Panels are a classic event format, but are they still fit for purpose?
In the latest episode of Not The Same As Last Year, Clare Forestier discusses the effectiveness of event panels and suggests ways to make them more attendee-centric. She highlights the common structure of panels, where panelists give intros, answer questions, and have limited audience engagement.
Clare argues that panels should only be included in the agenda if they provide value to attendees. She emphasizes the importance of selecting the right moderator who prioritizes audience interest and encourages audience participation. Clare also suggests curating diverse panelists and involving the audience from the beginning of the session. She concludes by offering alternative panel formats to make them more interesting and engaging.
Takeaways
Chapters
Introduction: The Problem with Event Panels
Chapter 1: Making Panels Attendee-Centric
Chapter 2: The Role of the Moderator
Chapter 4: The Art of Panel Curation
Chapter 5: Involving the Audience
Chapter 6: Exploring Alternative Panel Formats
Ready to dive deeper? Download your free guide, five ways to elevate your attendee experience without breaking the bank HERE
Connect with Clare:
hello and welcome to the latest episode
1:04
of not the same as last year now if
1:06
you're anything like me you are a fan of
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the actress Merill stre and you'll
1:10
probably remember her famous role in the
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devil wees Prada when she played Miranda
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Priestley the very famous and very
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snooty fashion editor who had fabulously
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mean on liners and the one that I always
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think of on this subject that we're
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going to be talking about today is when
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she was discussing the upcoming coming
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spring edition of the fashion Bible that
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she edited and her team were being asked
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to give ideas and somebody suggested um
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floral patterns and she answers
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something along the lines of florals for
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spring groundbreaking in a sort of
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terribly sarcastic way and imagine if it
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was a movie about a legendary event
1:51
planner instead of a fashion editor you
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could easily imagine them giving that
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same response to a suggestion that they
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add panels to the agenda of their event
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because let's face it the event panel is
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a firm fixture on pretty much every B2B
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event agenda out there I don't think
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I've ever hosted an event that didn't
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have a panel on it um my God are they
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most of the time very syy and very tired
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and being done so badly so today I'm
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asking is it time to retire the event
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panel and send it on its way to the
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maximum security Twilight event
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retirement home in the
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sky so to answer that let's have a look
2:36
at the event panel as most of us know it
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it's around 40 to 60 minutes there's a
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moderator anywhere from 3 to8 panelists
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um everybody comes on and it could take
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five minutes just to do the intros maybe
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10 sometimes then the moderator goes
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down the line asks some more the same
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questions and then they all bang on till
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about 5 minutes before the end of the
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session when the moderator says oh hello
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any questions from the audience um and
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then maybe they get one or two and then
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there's an infusive thank you with how
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fabulous and fascinating and oh thank
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you for so much different perspectives
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and whatever and then they go off and
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then the next lot of panelists clamber
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onto the stage so far so blah right and
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I know that this conversation is
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probably freaking out a few event
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organizers because you know you don't
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want to hear the words the panel is dead
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I mean we get it you guys love a panel
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why because a panel gives you a lot it
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gives sponsors something to pay for
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sitting on a panel right a panel breaks
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up um lots of sessions of speeches and
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it makes the agenda look quite busy and
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Lively it can be a really easy way to
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add some diverse views and faces into
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your agenda it is a really tried and
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tested way to ensure that a new issue
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that maybe you don't know much about but
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attendees need to have in the agenda is
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included and you don't have to do any of
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the work on the content because if you
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get all the experts together they'll
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come up with a Content done and dusted
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and of course most people are willing to
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be on event panels for free so you don't
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have to pay because everybody loves to
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be thought of as important enough to be
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able to say oh yes I've been asked to be
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a panelist at this event you know it
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gives them some gravitas it gives them a
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sort of um a sense that their platform
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is really valuable so all good right you
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know for the event planner what about
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the attendee what is good about a panel
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for the attendee
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because obviously that's what I'm all
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about making events more attendee
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Centric and that inherently is what is
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wrong with panels for
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me yes they're old and tired but it's
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more that they're not being done with
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the right
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intention and that's what I want today
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to be about how to make panels something
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that attendees will love how to make
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your panel attendee first attendee
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Centric so actually I'm not saying the
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panel is dead panic over but I'm saying
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it really needs a reinvention and it
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should only be a panel session on your
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agenda if it is in the best interests of
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your
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attendee once you do that once you make
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sure that that's the case then your
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panel can be sexy again and you can keep
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it in your agenda I promise so how do we
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do that how do we make panels sexy again
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well my top points when it comes to this
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are one make sure that if you're having
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a panel it is because it is the session
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that will give your attendee the most
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value and that it has earned its right
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to be in your agenda for that
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reason it's also that you've picked the
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right moderator and if you can't get the
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perfect moderator that you have trained
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them to be the right moderator you are
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also doing some Education and Training
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of your panelists about what is expected
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on this
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panel and that you are including the
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attendee Viewpoint from the very
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beginning of the panel all the way
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through so if that was all I was going
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to say that's pretty short podcast and
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misses out all the subtleties
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no no no lots more for you so let's
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start with that first point I made about
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the session
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itself I cannot tell you how often when
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I see an agenda and then I ask the
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planner why is this in the agenda what's
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the point of it what do we want to get
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from it what are the goals Etc I get a
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blank look and they get sort of say um
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oh well it's because you know like we
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needed a session on that and we thought
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it' be nice way of giving our sponsor a
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role and also panelist a there wasn't
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room to put them in a keynote on their
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own or or it's an issue that people
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already care about now blah blah blah
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basically translated we don't actually
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have a clue why but um it's in there and
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actually if the title of the panel
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session is still to be confirmed when I
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first see the agenda draft that's often
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very telling or if the title of it is
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something like the future of whatever
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the subject is or latest trendsin
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subject Etc or something like that then
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you can kind of pretty much guess that
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that this the relevance to the attendee
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has not been considered that much so
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that's Point number one why it in your
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agenda and why is it a panel and does
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both the subject and the style of the
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session focus on what the attendee wants
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that needs to be done next point you've
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done all that you've decided yes it
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should be a panel session it's going to
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be relevant this is the best way to do
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this topic and it we've got a
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justifiable reason for it fine now it
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comes to picking the
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moderator now when you are picking your
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moderators for sessions at your events
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what are your normal motivations is it
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because the person you've chosen to be
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moderator is the best of the panelists
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that that you have lined up or they're
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the one who answers the emails quickest
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and is more organized so bam tick you're
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giving them the the panelist the panel
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moderator job is it because they're a
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subject matter expert is it because they
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are a sponsor who is paid to be the
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panel host now if it is any of the above
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then you are potentially not choosing
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them for the right reasons because the
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moderator's job is to manage the process
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of the session the conversation the
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connection between the panelists and the
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audience Okay so agenda literally should
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be the audience interest encouraging the
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audience participation and
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enjoyment the subject matter
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expert or the sponsor will have their
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own
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agenda their profile their issue their
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business whatever it is now you may have
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gone for theem the subject matter expert
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or the sponsor to moderate your panel
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because you're assuming well they are
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the experts they know the right
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questions to ask it's easy we just give
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it to them and they'll sort it but as
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we've just established they've got their
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own agenda and their questions and their
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summarizing and everything else are
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going to be naturally influenced by that
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and actually you know
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groundbreaking as merold Street would
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say the moderator doesn't have to be an
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expert on the subject because a great
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moderator can research any topic and
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most moderation isn't about the content
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that's what the other panelists are
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there for they're going to give the
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content but you can't always afford
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independent moderators and you may have
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had to put a sponsor on or a specific
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subject matter expert but what you can
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do is you can train this person you can
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help them learn that it's about
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prioritizing the audience and you can
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convince them that it's actually in
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their best interest to do so because it
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will make the panel so much better so
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much more enjoyable and that's what
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people will remember and go away and
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love everyone who was on the panel
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because it would have been so valuable
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to them of course you don't have to call
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it training because if they're a very
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eminent person or an important sponsor
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they're not going to think they
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necessarily need training but I think
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was episode 8 when we discussed about
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getting your event contributors to
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become attendee first it's there's ways
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of getting them on board you know you
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invite them to meeting say listen we
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want to make this something really
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different this event we want to make it
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where attendees get super involved in
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everything and we really want you to be
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part of it please help us do that set
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that boundary moderators have to come to
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a pre-event meeting have to come to some
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meetings with us beforeand so you can
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then get that kind of information across
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anyway so part of the training is
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introductions now it might seem a small
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thing it's actually really important now
some people think we should sack
introductions on panels alt together the
guru of panels actually Kristen Arnold
she's actually written a book on it's
great she says we shouldn't bother with
them because all the information about
who's going to be talking should be on
the event app or in the brochure or
somewhere in all the event bump and
people can find out who it is and know
who it is they proba already made the
decision to come to the session based on
who's in the panel but I would say I
think you still do need introductions
because lots of people my myself
included don't always read all the bump
um there's a lot going on your lives are
busy you may be going from lots of
different events lots of different
things so it's quite handy to quickly
see who's on the panel and understand
why they're there and their relevant and
that's actually it it's quick so the
moderator comes on and does quick
introductions because if you allow
people to do their own introductions
that way Madness lies people waffle and
then you are eating into your important
session time and you are limiting the
opportunities that you have to engage
your Audience by doing so so that needs
to be part of moderator's job um getting
that nice and tight and that will be
part of their preparation moderators
need to prepare questions that are going
to be valid for different members of the
panel so that you are not just asking
everybody the same question and going
down the line saying and what do you
think and what do you think and what do
you think that's so boring and very
repetitive and it is not a discussion
and and it's not encouraging engagement
either you really want the panelists to
be engaging with each other you you want
to be controlling the conversation you
don't want to be running it if that
makes sense so so you want it to be
a back and forth between people on the
panel and of course also the audience
again talk about that in a minute and
you want to be asking people for things
like for instances and examples rather
than you know letting them give sales
pitches if they start to do that you
want to be as moderator strong enough to
cut that off you want to just get that
side of things knocked on the head
quickly no sales okay so there's an idea
for some of the training for the
moderator and and assuming you've got
them sorted and understanding what their
roles are get the panelists right please
now this is actually a really big job
curating a panel needs some art and some
intention it's not just oh yeah these
five people talk about that subject
whoop them on the panel you really want
diverse views and perspectives not a
bunch of yes I Echo that view types
disagreement is a great way to learn and
you shouldn't be afraid of controversy
or the unexpected surprise is good it it
it stirs things in us it's emotional and
actually want people to feel emotion
because it makes the session exciting
thought provoking and memorable for all
the right reasons and of course it is
very possible to argue calmly and
without ranker um at business events
we're not all crazy politicians who are
all being unpleasant and trying to um
and trying to win votes we are grown-ups
discussing and potentially disagreeing
and that's fine and also many members of
your audience May disagree with you and
that doesn't mean that you're session is
wrong you don't want 100% agreement
disagreement is how we learn different
perspectives and
viewpoints so how many panelists do you
want well you need to think a little bit
here about your timings for example if
you've got four people on a panel and
the moderator and you've got a 30 minute
session that is going to mean if you're
totally fair with the amount of time
everybody has and you're including the
audience I seeing the audience as
another voice then that's five voices to
hear hear from in 30 minutes and that
means that really there's only 6 minutes
for each person to
talk so that's not a lot if you want
four questions or four points discussed
so I think for me the perfect number is
three plus the moderator and the
audience so three panelists a moderator
and the audience so essentially five
entities they all get you know over 10
minutes um in 45 minutes because
obviously the moderator can be a lot
tighter they should be able to get their
questions and their responses and their
intros and stuff down to about 5 minutes
if they've done the preparation so
therefore 45 minutes for three
panelists a moderator and the
audience so now just as we talked about
training your moderator you need to do
preparation with the panelists you need
to get them all in a call beforehand
because winging it is for the birds not
for your amazing panel that you're
attending are going to
love so this actually helps everybody as
well it helps the panelist too because
it helps build some chemistry beforehand
it sets
expectations and it also makes people
who are a little bit nervous about being
on the panel a little bit more confident
they understand it it's so important as
a human being when you're going to do
something new or meet a whole lot of new
people and you're going to be on a stage
that you understand what it's all going
to be like and what's expected of you it
just feels a little bit safer and and
also you're making friends that way
beforehand which is always lovely to go
on stage knowing everybody it's also
good because then the moderator can
think okay I know who the big talkers
are going to be and the ones that I'm
going to need to draw out more I now
know all the different perspectives of
where they're coming from I can see the
point that they're really going to want
to be making I can be saying to them
okay how relevant is that to the
audience is this what audiences care
about can you make sure that when you
give us your answer you give examples
that the audience is going to understand
all those kind of things you get ideas
as well about how you're going to
introduce them soly remember that's
going to be part of what you do a very
tight little introduction now it's
really good as well there you are
setting boundaries for the panelist you
are saying listen I want you to have
tight good answers that you thought
about I don't want you to rehearse them
I don't want you to have any notes be
conversational I want you to also ask
questions of each other you can also get
ideas from them about questions that you
could ask the audience to encourage
audience engagement and set boundaries
you can also say things like please
don't waste time with lines that people
tend to put out there they sometimes
everyone sometimes people on a panel
seem to think they're on the breakfast
so far and they have to say thanks CLA
for that great question and then go into
none of that that's not what you do in a
normal conversation this is a
conversation on a stage in front of
other people that are also going to come
in and say stuff you wouldn't say great
question Claire
to would you you just wouldn't so don't
do it on the panel and make sure that
you kind of politely say that to people
I I I see it more and more and it makes
me cringe anyway my cringing apart it's
now time to talk about what I think is
arguably the most important part of the
panel and that is getting the audience
to become part of this panel session
because that's what I'm all about
bringing in the attendee as much as
possible putting them at the heart of it
now recently heard that the first 60
seconds of a panel are what it's all
about so you can annoy the audience
straight away straight away by doing the
same thing walking on and waffling if
you come on and the moderator says hi
I'm clar I'm the moderator very quick in
this is who I am super quick super quick
as I said even about yourself now I want
to ask you guys a question before I
bring on the rest of the panel you've
already sort of fed encoded to the
audience that they're part of the panel
and it's super easy to do and they're
suddenly like oh okay this isn't one
where I'm just going to sit back and ask
questions at the end I can be
involved and it's then brilliant you've
already got them on your side and you've
also kind of set boundaries that it's
not going to be just about the the panel
boring at you we want to hear from you
you are the fourth
panelist now one of the reasons that
panels fail is because there's no
preparation sometimes though it's quite
hard if you've got a subject that is
very broad like AI or diversity equity
and inclusion you don't always know the
knowledge of your entire audience on
this and so one of the great ways to get
them involved and make them feel that
you care about them is by right at the
beginning kind of sort of getting some
polling going about what people's level
of knowledge is and I think in many
subject that can be the case because you
can have a very broad group of people in
the room for example events for events
people we're all coming from totally
different perspectives and I might not
know about the detail of um event
production I have an interest in it
because obviously it's something I deal
with but when I go to an event I'm not
an absolute Pro on it so I need it to be
delivered at a level I understand and if
somebody tries to find at the beginning
where are where we all sit with and
polling which is super easy to do now
you can ask a few questions and get a
really quick answer that's a great way
to start and also if you have a very big
audience you might be stuck essentially
with polling as the only interaction for
them Beyond getting hands up and stuff
like that because it might be too
difficult in a huge room but I would try
and avoid that if you can if you can try
and do any form of getting an audience
involved even on a very small level for
example when you poll people and it
comes back with um 15% of the people
there don't agree with something that
everybody else has agreed with you might
be able to say hey is there anyone in
the front who we can get a microphone to
who is part of that
15% um we really want to hear why
because you might only get that one
person's answer but they are kind of
Representative of that 15% and then that
15% will feel a bit validated you've
given them some representation so I hope
you've got from what I've just been
saying that there are lots of ways you
can get the audience involved and engage
them and that you need to be asking the
audience questions not just saying to
the audience have you got any questions
now so I think this has potentially been
quite a long podcast so far or it's
certainly in danger of becoming one of
my longest and I never want to bang on
too much I just want to leave you with
one final point which is if you have an
event coming up and you are now thinking
oh my god I've got too many panels and I
can't really justify the existence of
them and I'm doing it or wrong help I
can't change it you can change a few
things I want you to think there are
different ways to make your panels a
little bit more diverse and a little bit
more interesting if you know you've got
one where there's very diverse opinions
on it you can say let's set this up more
as a debate you could have two lect
turns you could have the moderator
sitting there as if it's a kind of
presidential debate and and that's not
too difficult to set up then the next
panel we're going to have three people
on we're going to get the each of them
to speak for say eight minutes each and
then to quiz each other on their points
and obviously still take questions from
the audience so that's likly breaking it
up a little bit you can also it's a
smaller group thing we've got our three
guests who are going to have three
different points of view or three
different subjects they talk about it
quickly and then everybody in the
audience picks which one they're going
to go to talk to afterwards and then you
have little smaller breakout sessions in
that panel depending how large it is and
of course there are so many different
ways to do this I hopefully have given
you some idea do get in touch if you
want to discuss more options for what
you could do in panels if you've got
your own ideas share them on social Med
media tag me in I'd love to hear about
it and I look forward to seeing you on
the next not the same as last year
podcast
