13142: Please! Just Ask Your Question!
Hey there, hero!
I apologize in advance for this episode.
Not really, but kinda.
I just got off a very difficult Zoom Q&A session, with hundreds of people in attendance, most of which had had questions and had absolutely no idea how to behave in that situation.
I have thoughts.
And advice.
And I need to vent.
Once you watch the video, let me know…was I too harsh?? Hit me up in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
OK… so I just bailed
on a High attendance High importance
High promise but low satisfaction Zoom
session
because people don’t know how to comport
themselves when they’re being told how
to ask questions I I want to share with
you what my old producers in radio used
to coach uh people who are going to get
on the air with me and ask questions how
to do that because it’s applicable to
zoom sessions and I’ve got some bonus
advice as well let’s do that in this
episode of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
I’m exercised I am exercised I just
jumped off of I couldn’t take it anymore
I just jumped off of a zoom session that
had over 300 people attending it was
very important it had to do with the
strike it had to do with the proposals
and the rejections and the contract
language and the interim contract the
interim agreement uh roles uh schedules
uh all kinds of things
and when you open it up especially to us
performers
when you open it up to us for questions
people don’t seem to be able to
understand instructions
you got 300 people Plus in a room in a
zoom room
everybody has questions they’re they’re
banging away in the chat and asking
questions they are being given the
opportunity to ask questions on camera
and they can’t help themselves
let me tell you exactly what to do when
you’re in this situation
ask your question
that’s it ask your question
I’m sorry what does schedule F mean what
is a musical contractor what is what
does per diem mean
that’s it not hi it’s David H Lawrence
17th I’m I’m here in Burbank it’s really
hot here so I’m gonna try and ask this
question as quickly as I possibly can
um it’s been kind of in my head for a
long time and I I was just wondering uh
and thank you by the way for doing this
session oh my gosh it’s so
please stop doing that
my producers when people would call into
my my radio show my television show and
they would want to ask me questions we’d
talk on the air
my producers would say hey what’s your
name so they could put it up on the
screen for me where are you calling from
so they could put that on the screen for
me so that I could say John from
Marietta you’re on the air
um but what they would say to them is
don’t thank David for having you on
don’t tell him you’re a big fan don’t
say things like long time listener first
time caller don’t do that uh don’t
pretend this is the Rush Limbaugh Show
and say you know uh things that make
sense for that show
um listen just go right to asking your
question
this is common courtesy when you’re in a
situation where there are hundreds of
people or even dozens of people with
lots and lots of questions
just ask your question
I know how hard it is for us as
performers when we’re given the
opportunity to be on camera or to be on
mic
to not be able to just ask our questions
I’m begging you to do that because so
many people walk away unsatisfied upset
angry that they didn’t get a chance to
ask their question
and so many fewer people are able to ask
those questions
and let me give you this bonus advice
for those of you that are running Zoom
sessions when you’re running those
sessions be brief and concise and
essential with your answers
answer the question
and thank people and move on you don’t
even have to thank people just move on
the more information you can squeeze in
is kind of a parallel to the more
questions you can squeeze in because it
benefits people
the people that are there the people
that are able to ask questions the
people that aren’t able to ask questions
the people that don’t want to ask
questions because they’re somehow a
performer but they’re introverts they’re
they’re shy
so
don’t
Guild the Lily don’t be flowery we don’t
care where you’re from we don’t care
what you did a long time ago we don’t
care about those things what we care
about is what your question is and how
we can efficiently and effectively
answer it and if you’re answering
questions just answer the question
that’s it you don’t need to Guild that
Lily either I I know it’s like oh David
shut the hell up we’re all trying to be
nice to each other no at this point in
time time is of the essence
think to yourself when you attend these
large meetings how am I going to move
the needle
and one way to move the needle is the
moment they call on you just ask your
question
they’ve already identified you
you don’t need to tell people your name
you don’t need to tell people what your
position is you don’t need to do any of
that stuff just ask your question
what is the letter that comes after Z oh
there is no answer to that question
that’s okay just ask your question
please I’m begging you because somebody
is attending these sessions with a
question that isn’t being asked because
it’s unable to be asked they run out of
time or they move on to another section
of what they’re talking about and
they’re no longer taking the the
questions about that prior section
please I beg you when you get in that
situation and you’re an attendee
just ask your question and make it short
make it as concise as possible ask your
question
if you’re asked some follow-up you know
let me ask you this because I don’t
quite understand your question by the
moderator again be succinct be precise
ask your question and then get the hell
off the stage please I beg you I’m not
trying to be mean
I’m trying to be of service to my
community I can only imagine how many
people had questions how many questions
they had that didn’t get a chance to be
answered because somebody wanted to brag
on themselves or somebody wanted to try
to be kind and share the joy of being in
this kind of a meeting with all the
lovely people that were there and all
the people that were putting the meeting
on don’t do that
just be succinct be essential be brief I
beg you
I beg you okay please
hit the like button if you like what I
just said hit the Subscribe button if
that’s something that you’d like to do
to get more of these hit the notify Bell
to be notified of new episodes being
released
share this with an actor or a performer
that you think might need to hear this
advice yes okay I’m David H Lawrence the
17th
I’m going to go sip some tea and try to
calm down
I appreciate you watching and listening
and I will see you in the next episode
of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
(from YouTube)
Bravo! This is one of your better podcasts. Great advice—delivered concisely and succinctly 😉
I love this. And I would say the same to the people running sessions like this. It takes so long to get through the introductions and introductory remarks, that I often turn these things off and look for a written answer elsewhere. I’m so grateful when someone gets to the point, and talks about the meat of the issue right away – a sentence about “this is what we’re going to be talking about,” and then talk about it!
David,
Dude, you are so on point. Thank you for saying that! You rock, man.
Yes, thank you. I concur. I hate the parts where people talk about themselves. GET TO THE POINT.
Yes!
EXCELLENT. I am with you on this!!
I have often experienced this in acting classes: the participant feels that it’s a forum to identify themselves at length, rather than get on with the exercise. Keep on point! You are not here to be appreciated.
yep. asking long-winded questions is verbal masterbation.
don’t do it on zoom.
Being brief also helps the listener understand the question and answer….you brain isn’t trying to filter through mounds of dialogue.
David,
I am laughing my butt off here. You went almost 8 minutes to explain the situation and give actionable reason for the request to be concise. It needed to be said and will need to be repeated for the sanity of us all. And yet, 8 minutes…I hope it got through because you are probably going to go back and view this and get a laugh as well.
Have a terrific Tuesday,
DJ
This is my podcast, with NO attendees joining at a particular date and time, not a high-attendance Zoom call with lots of people waiting for a few minutes of question-and-answer time, each with perhaps lots of those questions. There’s a huge difference – you can spend as much time here asking your question (or giving your comment), and I’m not laughing at all nor will I be. I’m going to be braving another one of these Zoom calls tomorrow night and going to be trying to last as long as I can – the information (and questions) are essential to our future success as actors.
Spot on!
I can feel your passion about this subject David, and I have often had similar thoughts when doing actor events/seminars/Q&A on Zoom. I actually get a headache sometimes because it’s so annoying how people can’t follow simple directions. I’ve been on Zoom sessions where the speaker told actors to say, “Hi (speaker’s name)! My question is….” and they still couldn’t follow that simple direction.
Oh, the humanity! I grok your frustration, David. Large groups on Zoom sessions tend to be lemmings: if one questioner is given leeway to wax thankful or meander, that can set the tone for questions thereafter. Too bad there’s no buzzer or gong by which to nip such in the bud. The Host could issue a warning upfront. Or be the cut-off buzzer via: “NEXT!!!” May come off as rude, but it’d tamp down frustration & verbosity may cease.
Not harsh. Absolutely necessary. Needed to be said. xoxo
David, THANK YOU for this. Everyone should pay attention to this advice. Also, could you please also remind people that everyone can seem them and usually wearing clothes is essential during a zoom call? I attended your awesome SAG Foundation IVR VO lab last week … not sure if you realize it, but one of the participants was in the bathroom and gave us full-frontal during your presentation. I could have lived without that 😉
Yeah… Jennifer said she managed to get him off the call after a while when it was called to her attention. She didn’t notice it right away. Crazy.
You are 100% right about this. You are also an excellent communicator. People should absolutely learn how to ask questions succinctly in general, but especially in public situations. I think the reasons vary for why people don’t do this. You touched on some of them in this video. Another reason could be that external processors don’t always know what they’re trying to say until they verbally work through it. A zoom call is not the place for them to do that. I’m glad you brought this issue to the light!
Yep. This.
I don’t think you were being too harsh. When someone says that they just need to vent, listeners should expect some fireworks, and know that it’s not personal. I do think that a simple “thank you” from the modertator of a meeting is appropriate , followed by a click on the next questioner, and will not bog down the flow. (Succinct enough? ;-).
Amen! Most Q&As drive me nuts. It sucks up so much time and yes, decorum and just simple comportment goes out the window. I can’t understand the part of our brain that compels us to tell our life story and just talk, talk, and talk instead of – Asking. The. Goddamn. Question. LOL
Yup. Zoom calls with actors asking questions make me insane. I did a two-parter recently where they let actors ask questions throughout the session, and the presenter couldn’t get through their own material. They wised up and kept everyone muted for the second session. I understand a presenter wanting to be generous by answering questions, but unfortunately actors often aren’t conscious of how much they derail Q&As. Thanks for actually saying it. Maybe it will inspire moderators to find better ways to do this.
ABSOLUTELY. Thank you for this! This drives me bonkers.
I did a group coaching program with author Jen Sincero, and she was masterful at getting people to get to the point. They’d preface with SO MUCH extraneous info…and she’d just calmly interrupt and say “What’s your question?”
Also, after seeing a guest on a workshop give a HALF HOUR introduction about his entire past in the biz, I now have a podcast, and we put a timer on for 60 seconds and have our guests give us their background in a minute or less.