What is your biggest fear during a panel discussion? Professional Panel Moderator Kristin Arnold asked this question of Joe Calloway, Business Keynote Speaker, panel moderator, and member of the US Speaker Hall of Fame.
Video Transcript
Kristin: Joe, do you ever have a fear that something will go wrong with your panel discussion, and what do you do to prevent that from happening?
Joe: Yeah, I think what it is- and I do this… this is great up to a point but I do it to a fault. I mean, it’s a good thing to want to do a great job for your client. I let that mess with my head a little bit. I mean I so want to do a good job that it can take me out of being ready and in to being anxious and nervous about it. And I guess, I don’t know, I guess I’m not sure what I’m afraid of except that it won’t…that the content and the message won’t deliver the level of value that I really want it to.
But that’s a good thing in that the way I do it is to dig really deep into what we referenced earlier which is “What’s going on with this company and how can I make it relevant?” I think that’s the word. I think my big fear is that I might be irrelevant or less relevant than I should be.
Because how many speakers have we all heard that our reaction was, “That was fine. I don’t disagree with any of it, but golly… give me something that I haven’t thought about or that I didn’t know or present something in a new way.” And so I just, I really want to be relevant and I think that’s what drives me to work really hard on every panel and the preparation for every panel and every presentation is this—I truly want to be as relevant as I can possibly be. And I want the panel to be relevant. I don’t want it to just fill up 15 minutes or fill up and hour; I want people to go, “Holy cow! That was incredible!”
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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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