Powerful Panels Blog
May 18, 2026
The best moderators are not the smartest people on stage; they are the most curious. In my many years of observation, curating, and training panel moderators, […]
May 12, 2026
In the second quarter of 2026, panel discussions are becoming noticeably more pragmatic. The big ideas of the past few years — AI, hybrid work, digital […]
April 28, 2026
At the start of planning a panel, everything looks good on paper. Great topic. Smart people. Solid attendance. And yet too many panels fall flat. Why? […]
April 21, 2026
Even a well-designed panel can fall apart once it starts. Why? Because the moderator didn’t know how to guide the conversation. Moderating looks easy. It’s not. […]
April 14, 2026
Panels fail for surprisingly consistent reasons: None of these is inevitable. They are the result of design choices or, more often, the absence of design. Panels […]
April 8, 2026
Most panel moderators don’t design the close to a panel discussion. They drift into it or just abruptly end it! You’ve seen it: And just like […]
April 1, 2026
Most panel moderators don’t have a question strategy. They have a question habit. Usually, it sounds like this: “A recent study shows that 72% of organizations […]
March 23, 2026
Most people think moderating a panel is about asking good questions. Experienced moderators know better. You are simultaneously: That last one is a real skill: Managing […]
March 19, 2026
Panel discussions are one of the most sponsored formats at conferences and one of the most at risk of going sideways. We’ve all seen it: The […]
March 10, 2026
Most moderators spend a lot of time thinking about the topic, the panelists, and the questions. But there’s another factor that can dramatically influence the success […]
March 3, 2026
When someone says, “We need a moderator for this panel discussion,” what image comes to mind? Are you the host of a dinner party?The maestro of […]
February 23, 2026
There aren’t many books about panel discussions (other than mine!), so when Katrina Dudley’s book, The Moderator’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Facilitating Panels came on […]
February 17, 2026
As we enter 2026, panel conversations are reflecting a shift from experimentation to accountability. The dominant themes are less about discovering new tools and more about […]
February 10, 2026
A recent LinkedIn post by moderator Mike Sergeant raised a deceptively simple question: Where should a moderator look during a panel discussion? At the audience, the […]
February 2, 2026
Panel discussions end the same way most conversations do: people mentally leave before they physically do. Laptops close. Phones come out. Panelists start thinking about what’s […]
