Tuesday, March 28, 2017

5 last-minute moderator tasks before the panel starts

Even if you've done all the advance prep I recommend in The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels, what moderators do at the last minute, just before the panel starts, can often make or break the whole experience--for the organizers, for you, for the speakers, and for the audience. Here's my handy back-pocket checklist with 5 things to check right before you begin:
  1. Meet the panelists: Make sure they know you're the moderator, and chat with them if you don't already know them (and even if you do). Has anything changed about their presentations or expectations? Is this a special day for one of them? Do they have last-minute concerns? You won't know unless you ask. Make sure it's clear to the panelists that you're in charge, and that you intend to moderate them fairly and on time.
  2. Find out what's missing: Did anyone leave their bio, slides, or technology at home? Are all the speakers there? Did someone fail to provide all the audio-visual equipment requested? Did someone show up with 3 videos when there's no way to project them? Doing this check even 15 minutes before the panel gives you the chance to fix or fill the missing gap--or figure out a workaround. Don't fail to say, "We didn't plan on showing videos, so we won't be able to use them. Can you speak about them instead?"
  3. Make friends with the support team: Whether it's a group of volunteer amateurs or a professional sound and video crew and housekeeping department, find and introduce yourself to the people to whom you can turn in an emergency, from microphones that don't work to coffee cups that need to be cleared out of the panel's way.
  4. Review the bios: Scan your introductory material one more time before the panel begins. Did you learn anything in chatting with the speakers that will make the intros better?
  5. Watch the clock: Moderators need to be a step ahead. Leave a previous session early if you need to, or finish your lunch faster than the group.
(Creative Commons licensed photo by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)

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, March 21, 2017

A creative line of questioning for panels in controversial times

My ebook, The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels, has a long list of creative lines of questioning, because I think they are missing from many panels. But one of them especially suits the types of panels I think we will be having more frequently, with controversial topics and opposing points of view.

Picture it this way: You have a panel of experts who are addressing a public controversy. They may or may not agree with one another, and also are in opposition to some external force, be it political, economic, technical, or artistic. How can you, as the moderator, steer their discussion and prompt them to channel frustration, anger, and disagreement in constructive ways?

For panel situations like that, I prefer using questions such as "What makes you skeptical?" to let the panel share doubts and concerns, and "What would it take to reassure you?" to take them toward a vision of what would work, a positive complement to the complaining that may be going on. Especially effective on topics where there's a lot of enthusiasm or anger, these questions get at something more complex than just pro-and-con viewpoints. They help the audience understand what to look for to fuel doubt, and to encourage positive action. And the neutral language doesn't further inflame the topic, but helps add nuance and explanation. Try it, moderators!

(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.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

When the moderator meets the mob: @AKStanger speaks out

When it comes to brave moderators, no one has anything over Allison Stanger.

She's the Middlebury College professor who agreed to moderate an appearance on her campus by Charles Murray, a controversial conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. The appearance was interrupted by protestors who shouted down the discussion, prompting the speaker and moderator to move to a room where it could be livestreamed, but that, too, was interrupted. And both Murray and Stanger were attacked by the protestors. For Stanger, the moderator, the result was a concussion, whiplash, and the need to wear a neck brace.

But this moderator is no shrinking violet. Yesterday, she published Understanding the Angry Mob at Middlebury That Gave Me a Concussion in the New York Times, and while what she experienced might make you reconsider moderating anything controversial, I hope you'll read it--not just to learn what happened, but to learn about why moderation is important.

From the article, she establishes her reason for participating:
Though he is someone with whom I disagree, I welcomed the opportunity to moderate a talk with him on campus on March 2 because several of my students asked me to do so. They know I am a Democrat, but the college courses I teach are nonpartisan. As I wrote on Facebook immediately after the incident, this was a chance to demonstrate publicly a commitment to a free and fair exchange of views in my classroom. But Dr. Murray was drowned out by students who never let him speak, and he and I were attacked and intimidated while trying to leave campus.
And here's the chilling paragraph about what happened when they attempted, finally, to leave the scene:
Most of the hatred was focused on Dr. Murray, but when I took his right arm to shield him and to make sure we stayed together, the crowd turned on me. Someone pulled my hair, while others were shoving me. I feared for my life. Once we got into the car, protesters climbed on it, hitting the windows and rocking the vehicle whenever we stopped to avoid harming them. I am still wearing a neck brace, and spent a week in a dark room to recover from a concussion caused by the whiplash.
Stanger comes down firmly on the importance of letting an unpopular speaker speak, and have moderation. She describes clearly what a good exchange of views might have looked like:
But for us to engage with one another as fellow human beings — even on issues where we passionately disagree — we need reason, not just emotions. Middlebury students could have learned from identifying flawed assumptions or logical shortcomings in Dr. Murray’s arguments. They could have challenged him in the Q. and A. If the ways in which his misinterpreted ideas have been weaponized precluded hearing him out, students also had the option of protesting outside, walking out of the talk or simply refusing to attend.
In reading what Stanger has to say--and I'm glad she spoke up about the experience--I hear a true moderator: Someone who need not agree with the person or panel she is moderating, but who is committed to the discussion with that person and the audience. And those are great goals for any moderator.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by evinella)

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, March 7, 2017

When they try to make the moderator fill in for a panelist

Get ready to encounter this last-minute request if you're a panel moderator: "Can you act as a panelist as well as the moderator? Jane isn't going to be able to make it."

It's that no-show panelist that most often prompts organizers to make this request, perhaps because they imagine the smaller panel won't be able to fill the time. They also may be prompted by your expertise in the topic at hand. And let's face it: The organizer is bound to be disappointed by the loss of what she hoped that panelist would contribute.

But serving as a moderator-plus-panelist puts you as moderator into an awkward role, and you shouldn't be afraid to say so. Are you in charge of others' speaking times as well as your own? Yes, but don't expect that to be popular. Will the combination of your moderator speaking tasks and your panelist time make it feel as if you're talking too much? Also yes, most of the time.

Be sure to ask enough questions ahead of time to determine whether you might be called upon to fill this role, so you can prepare. (That might look like, "In the event a panelist cancels, I would plan to be ready to moderate with fewer speakers. Do you agree?") Make sure, too, that you're giving the other panelists plenty of time.

But primarily, my advice is to push back on the idea that another panelist is needed. If what you are left with is two panelists, treat it like a dual interview, and allow plenty of time for audience questions, something that's usually more welcome. Feel free to suggest that to the organizer ahead of time, and by the time the panelist begs off, it won't seem like such a strange idea.

(Creative Commons licensed photo by Plaid Cymru)

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.