Curiosity: The Panel Moderator’s Superpower
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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, I believe that curiosity is the supreme differentiator between a mediocre moderator and a truly great one.
Why? Because curiosity changes everything.
It changes how the panel is designed.
It changes the questions that get asked.
It changes the energy on stage.
And most importantly, it changes what the audience experiences.
A moderator without curiosity simply manages traffic. A curious moderator creates discovery.
Curiosity Starts Long Before the Panel Begins
The best moderators are deeply curious during the preparation phase. They want to know:
- What does this audience really care about?
- What tension exists beneath the surface?
- Where do the panelists disagree?
- What stories haven’t been told yet?
- What’s the “question behind the question”?
That curiosity leads to better design decisions. Instead of defaulting to the tired “ask everyone the same question” format, curious moderators look for ways to create contrast, friction, and surprise. They intentionally curate diverse perspectives because agreement is boring. As my colleague Brian Walter notes, “sameness, repetition, rambling” are the enemy of a compelling panel.
Curiosity also leads to better research. Curious moderators don’t stop at reading bios. They watch their TED Talks. They listen to podcasts. They scan LinkedIn posts. They look for patterns, passions, contradictions, and unfinished thoughts from the panelists and about the subject. My colleague, Diane Hamilton describes researching because it helps uncover what truly matters to a panelist and what might spark an authentic conversation.
The result? A format with questions that feel fresh instead of formulaic.
Curious Questions Create Better Conversations
Audiences don’t come to panels for information anymore. They are looking for what they can’t get from Google:
They come for insight.
For perspective.
For tension.
For humanity.
For the conversation they can’t get anywhere else….even using AI tools such as ChatGPT!
That only happens when the moderator is genuinely curious.
Curious moderators ask follow-up questions.
They probe deeper.
They listen for the thread worth pulling.
They don’t rigidly march through a list of prepared questions while ignoring what’s happening in real time.
Curiosity allows moderators to abandon the script when something interesting emerges. That’s where the magic lives. A curious moderator hears a passing comment and thinks:
“Wait…that’s interesting. Tell me more.”
Or:
“You and I talked beforehand about this challenge, can you share what really happened?”
Or even:
“You seem hesitant. Is there another side to this story?”
Those moments cannot be manufactured. They must be discovered.
Curiosity Is Service to the Audience
One of the core responsibilities of a moderator is to serve as the audience’s advocate. Curiosity is how you do that. The moderator is constantly asking themselves:
- What is the audience wondering right now?
- What hasn’t been answered yet?
- Where are people leaning in?
- What needs clarification?
- What uncomfortable question needs to be asked?
Jeffrey Hayzlett described it perfectly when he said he wants to ask the questions the audience is silently thinking. That requires courage, and it also requires curiosity.
A moderator who is merely performing will focus on sounding intelligent.
A curious moderator focuses on helping the audience understand something meaningful.
And audiences can feel the difference immediately.
Curiosity Makes Panels Feel Alive
The best panels feel spontaneous. Not scripted. Not rehearsed. Not over-produced. Another fellow panel moderator, Scott Kirsner, warns us that overprepared panels can feel like “microwave leftovers” (what a visual!).
Curiosity keeps a panel alive because curiosity reacts. It notices. It adapts. It follows energy.
Panel moderator Elizabeth Marshall describes how she intentionally asks unexpected follow-up questions in the moment because the live conversation often reveals something more interesting than what was originally planned.
And that is the key difference between moderating and facilitating discovery. Curious moderators are fully present. They are listening not just for content, but for possibility.
Curiosity Requires Humility
Here’s the paradox: The more expertise a moderator has, the harder curiosity becomes.
Why? Because experts often arrive with conclusions. Curious moderators arrive with questions.
That doesn’t mean moderators shouldn’t be knowledgeable. They absolutely should. A moderator must understand the topic deeply enough to guide the conversation intelligently. But expertise becomes dangerous when it crowds out wonder.
If the moderator is too focused on proving how much they know, they stop listening.
Leadership expert and panel moderator, Mark Sanborn, said the “kiss of death” is when the moderator makes the panel about themselves instead of the panelists and audience.
Curiosity keeps the ego in check because curious moderators don’t need to be the star. They need the conversation to be the star.
The Best Moderators Are Co-Explorers
One of my favorite ways to think about moderation is this: The moderator is not the expert delivering answers from the mountaintop. The moderator is the guide helping the audience explore something interesting in real time.
That mindset changes everything:
You stop trying to control every moment.
You start looking for discovery.
You listen differently.
You ask better questions.
You become more human.
And suddenly the panel stops feeling like a staged interview and starts feeling like what Harry Overstreet envisioned when he first described panel discussions in 1934: “generous give-and-take” filled with spontaneity, insight, and fascinating turns of thought.
That’s the power of curiosity. Not as a technique. But as a mindset.
And in my experience, it is the moderator’s greatest superpower.
Related Articles:
The 25 Types of Questions Every Panel Moderator Should Know (And When to Use Them)
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For more information about how to moderate a lively & informative panel discussion, check out our free 7-part video series on how to moderate a panel and other resources to help you organize, moderate, or be a panel member.
