Professional Panel Moderator Kristin Arnold asks Warren Evans, professional speaker, futurist and member of the Canadian Speaker Hall of Fame to share his perspective on how to engage the audience (other than polling) during a panel discussion at meetings, conferences, and conventions.
Video Transcript
Kristin: Warren, besides audience polls, do you do anything else to engage the audience?
Warren: I’ll wrap up the keynote, and the few minutes before I wrap up, I’ll tell them, “You’ve all got 3 x 5 yellow cards on the table. Five minutes after we get back in here and the panel kicks up, a bunch of people are going to roll through this room and they’re going to pick all those cards up and bring them up here.”
You want something you want the panel to address, you get an opinion on this; you know some of the opinions of some of the people on the panel. You think some of them are dead wrong about something, write that down. And then what I’ve got is a stack of cards in my hand. Whether I use what’s actually on the cards; that’s another third voice.
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Kristin Arnold, professional panel moderator, and high stakes meeting facilitator is on a crusade to make all panel discussions informative, interactive, and interesting. Specifically, she wants to help YOU become a better panel moderator. Why? Because 95% of annual meetings have panel discussions – and according to the 2014 Panel Report, it’s a fifty-fifty proposition they are any good at all! Expectations decrease dramatically when your attendees walk in and see the traditional draped head-table with microphones on short stands. There are sooooo many other ways to have a stimulating conversation! So let’s increase the probability of success for your next panel discussion with these resources.
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