Last month, I moderated a panel discussion for the first time. The topic was queries, the panellists were fellow editors, and the audience were members and friends of the Editors' Association of Canada. The whole process was more fun, more work, and stressful than I had expected it to be.

Here are 4 things I learned about organizing and moderating a panel discussion:


Be prepared
A panel discussion is a conversation—you can't "prepare" it beforehand the way you can a presentation, lecture, or speech. But you can, and must, define the topic and identify the themes and questions you want panellists to address.

I started by thinking a lot about the topic myself, talking briefly to some fellow editors, and searching for articles about queries online. I spent over an hour composing the initial email message I sent to potential panellists, where I described the topic and some of the specific questions and issues I thought the audience would want to hear them talk about. I had a half-hour phone conversation with two of the panellists individually, to get to know them better and to see what they had to say about the topic in general.

I used what I learned from all of these activities to compose and organize a dozen open-ended questions and prompts to be used the night of the panel, as well as some "if-time-permits" questions. I circulated the list to the panellists a few days before the event, so that they would have a chance to think about their answers and comments. If a particular question was directed at one or more specific panellists, or if there was a particular story or idea I wanted a panellist to bring up in response to a question, I said so. And while we weren't tied to the sequence—the conversation might lead us through the questions in a different order—I grouped the questions by theme so that we could keep the conversation going around one before moving on to another.

Was all of the above really necessary? I don't know, but it was certainly helpful, both for me and for the panellists. I didn't have to think about what I was going to say or worry about whether we would have enough to talk about; I could focus on listening carefully and reacting appropriately. And the panellists weren't surprised by any of the questions and had specific, detailed answers to share.


Encourage storytelling
I once attended a workshop on negativity in the workplace. Thirteen years later, I can still remember two of the stories the presenter used to illustrate specific points. I wanted to encourage and make room for the panellists to tell stories and share anecdotes. I listened for stories in my conversations with them beforehand. I included prompts for relevant stories or anecdotes in my questions. I shared my own stories.

Stories stick.


Wait
After the panel, someone in the audience came up to me and commented on how well and how smoothly the conversation had flowed. I was pleased, but also relieved. From my vantage point on stage, there had been a couple of awkward and seemingly endless silences. My thoughts at the time were far from silent:

Is Laura getting ready to say something? Should I follow up on the comment made by Alan 5 minutes ago, before Jennifer and Elizabeth jumped in? Or should we move to the next question? Oh god, they're all looking at me… it must be time to move on… quick, someone say something! Agh!

Each time, I managed to just wait until the way forward became obvious. At least once, when I thought it might be time to move on, a panellist jumped in with a new thought. He or she just needed a moment to formulate that thought. What had seemed like too-long pauses to me were ordinary and necessary pauses for both the speakers and the audience.


Just ask
Over the summer, I attended a great panel at the Design Exchange in Toronto. Afterwards, I asked the moderator what advice he could give me, since I was about to start planning presentations and panels myself. His response: Just ask—think about people you want to hear from and just ask them if they're willing to come and speak.

Asking questions throughout the process was invaluable. Is this a good idea for a panel? Would so-and-so want to be a panelist? Should we talk about xxxx?

You don't know until you ask. So ask!


Resources

- Read a report about the panel discussion here: http://www.editors.ca/content/program-report-monday-september-26-2011. EAC members can download a podcast of the panel here: http://www.editors.ca/members/podcasts/index.html.

- This is a guide for moderators of conference panels that I found very useful (though I was a little overwhelmed by the time I got through Preparation—ack, do I have time to do all of this?—and didn't read the rest): http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/30/how-to-successfully-moderate-a-conference-panel-a-comprehensive-guide/

- Stories are one of six principles that help ideas stick, according to the authors of Made to Stick. You can read the first chapter here: http://www.heathbrothers.com/madetostick/chapterone.php.