Investor briefings

It's almost a ritual. Listed companies present the results for the quarter or the year in an investor briefing.

- ANTONIO SAMSON

Of course, there is a question and answer period at the end. The process can be scripted, as in recent negotiations openly conducted in the Oval Office in front of the media. In this briefing, one participant is unaware of the script and gets beaten up in a verbal ambush.

Questions and answers are part of our daily lives. What are conversations and social interactions, after all, but a series of interrogative statements followed by declarative responses? Public personalities deal with questions all the time. They don't always provide answers.

Celebrities from the arts, business and politics are used to being interviewed, often in social media as they show off their new house. (This door was designed by an Italian artist).

Investor briefings are usually serene events as far as questions and answers go.

The questions of investors may even be sent ahead of time to give some assurance to the subject that the interrogation will not be hostile. Still, not all parties stick to that protocol. It's too boring to be following unconnected questions from the floor. The aim is to project a conversation where questions and answers flow naturally, though sometimes in unforeseen directions. Do you have a succession plan?