I am infamous in Tokyo. I always ask the first question of the speaker at an event. “Oh Greg, you always ask the first question”, people say, as if it was a bad thing. They don’t get it. In my case, I have found that having an interesting question is one thing, but having the chance to get it answered is another. In the past I would be there with my hand dangling in the air to ask a question and the organizer would suddenly say, “We have no more time for further questions, please join me in thanking our speaker”. That was most annoying. I decided going first was a known thing, whereas who will be last was not, so to improve my odds, I decided I would try to go first.
Later I found there was another good reason for doing it. I attend a lot of presentations as part of my networking activities here in Japan and you see what works and what doesn’t over time. Before you start your question, the organisers always request you state your name and affiliation. Now I say my name and my company name slowly, precisely and clearly. So what?
Well reflect on your own experience. I think you will find that 99.9% of questioners you hear at events just rapidly mumble their own name and their company’s name. No one can understand the content of what they have just said, let alone remember who they were. Now, how about when it is your turn? Can people easily catch your name in that same situation or are you sxhyf xqtelpbq from vzqithmsfpl company? I am guessing the latter!
As one way to promote myself and my business, I decided that there was an opening in the market here for considered self promotion (for a good cause though!). I decided I want to have the names “ Greg Story ” and “ Dale Carnegie Training ” penetrating the minds of all those in the audience at the event, as a form of subtle advertising. I can’t always be the speaker and lift my profile that way, but I can be a questioner at other people’s events and there are a lot more of those available to me.
Everyone understands the importance of the mantra: “know, like, trust” in order to grow your business. The “know” part can cost a lot of money to cement in the minds of potential clients. Being “top of mind” is what we all want in business so that they call us first, if they need something. We all spend huge amounts of effort and money trying to achieve that. We are hosting responsive websites, buying ad words, doing retargeting, posting content on social media, advertising and trying to bolster our SEO. Why?
We want to be top of mind for when the buyer is looking for our solution. At events, we have a golden opportunity to position ourselves as top of mind for no additional cost to the price of the ticket. All we have to do is raise our hand. Human psychology being what it is, most people are hesitant to go first in front of others, so we can usually get to ask the first question.
The other thing people say to me is , “Greg, that was a really good question”, as if that were a random accident. Folks, this is my personal brand out there, so the question has to be a really, really good one. While the event is underway, I am thinking about the question I want to ask and how I will ask it. It is being silently distilled in my mind during the proceedings, so that when I get up to speak, it sounds as fluent and smart as I can possibly make it. I want to impress.
We all know in advance who the speaker is going to be, so it doesn’t take a lot to research them a little, to be able to ask a more pointed question than what usually emerges from the hoi polloi. For example, the new President of All Nippon Airlines (ANA) was a speaker at the American Chamber in Tokyo. As usual, I had the first question.
I made the comment about how poorly people’s mistakes are handled by management in Japan and how this is an inhibitor to the messy process of innovation. I asked about the culture of dealing with mistakes at ANA? I then specifically noted that when he was the Head of Sales at ANA, his idea of providing first class passengers with individually ordered meals had become a big problem. The service had to be stopped, yet he made it to become President. So ANA must have a good way of encouraging innovation, without punishing people for mistakes in the process. Could he tell us about that? You could have heard a pin drop in the room after I laid that little baby out. By the way, he was delighted with the question, because he could brag about how great the culture at ANA was etc., etc.
People came up to me later, saying they were amazed by my question. Now all of this was readily available public information. They could all have asked the same question, if they had spent a few minutes searching out the background of the speaker. I relate this little episode just to demonstrate how you can enhance your personal brand by approaching mundane things like the Q&A, from a fresh angle.
It does take guts though to be the first questioner and to put yourself out there in front of everyone. If your question is not so good or not so well articulated, then that doesn’t add to your personal brand status and possibly drops it down quite a few notches. You also have to have a thick hide, because some people will take umbrage with you for having the gall to always ask the first question. Jealousy is a curse.
I usually find a strong correlation here with one aspect of these types of jealous people. They usually have zero personal brand power. I always think to myself, “It's a free country, if you want to ask the first question, knock yourself out”. The point is, there is always a vacuum when the Master of Ceremony calls for questions. The majority of people are shy to put themselves forward in front of a big crowd of their peers. If you have the guts, seize the day, seize the moment!
And you don’t have to always ask the first question. I do it because I want to promote my company, I want to have “Dale Carnegie Training Japan” top of mind, relative to my competitors. Ironically, if for some reason I don’t ask any questions, people will complain to me after the event. “What happened, you didn’t any questions today. I always like your questions”. So you can’t win either way. You may as well go for it!
Action steps
1. Ask your question, be it first or otherwise, but first state your name and company name slowly and clearly
2. Make it an intelligent question that will reflect well on your brand
3. Do some simple research on the speaker before the event
4. Ignore critics because they are stupid and the smart people will get it
5. Never apologise for doing your best for promoting your business
6. By the way, don’t expect a good answer to you excellent question! That rarely ever happens.
