{"id":2375,"date":"2010-09-23T04:22:10","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T11:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/?p=2375"},"modified":"2010-09-23T16:09:23","modified_gmt":"2010-09-23T23:09:23","slug":"10-tips-for-moderating-a-great-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/10-tips-for-moderating-a-great-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips For Moderating a Great Panel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Yalta.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2377\" style=\"margin-left: 9px; margin-right: 9px;\" src=\"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Yalta-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"Panelists at Yalta\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Yalta-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Yalta.jpg 426w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>This topic is a little different  from my usual fare. It\u2019s about moderating panels, a function that many  of us are called upon to perform at events from time to time. When these  sessions go badly, it&#8217;s usually because the moderator either hasn&#8217;t  prepared the speakers or fails to stay in control.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of people treat panel moderation as a chore, but I enjoy it enough  to have done it at least 50 times over the last 15 years. The reward of  a successful panel is seeing the audience interact both during and  after the event, and hearing that all your panelists enjoyed the  experience.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some tactics I\u2019ve learned to make a panel session successful  and memorable. Please embellish these tips with your own comments.<\/p>\n<h3>Before the Event<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><strong> <\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>1.    Know your place. <\/strong>Moderating  a panel is akin to conducting an orchestra. Like conductors, good  moderators do their work in advance to bring out the best performance  from the speakers. I say \u201cperformance\u201d because that\u2019s what a panel  really is. Every participant demonstrates his or her expertise at the  appropriate time without overwhelming the ensemble. Improvisation is  encouraged but kept within limits. Musicians will tell you that good  symphony orchestras actually improvise a lot, but they only do so when  everyone knows the time is right. A panel is no different.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.    Convene a pre-event meeting. <\/strong>I can\u2019t emphasize enough the  importance of this preparatory session. A conference call enables all  the panel members to get comfortable with each other. It also  establishes the ground rules that everyone must live by. Keep the call  brief \u2013 a half hour if you can manage it \u2013 and cover these key points:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Restate the topic and modify it if necessary;<\/li>\n<li>Define the audience;<\/li>\n<li>Describe what the session will and won\u2019t cover (don\u2019t forget the won\u2019t);<\/li>\n<li>Go over the format: How much time  is available? Are prepared presentations permitted? How long can each  panelist speak? How will audience questions be handled?<\/li>\n<li>Summarize questions you plan to ask. Note that those questions may change based upon the flow of the event;<\/li>\n<li>Ask the panelists if there are any questions they want you to ask. Take these as suggestions, not requirements;<\/li>\n<li>Confirm a time to meet just before the event to go over last-minute issues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Take notes during this meeting and send them to all panelists, whether they attended or not. Minimize surprises on stage.<\/p>\n<h3>On Site<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>3.    Spend a few minutes one-on-one with each speaker before the event. <\/strong>This  is your chance to establish familiarity, answer last-minute questions  and learn something that may be useful during the panel. Ask what your  speakers have been doing lately in the topic area. I often get anecdotes  from these three-minute discussions that I can use in introductions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.    Be in control<\/strong>. You are the conductor, the ringmaster and  the emcee. Your job is to control the flow of the session. If you piss  off one of your speakers in the process, that\u2019s okay, as long as you\u2019re  fair to everyone. It doesn&#8217;t matter how rich or famous your panelists  are; there should be no question that you are the boss.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.    Keep introductions brief<\/strong>. Experienced speakers know the  discomfort of sitting to the side while a person they\u2019ve never met reads  a 500-word introduction in a monotone. Your audience deserves better.  Three sentences, that\u2019s it. And don\u2019t read from the bio; instead,  paraphrase the bio and include a personal comment if you can. in  general, reading from a podium is a bad idea.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.    Be a time Nazi.<\/strong> Time is the most precious resource you\u2019ve  got on stage, and when you squander it by starting late or letting  participants waste it, you do a disservice to everyone. I personally  prefer to forego opening statements whenever possible. If you have to  use them, I limit remarks to three-to-five minutes and don&#8217;t let  responses to questions run over 90 seconds. You can set whatever limits  you want as long as you communicate them in advance and enforce them on  stage.<\/p>\n<p>What to do about speakers who don&#8217;t listen to you? I start by shooting  them a glance when their time is almost up. If they keep going past the  cutoff point, I stand and walk purposefully toward them. If they still  don&#8217;t get the message, I interrupt at the first opportunity with a  good-humored comment and take back the stage.<\/p>\n<p>Be fair to everyone. If you let one person run over, you penalize  everyone else. You can even make a game of it. I was once asked to  moderate a Power Panel at Comdex during its heyday. I had five panelists  and a controversial topic that would stir up a good deal of discussion.  I told the speakers in advance that I was going to bring a bell and  gong them if they went over time. I did that and even staged a fake  wrestling match for the mike with one passionate speaker. The audience  and the panelists enjoyed the theatrics and the session was a success.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7.     Maintain constant eye contact with your panel. <\/strong>Your  speakers should be able to tell you with a glance that they want to  address a question or follow up on someone else&#8217;s comments. Don&#8217;t be  afraid to call on them directly. Bridge the discussion whenever you can.  Look for opportunities to create a segue, such as \u201cSarah, John just  said we should do X. Do you agree?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>8.    Go off script. <\/strong>Never stick to a prepared set of talking  points or questions if a good conversation is developing along other  lines. Make sure your panelists know in advance that you retain the  right to go off script. Keep a notepad in front of you at all times and  jot down points to bring up later when the time is right. It\u2019s great  when you can say, \u201cMichael, you said a few minutes ago that that we  should do Y. In light of what Stephanie just said, do you still believe  that?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>9.    Be ruthlessly fair.<\/strong> Group discussions tend to be quickly dominated by a few strong  personalities. Your role is to equalize. If one or two panelists start  hogging the microphone, direct questions to others for a while. Remember  that <strong>not everyone has to answer every question. <\/strong>My rule of thumb is to permit two panelists to speak unless others indicate they want to get in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.    Control the audience.<\/strong> We\u2019ve all attended  question-and-answer sessions at which an audience member stood up and  delivered a sermon or diatribe disguised as a question. I have little  patience for this. When a question exceeds 30 seconds in length, I may  interject with, \u201cGet to the question, please,\u201d or the somewhat more  acerbic \u201cIs there a question in here?\u201d People who abuse Q&amp;A sessions  are rude. You sometimes have to be rude right back to get them to  restore order.<\/p>\n<p>If some of these tactics sound a little heavy-handed, I don\u2019t apologize  for them. Good panels really are like orchestral performances: They work  best when everyone contributes to making each other look their best.  Your satisfaction is to see smiles on the faces of your panelists and  your audience as the session ends and to have people walk up and tell  you, \u201cThat was great!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This topic is a little different from my usual fare. It\u2019s about moderating panels, a function that many of us are called upon to perform at events from time to time. When these sessions go badly, it&#8217;s usually because the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/10-tips-for-moderating-a-great-panel\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[39,305,304,306],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pTy95-Cj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2375"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2379,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions\/2379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gillin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}