Don’t Shoot the Moderator: How to Host a Great Panel
Last week’s SXSW Conference featured hundreds of keynotes, workshops, and sessions on film, interactive technology, and music—and some really, really bad panels.
In response, there was a call to banish the moderator. But that’s not necessarily the solution.
The same way that people blame PowerPoint for bad presentations, you can’t blame the format of the panel for a bad panel. I’ve attended and been part of many fantastic panels, and some of the best ones had moderators that were crucial to their success.
Here are 4 ways to improve your panel experience:
Assemble a great panel. Seems obvious, but it’s not just about each individual having outstanding credentials, it’s about a group of people that have great chemistry with each other. One of my favorite panels was assembled and moderated by Ann Winblad. Ann chose women that were honest, transparent, and funny, resulting in a detailed, balanced discussion on the topic of women climbing the career ladder. My team attended another great panel at SXSW on productivity. Afterward, they approached the speakers to congratulate them and found out that they were all sharing a house. The camaraderie amongst the group meant they were in sync and well prepared when they hit the stage.
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Often, bad panels are the result of bad planning. Many panelists assume that they can just show up ready to speak off the cuff because they are subject matter experts, but this usually results in rambling. A successful panel requires a prepared list of questions. In preparation for her panel, Ann Winblad sent two pages of questions and hosted a call for us to provide feedback on them. The extensive preparation made for informative answers and a nice cadence. Similarly, the SXSW productivity panel had a pre-determined structure focusing on three over-arching topics. Each panelist answered in approximately 60 seconds, and the sections clocked in at 13 minutes, 15 minutes, and 14 minutes. You don’t reach that level of precision by winging it!
Ask provocative questions, give concrete answers. Even great panels can fall victim to vague questions. Broad questions result in overly generalized answers and bored attendees. During one panel, the moderator asked, “What are the benefits of social media analytics?” Answers included, “Show value to the organization”, “Measure the spend on a campaign” and “See how your customers feel.” Another panel used the generic question, “How did you come up with great ideas?” The answer, “We just got smart people in a room and it was so cool!” The responses didn’t give attendees any actionable steps to take, which is crucial for providing value to the audience. The productivity panel was successful because they gave actionable and relevant tasks, goals, and steps to help the audience implement their philosophy.
Watch the backchannel. Never lose focus of the purpose of your panel—providing value to attendees. Social media is a great way to take the pulse of your panel in real-time. My team sat in one that experienced a brutal mocking on Twitter, and subsequently, a mass exodus. Several attendees blatantly asked if the panelists were checking Twitter using the hashtag for the session. If the panelists had been watching the back channel, they could have adjusted their style, pace, and topics based on what attendees were most interested in hearing. Panelists can even use the backchannel to take questions and provide short, actionable insights while the panel is happening.
Panels are a great way to spark interesting conversations and allow experts to discuss their subjects—but ultimately it should focus on providing an opportunity for attendees to learn more about a topic. Great panels don’t necessarily need to banish the moderator, they just need to invest the time to create great conversation and actionable insight.
Nancy Duarte is CEO of Duarte, Inc. and the author of Resonate, Slide:ology, and theHBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. She has a passion for teaching others about the power of persuasive presentations to drive change in the world.
Photo credit: Flickr 2014, ejmc
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Strategic Communications Executive | Senior Public Affairs Advisor | Vice President of Communications / In-House + Agency → Humanizing integrated strategic communications
10 年I wish I had read this before I moderated my last panel! In preparing, I read conflicting advice about providing questions before the event and decided against going over the questions with my panel thinking it would foster spontaneity. In hindsight, I'd follow your advice instead for the reasons you outline: it cuts down on rambling, puts your panelists at ease, and keeps things concise.
GM of PLG Group (part of Cisco), co-founder of Slido
11 年Excellent points Nancy! Interesting panelists, solid preparation and listening to the audience preferences are definitely a foundation of any great panel discussion. In the past year we have been at dozens of panels and the main difference between the great and the bad ones was the relevance of the discussion. Did the panelists address topics that the audience actually cared about? Giving people an easy way to ask questions and actually prioritize the ones they care most about can have a transformative impact on the panel relevance as well as the level of audience engagement.
Producer / Director (Distribution and Sales)
11 年Thanks So Much Nancy! This Article certainly takes me back to some Great and some not-so-great times. Warm regard, Millicent A.
Happily retired
11 年Practical and valuable advice - particularly the integration of social media idea
I.T. Contractor
11 年Nancy, for me, reading the article on banishing the moderator brought to mind your posts on "Don’t Be Boring:...": Mistake: No contrast Mistake: Lack of opposing energies within your message Mistake: Not emphasizing the contrast that already exists I think what Jody Avirgan is describing in his article are panels which lack any sort of dramatic tension, i.e. nothing being brought forth that couldn't be gleaned from previous presentations and articles on the panel subject. Sort of like having to sit through an early afternoon jazz performance with requisite rotating solos... by musicians horribly hung over... from a great party..... following a better performance.......... the night before! While banishing the moderator won't do anything to solve a lack of good preparation, I think a more interesting question is: what actions can a moderator take if their panel is flying on autopilot? When you mention participants with great chemistry, I worry some might interpret that as nonreactive chemistry.