Professional Panel Moderator Kristin Arnold asks Patricia Fripp, Executive Speaker coach and member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, to share her thoughts on what a panelist can do when the moderator isn’t doing a great job moderating the panel discussion at meetings, conferences, and conventions.
Video Transcript
Kristin: What do you do as a panelist when you have a moderator who is not so great?
Patricia: Well, I am not a person who particularly wants to be in charge. However, I cannot stand chaos and disorder. So, my personality has a tendency to emerge and I will take over. What I might say, if I am answering your question, if I might say, “If I may take the liberty Mr. Moderator, Kristin in the green room, we were discussing and I am confident that our audience wants to know how do you in financial services view the future.”I would take over as subtly as possible and acknowledge person you are taking the power from. You make the best of the bad situation. This is why you have to be over-prepared because you always have to think on your feet. Even if you are delivering a presentation and you know where you are going, you have to read the audience, you have to have the common sense to know, we need to lighten this up here or they need to be involved, go off the stage and engage them, you do the best preparation and then you have to be flexible. The longer you have been speaking, the longer you have been on the panels, the longer you have been a moderator, the better you get at it.
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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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