Dear Miss Manners: Do you have any advice on how to manage questions from audience members post-lecture?
The moderator makes it clear that due to time limitations, questions should be concise. Inevitably, one or more men (always men, to date) ramble on about tenuously related issues before the moderator interrupts them and asks for their question. This interruption does not act as a deterrent, only a chance for the person to take a breath before carrying on about Aunt Matilda’s hip replacement in 1989, Jimmy Carter’s secretary of state, etc. I end up feeling like the event was hijacked by these rambling audience members, and I resent the fact that the program coordinators are not more effective in their roles.