“Can I ask you a quick question?”

“Oh crap, here we go again…”

That’s often my first internal response when someone asks me this after a training, workshop, or presentation.

So why does a “quick question” trigger that reaction?
There are a couple of reasons:

👉 First, quick questions are rarely quick to answer. They often need context, nuance, and a bit of thinking. And I need some time to think things through before answering. Shooting answers from the hip isn’t exactly my strength.

👉 Second, by the end of a workshop, especially after a full or multi-day one, my brain is usually fried. I’ve spent hours listening, observing, facilitating, making decisions, and paying attention to the group. There’s not much processing power left.

👉 And then there’s everything happening at the same time. People might be waiting to say thanks, share something, shake my hand, or ask another question. While I’m trying to listen to you, part of my attention is inevitably pulled toward everything else happening around me.

👉 Finally, my introverted brain is simply overloaded. After spending a day being fully present with a group, what I need most is some quiet time to recharge.

So it’s not the question I dislike. It’s the timing and the expectation that I can instantly come up with a thoughtful answer.

I’ve started wondering whether I should simply be more explicit about this at the beginning of a session: “If you have a question, please ask it when it comes up. There’s no need to save it until the end.”

And whenever I do get a “quick question” at the end, I try to offer an alternative: send me an email, or let’s schedule a call.

Sometimes that works perfectly. But other times, people decide to wait around “until I have time.” 🤷‍♀️

That really doesn’t work for me. Knowing that someone is waiting only adds pressure. By the time we finally talk, I’m often even less capable of giving them the thoughtful answer they were hoping for. It leaves both of us slightly unsatisfied. And because I tend to want people to leave happy, I often think about it afterward.

How do you deal with situations like this?

Or is it just me who struggles with those “quick questions” at the end of a workshop/session/presentation?