How to Moderate a Panel Discussion
Kickstarter Games’s Trin Garritano offers advice on everything from how to prepare to managing audience participation to making sure every speaker gets a turn.
In just a few short days, the Kickstarter Games team will head out to PAX East, a consumer-facing games conference (or fan convention) held in Boston. During the con, we’ll hang out with some of our favorite games creators in the Kickstarter Games Forest in room 103, and if you’re in the area, you should totally come and see us.
We’re also going to be speaking on a few panel discussions. I have a particular love of moderating panels because I enjoy telling people what to do and when to speak.
Truly, every panel can be improved with a good moderator to lead the discussion. They are responsible for bringing any slides or visual aids, keeping the conversation flowing, and making sure everyone in the group has a chance to participate. It’s a job that I take a bit too seriously, and it’s something I spent a lot of time failing at until I got a little better at it.
Because I care about you, I have compiled my very best tips for moderating panels. They are not all-encompassing, and, as with any advice, your mileage will surely vary. But if you are about to moderate your very first panel, this is a nice place to start.
—Trin Garritano
Before the panel
We’re going to start this guide at the point in the process where you’ve already thought up your idea for a panel, submitted your idea to the conference, been accepted to speak at the event, and are just about ready for showtime. Now:
Get informed.
You will look and feel like a total dingus if you don’t know basic information about the other people on the panel, a.k.a. your panelists. Make life easy on yourself. Steal my email below, plug in the relevant info, and send it to everyone on your panel bcc’d.
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for agreeing to be a panelist on [panel name]. Once again, it will be on [day] at [time] in [room or theater].
Before [date that makes sense to you], please send me the following info:
Your name, and how it’s pronounced if people tend to mess that up.
Your pronouns.
What you’re working on or promoting, if you’d like me to mention it.
One place on the internet I should direct the audience to, such as your Twitter or Instagram.Thank you!
[Your name]
[Your phone number, if you’re okay with that]
Boom. Donezo.
Make an outline for the discussion.
Don’t expect your panelists to carry on a 45–60 minute conversation without guidance. At the very least, moderators should prepare a list of questions for their guests ahead of time and have that list on hand during the panel. I tend to be The Very Most, so I draw up a few pages of questions segmented into roughly 15-minute periods and print them out for everyone on the panel beforehand. (You do not need to be this extra.)
Get a moderator buddy.
It can be really nice to have a cohort to flip off the lights for videos or slides, text you when the sound quality is bad, or signal that you need to speak louder. A fellow moderator can do this for you! Make a friend by volunteering to do the same for them when they moderate their panel. A second-in-command can also bring a microphone around for audience questions during Q&A time.
During the panel
It’s showtime. Here’s what to do once you’re onstage and ready to start.
Tell people what to do.
Nobody knows what they’re doing and everyone makes bad decisions all of the time. To combat this, it’s important to give clear instructions to both your audience and your panelists. This can be really simple, like saying, “Let’s hold our applause until the end of introductions and then do one big round of applause for everyone, together.” Set the tone. Are you going to try to be funny on this panel? Put a hilarious meme up on the projector while people arrive so they can prepare to laugh.
You have biases, and you need to fight them.
If you aren’t careful, you will call on men more often than women. If you aren’t vigilant, you will let white people talk more than people of color. Don’t believe me? Here, take this implicit bias test.
Listen, it’s not your fault that you have been steeped in a society that doesn’t value every person fairly and equally. You did not make the world that way. But it is absolutely your responsibility to confront and correct the way this causes you to behave. Try to keep track of how long everyone has spoken, how many times you have called on each guest, and how often you interrupt them. For more information, or if you want to argue with me, please Google it.
Highlight the panelists.
You can be funny and charming and a complete delight, but the audience is there to see the panelists. You are are the facilitator. Make the panelists look good. Let them have the punchlines, and laugh at their jokes. Help them when they can’t quite find the words. Signal to your panelists when you’re about to ask them a question. I like to say, “This next topic is going to need some of your expertise, Adrienne,” or “Karlyn, I’d really love your thoughts on this next question in particular.” Gracefully buy your panelists time. “Maybe someone else on the panel might want to jump in and give Kevin some time to mull this over?”
Never allow anyone in the audience to touch or hold a microphone, at any time, for any reason.
Most panels, for some godforsaken reason, end with an audience Q&A. When that happens, it’s important to allow audience members to speak into a microphone so that everyone in the room or theater can hear the question. However, if you ever allow their fingers to touch the microphone, you’ve made a huge mistake. That microphone may never see the light of day again.
In order to keep control of the conversation, keep control of the microphone. One approach: instruct the askers to form a line by a free-standing microphone. Even better, have a wireless microphone and to handle it your dang self. Have the askers form a line, and share the microphone interview-style with them, addressing the panelists. Be sure to bring the microphone to askers with mobility issues who cannot queue up, if that’s something you are able to do. You can also have folks raise their hands and call on them. Have your moderator buddy pass the mic to the asker so they can be heard.
During the audience Q&A
Traditionally, panels end with a short period during which audience members can ask panelists questions. If your panel focuses on giving advice or on an ongoing discussion in your community, these Q&As can be informative and fun. They are most often used to kill the last 10 minutes left in your time slot without doing any extra work.
Set clear objectives.
If you decide to include an audience Q&A in your panel, please understand that unless you are careful, it will quickly turn into 15 minutes of people plugging their own podcasts. To avoid this, it’s important to explain to your audience what kind of behavior you are expecting. I like to start all audience Q&As with this simple set of instructions: “Your question must be a question. It must be answerable by the panelists in front of you, and it must end in an actual question mark.”
Don’t let people behave badly.
Remember: You are in charge here. One time, a man said he had more of a comment than a question, and I gave the microphone to the person behind him and moved on. He stood there confused and watched for a while, but then he eventually sat down. It was fine.
Sometimes, a stronger hand is needed. Next, I’ll share some instructions for when things go wrong.
What to do when things go wrong
Oh no, someone yelled at me.
First, do not acknowledge what the Yeller says. When you answer the Yeller, the Yeller becomes an active participant in the panel. Not only will they never sit down and be quiet, everyone else in the room has just learned that they too can be a panelist and all they have to do is say something very loudly. I promise you — engaging with a loud audience member is only funny the first time, and it is never only one time.
When someone yells out of turn in the audience, my favorite thing to do is just look them dead in the eye and say, “No.” This goes over very well with the rest of the audience, and sometimes the Yeller becomes uncomfortable and leaves. Everybody who matters wins.
One time I responded, “You are not on the panel and nobody came to hear you speak!” which even I think was a little much. If you choose to deploy the “no” method, I suggest immediately asking a direct question to a panelist that you call on by name after this interaction. Just move the hell on.
Two panelists started talking at once.
Try saying, “Let’s have Maya and then Tom right after.” This makes sure that Maya has their time and that Tom knows he’ll get his time too.
One panelist keeps answering every question.
“Actually Tom, I know you’ve got lots to say about this but let’s give this one to Graham because we haven’t heard from him in a bit.”
A panelist interrupted me.
Diffuse the situation with a joke: “Volunteer, could you please take [panelist’s] tiny bottle of water away?” (It is okay if there are no actual volunteers; this is simply for comedic effect.)
This panelist just told a ten minute story. Woof.
“That’s your one allotted long story for this panel. You get one.”
We’re running out of time but this panelist won’t shut up.
“That’s a really great point and I definitely want you to finish your thought, [Panelist A], but let’s wrap up this topic first real quick with [Panelist B].”
After the panel (a.k.a. when it’s time to stop talking)
Near the very end of the panel, be sure to set aside a few minutes to remind your audience who they were just listening to. You can easily do this with one final slide showing each panelist’s name and one place people can find them on the internet. This serves a special function: Much like the bar lights going on at 2 am, it alerts everyone that things are shutting down.
If you have extra time or just don’t know how to make slides, you could be super cool and let the panelists each plug their projects or mention upcoming events on their schedules. It’s a small way to show that you care about their work and their time.
When ending a panel, it is also nice to say thank you. You might consider thanking the following:
- The panelists, for their time and energy.
- The conference, for the room and platform.
- The convention volunteers, for making things function.
- Your audience, if they were nice to you.
After all of this is done, say something conclusive. I have yet to figure out a good closer, so I usually say something like, “You may now leave the room,” or “The panel is over; go in peace.” Search your heart and perhaps a thesaurus for the words that suit your style and the vibe of the event.
In conclusion
Moderating a panel takes a little prep work, but it’s well worth the effort to avoid any pitfalls that you can. Expect that you will still occasionally mess up. You will have awkward moments, lulls in the conversation, or poorly timed jokes. In those times of woe, remember that this isn’t really a big deal. You’re just a bunch of apes making mouth noises at other apes from a slightly raised platform. Have a nice time, and when it’s over, move on with your life.
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