Tuesday, August 30, 2016

How moderators can get speakers focused on the audience

A good moderator leads the panel, certainly--but sometimes, that means that the speakers spend all their time gazing at the moderator, leaving the audience feeling out of the conversation loop. Building on our recent post, Guy Kawasaki on why speakers shouldn't look at the panel moderator, reader and trial consultant Suann Ingle shared this bit of artful language borrowed from jury trials. It's language any panel moderator can use to get the panelists focused forward, at the audience.
Thank you Denise Graveline. I find it also helps when the moderator begins with some variation of "...would you share with our audience your thoughts on..." much the way smart trial attorneys ask the witness to "tell the jury..." show less
You can come up with a handful of variations on this theme, always using your most powerful option as moderator, to say out loud what you wish to occur. In this case, you want your words to mention the audience specifically, as Ingle suggests. "What's your best advice for the members on this issue?", "What should our audience consider when making that decision?", or "Tell our audience your favorite part of the movie," all direct the speakers' attention to the people in front of them.

Thanks, Suann, for sharing an effective tactic from the legal world!

(Creative Commons licensed photo by US Mission Geneva)

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, August 23, 2016

Panel formats: Are you trying an innovative format for your next panel?

In this post on how to make your panel avoid becoming a punishment, Asian Development Bank urban development specialist Renard Teipeike minces no words about how bad a panel discussion can be:
I’m not sure when panel discussions became an exercise in participant punishment that seems diabolically perfect in combining underperforming speakers, lack of gender balance, and an environment more conducive to checking Facebook updates or dozing off.
Among his prescriptions for the panel is mixing up the formats. Teipeike shares a World Health Organization report on planning events in the field of aging which offers a range of useful formats that can be used to disseminate information from a report, for example. The formats range from keynotes and storytelling to fishbowl panels and workshops, and the report includes useful planning considerations about audiences and goals.

It's worth using a toolkit like this one to consider whether a different format would enliven or better suit your topic. Use it with the creative panel themes and lines of questioning you'll find in my ebook to create a novel panel that won't be a punishment.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by Maryland GovPicks)

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, August 16, 2016

Moderators: One of 7 keys to avoiding #allmalepanels [VIDEO]

Your conference program turned out to have boatloads of male speakers, but not so many women. So what to do? For many conference organizers, the answer is "add women as moderators." But more and more, observers are publicizing this move as window-dressing, and like me, discouraging women from accepting moderator gigs when the panel is all male.

Now Inclusive Security, a nonprofit hoping to change who makes decisions about peace and war, has released a video with seven rules for avoiding all-male panels. Rule number 5: "Don't put all men on stage and tack a woman on as moderator."

There's a bonus rule for moderators to heed, in number 7: "Be aware of subtle biases: Address female and male panelists equally."

The video is a great and accessible way to help fellow conference organizers, speakers, and moderators talk about a more inclusive approach to our work. Please share the video! I learned about it from our pals at Gender Avenger

VIDEO: 7 Rules for Avoiding All-Male Panels - Inclusive Security

(Creative Commons licensed photo by UN Women)

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, August 9, 2016

Guy Kawasaki on why speakers shouldn't look at the panel moderator

We love everything Guy Kawasaki has to say about panels--particularly because he sees them, and the job of the moderator, as complex rather than something to dial in. And in his post How to kick butt on a panel, written after one of his own moderator gigs, he has a piece of advice for moderators and panelists: Don't look at each other. Here's what he says:
Never look at the moderator. The moderator is asking the questions, but he is merely a proxy for the audience. When you answer, don’t look at the moderator. Look at the audience because the audience doesn’t want to see the side of your head. (FYI, a good moderator will not make eye contact with you–forcing you to look away from him and look at the audience.) (Someday I may write an entry about how to be a good moderator because most people incorrectly think it’s so easy to be one.)
It's a useful frame for both speakers and moderators. The moderator really is the go-between and proxy for the audience; she always has the floor and the mic to go with it. But speakers need to connect directly with the audience. So proxy though the moderator be, cut out the middle man and look at your listeners.

Not making eye contact with speakers makes it even more important for moderators to use my top tip for managing a panel: Say what you want to happen out loud, rather than signaling or hinting or wishing the panelists would do something. You don't need to look at the panelists to do that, but your out-loud directions will certainly accomplish what you need to get done.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by Andy Ihnatko)

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, August 2, 2016

Are you using women moderators to cover all-male panels? We see you.

In Stop Using Women Moderators to Excuse All-Male Panels, our friends at Gender Avenger have an eye on the practice of window-dressing diversity at conferences by putting women into visible moderator slots, presiding over otherwise all-male panels.

This practice is so common that it's on my list of the 9 times you should turn down an offer to moderate a panel, and I recommend you let the organizers know your reason, so this practice will be stopped someday. So I welcome Gender Avenger's attention to this problem. On GA, Soraya Membreno writes:
A moderator of a panel or debate serves as a champion of the audience. The panelists, on the other hand, speak for an industry and are brought in as experts to offer insight the audience does not have. Although moderators are undoubtedly important, placing the bulk of the women in your conference in this role doesn’t actually address gender balance, and does little to promote women’s voices. So while I would never discourage a woman from serving as a moderator, it bears stating: it is not enough.
Conference and event planners and organizers: Are you listening?

(Creative Commons licensed photo by USFWS-Mountain Prairie)

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.