions and respond well.

Every consultant brings depth, breadth and diversity of experience to their audience. After all - there's a reason they believe that what they want to know overlaps with what you know. So, when it comes to tailoring Q&A sessions to different audiences, the starting point is to ask! Do your homework. Find out if they've had training in this area before. Do they have experts in-house? (Perhaps you can even ask to interview them before your session, so you can do the research). Check out the audience beforehand. And, then, if they don't seem happy with your answer to you - check that you actually HAVE answered their question. Sometimes when you're an expert in your subject, your audience simply can't process the jargon. So keep it simple.

This is a gap that I have noticed with most people whether in consulting role or otherwise - missing the followup after a meeting (Q&A Session is also a type of meeting). Invariably, there will be a question or two where the consultant would need to say 'I/ we will get back to you'. Such situations are actually good. Its an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment and build relationships. Also, you get an extra day or two to prepare/ search for more supporting information, which can be provided with the folloup note. The followup note must include refinements based on the notes that your support might have taken.