A Gawker writer recently pointed this out and proposed banning the type of person who is generally responsible for the awful; The Toast has a hilariously astute post listing out the most awful (sometimes in a banal way) questions that are commonly asked at Q&As.
Now, I’ve done a lot of talks and panels. Personally, I enjoy leaving a decent chunk of free time at the end of question-and-answer sessions. This is especially true when I’m talking about Islam. One my talks from a few years back was half an hour of me talking followed by an hour and a half of Q&A. It was fun. It was awesome.
Still, all it takes is one jerkwad to ruin the awesome and the fun that interaction and discussion is supposed to be for all attending. As I run primarily on rage as a fuel source, I can’t get behind the Gawker writer’s suggestion, but I do have some tips for ensuring that the That Guy that invariably shows up to the Q&A provides a few lulz but isn’t enabled to totally hijack the event. Continue reading “How Speakers, Audience Members, & Mods Can Improve Q&As”