The Worst Moderator I've Ever Seen

Monday February 26th, 2024: While all of Sydney (it seemed) was attending a Taylor Swift concert over the weekend, I instead bought a ticket to Hublander, a convention-style event for fans of the Outlander books and TV series.

And it was here that I came across possibly the worst moderator I’ve ever seen.

Have you ever had to moderate a panel discussion in front of a live audience, or interview a guest speaker in a ‘fireside chat’ style at an industry conference? I trust you weren’t as bad as what I had to endure!

Let me explain.

As an Outlander fan, I went along to Hublander to hear from some of the stars of this wildly popular TV show. I wanted to get a flavour for who they are as actors, as well as listen to fascinating on-set stories, learn about the process of making TV and hear their insights into their characters and careers.

The first three guests didn’t disappoint. Charles Vandervaart, Duncan Lacroix and John Bell (playing William Ransom, Murtagh and Young Ian respectively) were generous and gracious guests. They each took many questions from the audience and responded with thoughtful and often hilarious answers. For us audience members, all we had to do was raise our hand and an event organiser briefly listened to our proposed question, approved it, and then passed a microphone across.

In this way we, the fans, were able to directly address the actors, who came across as remarkably relaxed and amenable to the process.? A wonderful time was truly had by all.

And then came the session everyone had been waiting for: Sam Heughan took to the stage.

Mr Heughan plays Jamie Fraser, the show’s male lead, and it’s fair to say he has a very dedicated and passionate fan base.? The audience already knew that he wouldn’t be taking questions directly so instead, many of them had submitted questions in writing, for pre-approval. A moderator would put select questions to Sam, and he would respond.

I don’t have a problem with this. This is often the process at industry conferences or important events and in these cases it’s the moderator’s job to be an effective conduit between the speaker and the audience.

In this case though the moderator was, in my view, atrocious.

The audience knew his name was Steve, but we were never told who he was, or his connection to Sam Heughan. ?It was clear from his behaviour that he knew Sam reasonably well as the two shared several in-jokes during the session. All that did was make us, the audience, feel left out of the loop.?

Where else did Steve go wrong? Let me count the ways:

• He mispronounced the names of many audience members, or where they were from, and appeared to think this was funny
• He bungled the reading of the questions several times – either inserting his own commentary or simply misreading the words
• He often interrupted Mr Heughan as he was trying to answer questions
• He tended to follow Mr Heughan around the stage, so that wherever Sam was, Steve was there too
• He was larger-than-life, effectively pulling focus from the event’s star attraction

Sitting in the audience, it really felt like the Sam & Steve Show, and none of us had signed up for that. Some people (not me!) had paid well over $1000 to see their hero actor and hear what he had to say and instead they had to listen to some guy they didn’t know take up a whole lot of time and space.

What can be learnt from this? If you’re going to be the moderator/host at an event then keep the following in mind:

• No in-jokes between you and guests. They alienate the audience
• Take the time to read through your questions so that you can communicate them clearly
• If conveying someone else’s question, seek out the correct pronunciation of their name/location etc…
• Don’t interrupt if your guest is on a roll. Only interrupt if they’re rabbiting on for too long and you sense the audience is losing interest
• Sit/stand still.? Don’t wander the stage aimlessly or move your hands around a lot, as that pulls focus from the guest. Either look at the guest as they’re speaking, or look at your notes as you prepare your next question
• Leave ego at the door. This is not about you, it’s about the audience's enjoyment. Your job is to help them feel a strong connection to the guest even if they can't address him/her directly.

Follow those suggestions and you’ll be the host with the most, not the moderator who failed.