The Art of Asking Questions at ELT Conferences

In this blog post, Distance Cert director and Cert IBET learning mentor Ben Dobbs reflects on a LinkedIn comment regarding best practice in the "any questions?" stage of conference talks and voices some of his personal frustrations as a conference speaker and audience member.

If you follow our blog, you may remember I was a big fan of Feruz Akbarov’s The Art of Teaching when I reviewed it back in November 2025. As such, I have followed Feruz’s posts on LinkedIn, typically related to his conference experiences and reflections, with some interest. One recent post from Feruz caught my attention linked to his participation in the highly recommended Asia TEFL Conference recently held in Xian, China:

One thing I noticed was that many of the questions I asked seemed to genuinely intrigue both the speakers and the participants, often leading to engaging and thought-provoking discussions. The depth, relevance, practicality, and critical nature of these questions frequently sparked further reflection and enriched the conversations beyond the original presentations.

This got me thinking as to what makes a question at a conference effective.

After some reflection and drawing on my personal experiences as a conference speaker and perhaps more importantly as an attendee at events such as IATEFL's Annual Conference, BESIG events, ELT Ireland talks and many more, I came to the following conclusions:

1. The obvious, yet seemingly rarely followed, lesson about conference questions:

The post uses the word “question” and conference questions should be just that – questions!

A good question is not an audience member’s anecdote or an attempt to elicit the speaker’s approval. This is a huge personal frustration of mine as both a speaker and an audience member. Standing there as a speaker or sitting there as an audience member while someone reels off a story with no desire to obtain information, insight or ideas from the speaker serves no use to anyone. Sadly, this is seen at in-person conferences as well as online when the chat box becomes filled with a long screed with no question at all.

2. Effective conference questions are not “gotcha” moments:

If there is something erroneous in the speaker’s talk or something that an audience member wildly disagrees with, then they should ask for the speaker’s view rather than making a statement. There is a difference between engagement and criticality on the one hand and trying to expose real or perceived flaws on the other. Appropriate diplomacy and hedging should be used here.

3. Conference questions are asked at the right time:

A speaker, whether they are speaking at a conference or in a business context, should give their question policy at the start; typically, this will be:

• The speaker will take questions at the end

• The speaker will pause for questions at intervals (sensible for long, multi‑stage presentations)

• The speaker is happy for the audience to interrupt for discussion

As audience members, we should respect this. Again, this is a simple lesson that is frequently ignored.

4. Conference questions must be relevant and not for the sake of questioning:

Some conference audiences will, for whatever reason, be quiet. This may be because a speaker has covered everything required and pitched their session at the right level; it may be cultural, in that the audience are silent rather than active listeners; or it may be something else. Any and all questions should maintain relevance and not just be there to fill the silence. Speaker should remember that there is a world of difference between silence and negative feedback.

5. Conference questions should be concise:

“Concise” does not mean “short”, nor does it mean that any details are omitted; it means getting on with asking the question. A good question is not padded, waffling or rambling, nor does the asker feel the need to paraphrase or repeat themselves in pursuit of a reaction.

6. Conference questions should enhance the teaching practice of the asker, those in the audience or the speaker themselves:

Questions should mean something to the asker, who should be asking with the intention of enhancing their own teaching practice, growing their knowledge or seeking information. Good questions at a conference strengthen the understanding and capabilities of the asker, the speaker and others in the audience. Broadly speaking, good‑quality conference questions get us all thinking.

7. Conference questions should obtain the speaker’s opinion or expertise on something:

The lesson here for anyone seeking to ask a question is to let the speaker give their view or opinion and not to expect the asker’s opinion to come from the speaker’s mouth. If debate is required and time is available, pursue it but not to the detriment of others wishing to ask questions. Any speaker enthusiastic about their subject matter will be happy to discuss later.

8. Conference questions are open but targeted:

Questions that are too vague get vague answers or lead a speaker to try and guess what an asker wants; similarly, closed questions beginning with phrases such as “don’t you think …” deserve a closed answer. Good conference questions, like good coaching questions, are open and targeted, using phrasing such as “what would you say to …”, “what is your view on …” and so on.

What are your thoughts and experiences of conference questions? Is there anything I have missed?