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The first few minutes of your panel discussion are absolutely critical. Although people shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, they do. The audience (and panelists) need to know that they are in good hands.
Panel Moderator Checklist for Right Before the Panel Discussion
It’s show time! It’s time to take all that planning for an amazing panel discussion and put it into action.
How Panel Moderators Can Keep Conversation Moving During a Panel Discussion
If you have prepared the panelists appropriately and kicked the panel discussion off well, the conversation will start to flow on its own and the panelists won’t be coming back to you for ping-pongs or hot potatoes. However, you may need to interject here and there to keep the conversation moving at a brisk pace.
How Panel Moderators Can Deal with Lame Audience Questions
Ugh. Sometimes, someone from the audience asks a lame question in a panel discussion. As the panel moderator OR a panelist, I believe you have two options:
How Panel Moderators Can Intervene Firmly and Respectfully
As the moderator, you are the audience’s chief advocate. If someone’s boring you, then chances are they are boring the audience as well. If you think they are going on too long and not making their point, you need to intervene.
Panel Moderator Research Tip: Find “Dead Space” in Your Topic
When doing your research in preparation for your panel discussion, find “the dead space” in the topic.
Panel Moderators: What to Do When Your Panelists Hate Each Other
I’ve talked about the importance of picking “DEEP” panelists – Diverse, Experienced, Eloquent, and Prepared. But what happens if those panelists don’t get along?
Use Audience-Engagement for a Boring Panel Discussion Topic
Last week, I moderated a panel discussion on “risk assessment” – a potentially boring topic – but it wasn’t boring at all! Why? Because I involved the audience from the get-go and focused the conversation on what they knew and what they needed to know.
How to Play Referee as a Panel Moderator: When the Hot Topic Gets Too Hot
There are times when the topic is so divisive that the panel moderator must become a referee!
Panel Moderators: Open Your Panel Discussion with these 5 Elements
Don’t you just hate it when the panel moderator takes forever to launch the panel discussion? Drones on and on, talks about him or herself?