How to be a successful moderator

I have probably moderated around 100+ events for the Churchill Club over the last couple of years, and have realised that I now have a bit of experience moderating panels, which can be hard to come by.

Although I believe I have nothing on Narelle Kennedy of the Australian Business Foundation, who is by far the best moderator I have ever seen because of her ability to run a panel at a break-neck pace and keep the panellists honest, I have some thoughts I wanted to share on how to be a successful moderator.

Before the event: Do some research on the panellists and the topic so you don’t look like a fool on stage. Have enough questions prepared to move things along if the audience Q&A is a bit slow. Have either an agenda for the event to travel along, or a list of points that you feel you need to have covered. Also, make sure that the panellists are fully briefed on the mechanics and the objective of the event. I have also found, after suffering some considerable pain, that it’s an excellent idea to have the panellists reconfirm their attendance the week of the event.

At the start of the event: Initially you need to have a mechanism to gain the audience’s attention, then introduce yourself. You need to outline the rules of play – How long the event will go for, when/how to ask questions, whether the bar is still open, as well as some simple mechanics like “turn our mobiles to silent”, or Twitter feed hash tags. Finally, introduce your topic and panel without stealing their thunder.

During the event you need to remember that the audience is your customer. So keeping that in mind…

• You. Don’t show off or try to dominate the content – the audience is not there to listen to you, they are there to hear from the panel. Conversely, don’t be shy or unprepared to intervene in a speech. Your job is to extract the most from the panellists to benefit the audience and make sure the event flows.
• Your Panelists. You need to keep them on track and cut in if they go off track, drag things out, try to overtly sell themselves, hog the panel or are adding nothing with their answer. Also, don’t be shy – probe if they avoid answering a question, or catch them out if they contradict themselves.
• The Audience. Make sure everyone gets a chance to ask a question and keep track of who is waiting. If someone starts to make a speech but pretends it’s the start of their question, shut them down fast. My experience is that everyone is quite pleased if you are overly harsh on audience members trying to self promote. Also, don’t be scared of examining the question and cancelling it if it’s already been asked or too off track, or re jigging and re-asking it to improve clarity.

At the end of the event make sure panellists have the opportunity to let people know how to contact them, if they aren’t hanging around for an informal chat. Make sure you thank the panel on behalf of the audience, as well as thanking them later by email. And finally, make sure you thank the sponsors and make any closing remarks on behalf on the organisation putting on the panel.

Before I start any event I yawn (relaxes me) then smile (forces me to be happy and friendly). I also work the crowd afterwards for feedback and criticism. I may not change the way we do things, but I am certainly open to suggestions.

Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded: Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club and Flinders Pacific. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Vietnam and is the sole Australian representative of the City of London for Foreign Direct Investment. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.