Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Moderating Panels blog to merge with The Eloquent Woman

One result of my month-long social media and blogging hiatus, which took place in June 2017, was the difficult decision to merge this blog, Moderating Panels, with my public speaking blog, The Eloquent Woman. For me, it's a small administrative change that will allow me more time for some long-form projects, including new books. For The Eloquent Woman, it means an infusion of information about panel discussions and the moderator's role.

Don't get me wrong: I love helping people make panels--and moderation of them--better. And I love blogging about moderation as a public speaking skill, so please join me at The Eloquent Woman for more of what you've been seeking here.

I'm leaving this blog up as an archive, but there won't be new posts here. So turn your feed readers to The Eloquent Woman and stand by for more tips on moderating panels!

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Taking a blog and social media hiatus for June 2017

I'm waist-deep when it comes to the river of blogging and social media, with three blogs, the two oldest blogs turning 12 and 10 years old this year. That's a lot of blogging, and that's not all. My total tally in the social media world includes
  • three blogs
  • two Twitter accounts
  • two Facebook business pages, along with my more private personal account
  • one Google+ account and one Google+ community
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • and I'm very likely forgetting something, which is not a good sign.
This post isn't about expanding that universe, but about letting it contract a tad. Specifically: I'm taking a social-media hiatus for the month of June 2017. 

Here's what that means for me: I'm really not going to post anything, including on my non-public accounts. That will mean not sharing photos, not writing posts, not observing, not sharing. 

Social media posting doesn't take up a ton of my time on any given day, but reviewing material, deciding what to share, monitoring comments and interactions, and writing are the biggest time-users. I put in plenty of screen time, and am hoping that that's what will be missing in June while I spend time the old-school way, in person. 

Of course, if you're a client or a would-be client wishing to get in touch, I encourage that heartily. Email me directly at eloquentwoman AT gmail DOT com. A social media hiatus is not, for me, a work hiatus, so I will continue working with clients and looking for new ones. But I also expect I'll have some time for longer-form projects like books, and I'll be back in July with some fantastic posts for you.

Thanks for reading, and see you in July!

(Creative Commons licensed photo by nchenga)

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Keep 'em in your back pocket: Creative questions for moderators to ask

I collect questions.

At nearly any conference I attend, I'm taking notes...on the moderators' questions, looking for creative, pointed, or fun questions I can recommend to panel moderators to keep the discussion vivid and lively.

Here's a collection of just some of the questions I recommend you try in your repertoire as a moderator, and you'll find many more creative lines of questioning in The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels:

  • "Why not?" and "So what?", if delivered with precision, are brief but potent ways to get a panelist to say more, and do it in an energetic way.
  • For panels on topics of uncertainty and controversy, two questions--about skepticism and reassurance--can keep the tone constructive and civil, as well as enlightening.
  • To draw out a speaker who's skimming over something important, use this question from Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson. It's personal and effective. It's what you use when a speaker says something's a "problem," for example, without elaborating.
  • To get frank and revealing stories from speakers, use the Sheryl Crow question and ask them to describe "my favorite mistake." But there's a catch that makes it more effective.
  • Redeem this is NPR host Terry Gross's back-pocket question to get an interviewee to defend something unpopular--a task you should give your next panel. It's one of my favorites, and yields surprising answers.

Still thirsty for good questions? Try Frank Sesno's new book, Ask More, loaded with different types of questions and how to put them to use.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by VĂ©ronique Debord-Lazaro)

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

From the vault: Keeping panels on time: Have a 3-speaker limit

(This is an updated version of a post that appeared in 2016. I'd publish it weekly if I thought that would change things.)

Want a panel that allows plenty of time for each speaker to get her points across? Want panels that allow time for audience questions? Want a panel that ends when the schedule says it will? There's an easy solution: Limit panels to no more than three speakers, plus one moderator.

The proliferation of speakers-per-panel is one of the starkest sign of how out of control panel discussions are today. Organizers think the panel must represent the universe, include all their friends, or represent other politics. And typically, this fault is a fault of the organizer: What speaker wants to be part of a panel of 8 speakers, each with precisely 2.5 minutes to shed light on the topic? I can say that because I was invited to just such a panel, and I turned it down.

For the moderator, too many speakers is even more challenging: Introductions take more time, Q&A will be tougher to manage, and the likelihood is high that none of the speakers and few audience members will be happy afterward, no matter what you do. You can expect time limits will be ignored, particularly as speakers try to pile on to a previous comment.  That's why too many panelists is my number one reason to say "no" to a panel invitation, whether you're the moderator or the speaker.

Panels of three speakers strike the right balance between varied viewpoints and enough time for speaker and audience to consider what's being said. A three-speaker limit means you don't have to choose between ending on time, and enough time for the discussion. More than three speakers means the moderator has a job that gets tougher every time someone is added.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by U.S. Department of Education)

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

What panel moderators can learn from journalist moderators

One smart tactic I use to continually improve my moderation of panels is to listen to journalists' interviews. The best of them give me ideas for creative lines of questioning, handling talkative speakers, and getting better answers. On occasion, they provide cautionary tales, examples of what not to do. Here are some of the best tips for moderators that I've gleaned from journalists:
  1. Chris Wallace's moderation of a presidential debate yielded good examples of moderation that provides context, creates a conversation, and stays on topic.
  2. Terry Gross gave a great example of a creative line of questioning you can use to discuss unpopular issues, products, or tactics in your field.
  3. Matt Lauer's interview moderation became an example of interrupting a woman too much, compared to a companion interview of a man, during the election cycle.
  4. Jane Garvey demonstrated the perfect tactic for handling the long-winded interviewee and getting him to finish up, already.
  5. John Dickerson's tactic for drawing out an interviewee can help you get more out of your panelists, and keep them from making broad, unexplained statements.
  6. Megyn Kelly came in for criticism for her tough questions while moderating one of last year's presidential debates, prompting a discussion of just how tough moderators should be.
  7. Frank Sesno's new book on asking questions draws on his experience as a CNN journalist and takes a deep dive into questions. Moderators will find this useful not only for posing better questions themselves, but for understanding what's behind audience questions.

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Are your panel introductions gendered? Tips for moderators

Add this to our list of what panel moderators can do to advance gender equity at conferences: Making sure you don't undercut the women on the panel right at the start.

We're talking introductions here, specifically, whether moderators are introducing both male and female speakers with their formal titles, such as "doctor" for physicians and scientists.

Our friends at Gender Avenger shared When Doctors Are Not Called "Dr.": How Forms of Address Reveal Gender Bias, with the story of Dr. Julia Files, a physician and researcher. She reports:
A sinking feeling overtook me as I realized what had just happened.  I was an invited speaker at an event where I shared the program with three male physicians each of us presenting topics pertaining to our areas of expertise. The moderator (male) ended the program by thanking “Drs. X, Y, Z and Julia.” Wow! This wasn’t the first time I’d been inappropriately addressed by my first name in a professional setting, but it was certainly the most public and glaring example. Had he intended to strip me of my professional title? Did anyone else notice? Does this happen to other women, or is it just me? Instead of being appropriately proud of my contribution to the program I was stuck trying to process why this happened to me (again).
So the GA team pursued some research into gendered introductions, and took a special look at "grand rounds," educational weekly lectures in medical institutions where physicians share their expertise. Here's what they found:
We confirmed that whether doctors are introduced as “Dr.” depends on the gender of who introduces them. Women introducing any Grand Rounds speaker used “Dr.” virtually all the time (96%) regardless of the speaker’s gender. Men, on the other hand, were less formal overall: across all speaker introductions by men, only 2/3 ever included “Dr.”....Among introducers, there was a distinct gender difference in their use of titles: male speakers were introduced by men as “Dr.” 72% of the time, but less than half of the women were introduced as “Dr.” This is both statistically and socially significant.
Holders of non-medical doctoral degrees also experience the problem:
A top rule for moderators? Be consistent. If you're using titles, use them for all of your panelists, male and female. If you're only using first names, do the same for all. It's helpful to know the customs of the group before whom your panel is appearing, so ask the organizer if you don't know what is customary--and if what is customary also is gendered, show them how to do it right.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by aaron gilson)

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Back-pocket moderator questions: "Why not?" and "So what?"

I sit through far too many panels where the broad statements of the speakers aren't challenged--even gently. For me, the audience member, that's not discussion. It's deadly boring.

Fortunately, every moderator has--or could have--some back-pocket questions ready for just such occasions. You can liven things up simply by asking "Why is that?" after a pronouncement. It's a prompt for further explanation, and perhaps, clarification.

Even better, use "Why not?" or "So what?" These questions are energizing, provocative, and require a good defense or explanation. Your tone of voice counts a lot here. With a pleasant tone, a curious "why not?" or a puzzled "so what?" don't need to add too much tension. If you're concerned about sounding rude, you can always sandwich them with additional statements, as in, "If you don't mind my asking, so what? That's a pretty common circumstance. I'd love to hear why that's important to you." A smile helps, and so does warning your panelists in advance that you are likely to come back with a "why not?" or "so what?" question, which allows them follow-up time.

Don't be afraid to make these countering questions. Often, what follows a "so what?" is an empassioned defense, a stronger opinion, or just a more cogent point.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by Columbia GSAPP)

Need more coaching on how to be a better panel moderator? Order the new ebook The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels. At just $3.99 and available in many formats, it's a great back-pocket coach to take on stage with you in your smartphone or tablet. Find more tips on public speaking on The Eloquent Woman blog.