Professional Panel Moderator Kristin Arnold asks Dr. Chip Bell, professional speaker and panel moderator, to share his opinion on whether you need to have expertise on the topic to successfully moderate a panel discussion at meetings, conferences, and conventions.
Video Transcript
Kristin: Chip, do you need to have expertise in the subject matter, or will you moderate for any panel when asked?
Chip: Yeah, I’ll say, “Yes, I’ll do any kind of panel moderation.” I’ve never had one that wasn’t fun.
Usually, they come to me because they know it’s about the customer. That’s the most frequent way – it’s about the customer. Sometimes I have done ones where it’s about the internal customer.
It’s not just about an external customer that’s the image that we often have but sometimes it might be a situation where I’m working with the IT department of an organization and their customers might be other employees of the company and they’d like to do the same kind of forum, the same kind of setting, panel discussion, where they select customers from a variety of the units they support to get their input. So sometimes it’s internal and sometimes it’s external but it is always about gaining insight into what those you serve perceive as important.
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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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