How to Moderate a Panel: Why Panels Fail in the Green Room

Panels fail in the green room, not on stage. No agreed themes means four speeches and no conversation.

Moderating a panel discussion means doing most of the work before the room exists. You agree the themes with each panellist, write a question plan you are willing to abandon, and then protect the conversation on stage. Skip the first two and you get four speeches and no conversation. Let the airtime run unchecked and the loudest voice wins while the audience checks their phones.

This is how I do it as a panel moderator and conference host and MC working across the UK. If you are organising an event and need to find a conference moderator in the UK, it is also a fair test of what to expect from whoever you book.

What a moderator is for

A moderator is not a fifth panellist. You are there to make three or four people sound better together than they would alone, and to make sure the audience gets an answer to the question they actually came with. That means you talk less than anyone else on the stage. It also means you are the only person up there who is responsible for the room rather than for their own reputation.

A panel done well is the best hour of a conference. Done badly, it is the slot where the room goes for coffee. The difference is rarely the panellists. It is the preparation.

A week out: agree the themes with every panellist

I book a short call with each panellist a week or so before the event. Not a group call. People are more honest one to one, and you need that honesty to build a conversation. I ask the same four things.

• What do you want the audience to take away?
• Where do you disagree with the others on the panel, or with the received wisdom in your industry?
• What is the story or example you tell best?
• What would you rather not be asked?

From those calls I build a simple map. The two or three themes the session needs to cover, who holds which view, and where the friction is. The friction matters most. A panel where everybody agrees is a series of nods. A panel with one honest disagreement, handled with respect, is the part people talk about at lunch.

I learned this running TOG Talks for The Office Group, hosting and leading panels for a room of founders and workspace members who could tell within two minutes whether the conversation was real. That call is where the panel is made. The microphone is just where it is delivered.

Write a question plan, then be ready to drop it

Once the themes are agreed, I write a question plan and share it with the panellists in advance. Nobody should be ambushed on stage. The plan has three parts.

• An opening question only one panellist can answer. Something specific to their experience. Then bring the others in against it. It starts a conversation rather than a round of answers.
• Two or three themed blocks. Each has one main question and a couple of follow-ups. The follow-ups are where the good material lives.
• A closing question. Usually some version of "what should people in this room do differently on Monday?"

Then I hold it loosely. If a panellist says something better than the next question on my card, I follow them. The plan exists so you have somewhere to come back to, not so you can tick it off.

On the day: introductions and the first question

Meet the panellists before they walk on, even for five minutes. Confirm the seating order, how audience questions will work and the time you finish. Check the microphones with the technical team. Check every name and how to pronounce it.

Keep introductions to one line each. Nobody came for the biographies. If the organiser wants the full credentials, put them on the screen or in the programme. One line on why this person is on this panel is all the room needs, and it gets you to the first question inside two minutes.

Then ask the opening question and listen properly. The audience takes its cue from you. If you look interested, so will they.

How to balance airtime in a panel discussion

Airtime is the moderator's main job on stage, and it is the one most often got wrong. Left alone, a panel discussion drifts towards the most confident speaker. The quieter panellist is often the one with the most useful answer.

• Keep a rough mental tally of who has spoken and for how long.
• Bring people in by name with a specific prompt. "Sam, you said on our call that you see this differently" works far better than "anyone else?"
• Use the disagreement map. Point one view at another and let the panellists talk to each other, not to you.
• Watch the audience as much as the panel. When the room goes still, the conversation is working. When the phones come out, move on.

When a panellist starts a speech

It will happen. Someone arrives with a prepared speech and the conversation becomes the vehicle for it. Interrupting politely is a skill, and it is part of what you were booked for.

Wait for a breath, use their name, and give them credit for the point before you move it on. "That is a really useful point about cost, and I want to put it to Sam, because I know she sees it differently." The panellist feels heard, the audience feels relieved and the conversation moves. If you agreed the format on the pre-call, nobody is surprised when you step in.

Do it early in the session. Once the room has seen you step in once, kindly, everyone on the panel keeps their answers shorter.

Running audience Q&A with structure

Audience Q&A is where a good panel either lands or loses the room. A little structure keeps it on track.

• Tell the room when Q&A will start and how long it will run, so people prepare a question rather than a speech.
• Take questions in twos. It gives the panel a choice and keeps the pace up.
• Ask for a name and organisation, then the question in one sentence.
• If a question turns into a statement, thank them and sharpen it. "So the question for the panel is whether..." does the job without embarrassing anyone.
• Repeat the question on the microphone so the whole room and any online audience hear it.
• For a hybrid or live-streamed panel, agree with production how online questions reach you, and bring them in by name so the remote audience feels included.

Have one question of your own ready in case the room is slow to start. The first question is always the hardest one to get.

Closing the panel

Close with one line from each panellist, not a summary from you. Ask for the one thing they want the room to remember, or to do. Then thank them, thank the audience and hand back to the host or the next session on time. Finishing on time is a courtesy to every speaker who follows you. If the day is tight, this is where the running order earns its keep.

A short checklist for moderators

• A short call with each panellist a week out.
• Two or three agreed themes and at least one honest disagreement.
• A question plan shared in advance and held loosely on the day.
• Names and pronunciations checked, one-line introductions written.
• The finish time and the Q&A format agreed with the producer.
• One question of your own ready for the audience.
• A closing line from each panellist, then hand back on time.

The same principles apply to a one-to-one conversation on stage. I wrote about that in how to run a live interview on stage.

In one line

Panels fail in the green room, not on stage. No agreed themes means four speeches and no conversation.

Questions people ask

I am Rhys Morris, an event host, MC and compere working UK-wide, and CEO & Founder of TRM Flex. If you have a panel discussion coming up and want it to be a conversation, send the date and the brief and I will reply within one working day.