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

• Event panels should only be included in the agenda if they provide value to attendees.
• Select a moderator who prioritises audience interest and encourages audience participation.
• Curate diverse panelists to promote different perspectives and viewpoints.
• Involve the audience from the beginning of the panel session to make them feel engaged and included.
• Consider alternative panel formats to make them more interesting and engaging.
• 
  

Chapters

00:00

Introduction: The Problem with Event Panels

05:33

Chapter 1: Making Panels Attendee-Centric

07:26

Chapter 2: The Role of the Moderator

12:00

Chapter 4: The Art of Panel Curation

16:44

Chapter 5: Involving the Audience

19:32

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:

WEBSITE

LINKEDIN

YOUTUBE

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

1:08

the actress Merill stre and you'll

1:10

probably remember her famous role in the

1:13

devil wees Prada when she played Miranda

1:15

Priestley the very famous and very

1:18

snooty fashion editor who had fabulously

1:21

mean on liners and the one that I always

1:24

think of on this subject that we're

1:26

going to be talking about today is when

1:27

she was discussing the upcoming coming

1:30

spring edition of the fashion Bible that

1:34

she edited and her team were being asked

1:36

to give ideas and somebody suggested um

1:38

floral patterns and she answers

1:41

something along the lines of florals for

1:44

spring groundbreaking in a sort of

1:46

terribly sarcastic way and imagine if it

1:49

was a movie about a legendary event

1:51

planner instead of a fashion editor you

1:53

could easily imagine them giving that

1:55

same response to a suggestion that they

1:57

add panels to the agenda of their event

2:00

because let's face it the event panel is

2:03

a firm fixture on pretty much every B2B

2:07

event agenda out there I don't think

2:10

I've ever hosted an event that didn't

2:12

have a panel on it um my God are they

2:15

most of the time very syy and very tired

2:18

and being done so badly so today I'm

2:22

asking is it time to retire the event

2:25

panel and send it on its way to the

2:28

maximum security Twilight event

2:31

retirement home in the

2:33

sky so to answer that let's have a look

2:36

at the event panel as most of us know it

2:39

it's around 40 to 60 minutes there's a

2:41

moderator anywhere from 3 to8 panelists

2:46

um everybody comes on and it could take

2:48

five minutes just to do the intros maybe

2:50

10 sometimes then the moderator goes

2:52

down the line asks some more the same

2:54

questions and then they all bang on till

2:56

about 5 minutes before the end of the

2:57

session when the moderator says oh hello

3:00

any questions from the audience um and

3:02

then maybe they get one or two and then

3:03

there's an infusive thank you with how

3:05

fabulous and fascinating and oh thank

3:07

you for so much different perspectives

3:09

and whatever and then they go off and

3:11

then the next lot of panelists clamber

3:13

onto the stage so far so blah right and

3:17

I know that this conversation is

3:18

probably freaking out a few event

3:19

organizers because you know you don't

3:21

want to hear the words the panel is dead

3:23

I mean we get it you guys love a panel

3:27

why because a panel gives you a lot it

3:31

gives sponsors something to pay for

3:33

sitting on a panel right a panel breaks

3:36

up um lots of sessions of speeches and

3:39

it makes the agenda look quite busy and

3:42

Lively it can be a really easy way to

3:44

add some diverse views and faces into

3:47

your agenda it is a really tried and

3:50

tested way to ensure that a new issue

3:53

that maybe you don't know much about but

3:54

attendees need to have in the agenda is

3:57

included and you don't have to do any of

3:59

the work on the content because if you

4:00

get all the experts together they'll

4:02

come up with a Content done and dusted

4:05

and of course most people are willing to

4:07

be on event panels for free so you don't

4:10

have to pay because everybody loves to

4:11

be thought of as important enough to be

4:13

able to say oh yes I've been asked to be

4:15

a panelist at this event you know it

4:16

gives them some gravitas it gives them a

4:18

sort of um a sense that their platform

4:20

is really valuable so all good right you

4:22

know for the event planner what about

4:26

the attendee what is good about a panel

4:29

for the attendee

4:30

because obviously that's what I'm all

4:31

about making events more attendee

4:34

Centric and that inherently is what is

4:37

wrong with panels for

4:39

me yes they're old and tired but it's

4:42

more that they're not being done with

4:43

the right

4:45

intention and that's what I want today

4:46

to be about how to make panels something

4:49

that attendees will love how to make

4:50

your panel attendee first attendee

4:53

Centric so actually I'm not saying the

4:55

panel is dead panic over but I'm saying

4:58

it really needs a reinvention and it

5:00

should only be a panel session on your

5:02

agenda if it is in the best interests of

5:04

your

5:05

attendee once you do that once you make

5:08

sure that that's the case then your

5:09

panel can be sexy again and you can keep

5:11

it in your agenda I promise so how do we

5:14

do that how do we make panels sexy again

5:17

well my top points when it comes to this

5:20

are one make sure that if you're having

5:23

a panel it is because it is the session

5:25

that will give your attendee the most

5:26

value and that it has earned its right

5:29

to be in your agenda for that

5:32

reason it's also that you've picked the

5:35

right moderator and if you can't get the

5:38

perfect moderator that you have trained

5:40

them to be the right moderator you are

5:42

also doing some Education and Training

5:44

of your panelists about what is expected

5:46

on this

5:47

panel and that you are including the

5:50

attendee Viewpoint from the very

5:51

beginning of the panel all the way

5:53

through so if that was all I was going

5:55

to say that's pretty short podcast and

5:57

misses out all the subtleties

6:00

no no no lots more for you so let's

6:03

start with that first point I made about

6:05

the session

6:08

itself I cannot tell you how often when

6:11

I see an agenda and then I ask the

6:12

planner why is this in the agenda what's

6:15

the point of it what do we want to get

6:16

from it what are the goals Etc I get a

6:18

blank look and they get sort of say um

6:20

oh well it's because you know like we

6:21

needed a session on that and we thought

6:23

it' be nice way of giving our sponsor a

6:25

role and also panelist a there wasn't

6:26

room to put them in a keynote on their

6:29

own or or it's an issue that people

6:30

already care about now blah blah blah

6:32

basically translated we don't actually

6:34

have a clue why but um it's in there and

6:37

actually if the title of the panel

6:38

session is still to be confirmed when I

6:40

first see the agenda draft that's often

6:42

very telling or if the title of it is

6:44

something like the future of whatever

6:46

the subject is or latest trendsin

6:48

subject Etc or something like that then

6:51

you can kind of pretty much guess that

6:53

that this the relevance to the attendee

6:55

has not been considered that much so

6:57

that's Point number one why it in your

6:59

agenda and why is it a panel and does

7:02

both the subject and the style of the

7:03

session focus on what the attendee wants

7:05

that needs to be done next point you've

7:07

done all that you've decided yes it

7:09

should be a panel session it's going to

7:11

be relevant this is the best way to do

7:13

this topic and it we've got a

7:14

justifiable reason for it fine now it

7:17

comes to picking the

7:19

moderator now when you are picking your

7:21

moderators for sessions at your events

7:22

what are your normal motivations is it

7:25

because the person you've chosen to be

7:27

moderator is the best of the panelists

7:29

that that you have lined up or they're

7:30

the one who answers the emails quickest

7:32

and is more organized so bam tick you're

7:34

giving them the the panelist the panel

7:36

moderator job is it because they're a

7:38

subject matter expert is it because they

7:40

are a sponsor who is paid to be the

7:42

panel host now if it is any of the above

7:46

then you are potentially not choosing

7:48

them for the right reasons because the

7:49

moderator's job is to manage the process

7:53

of the session the conversation the

7:55

connection between the panelists and the

7:57

audience Okay so agenda literally should

8:01

be the audience interest encouraging the

8:03

audience participation and

8:05

enjoyment the subject matter

8:08

expert or the sponsor will have their

8:11

own

8:12

agenda their profile their issue their

8:15

business whatever it is now you may have

8:18

gone for theem the subject matter expert

8:21

or the sponsor to moderate your panel

8:23

because you're assuming well they are

8:25

the experts they know the right

8:26

questions to ask it's easy we just give

8:28

it to them and they'll sort it but as

8:29

we've just established they've got their

8:31

own agenda and their questions and their

8:33

summarizing and everything else are

8:34

going to be naturally influenced by that

8:37

and actually you know

8:40

groundbreaking as merold Street would

8:42

say the moderator doesn't have to be an

8:44

expert on the subject because a great

8:46

moderator can research any topic and

8:49

most moderation isn't about the content

8:51

that's what the other panelists are

8:52

there for they're going to give the

8:54

content but you can't always afford

8:56

independent moderators and you may have

8:58

had to put a sponsor on or a specific

9:00

subject matter expert but what you can

9:02

do is you can train this person you can

9:06

help them learn that it's about

9:08

prioritizing the audience and you can

9:10

convince them that it's actually in

9:11

their best interest to do so because it

9:12

will make the panel so much better so

9:15

much more enjoyable and that's what

9:16

people will remember and go away and

9:17

love everyone who was on the panel

9:19

because it would have been so valuable

9:20

to them of course you don't have to call

9:22

it training because if they're a very

9:24

eminent person or an important sponsor

9:26

they're not going to think they

9:27

necessarily need training but I think

9:29

was episode 8 when we discussed about

9:30

getting your event contributors to

9:32

become attendee first it's there's ways

9:34

of getting them on board you know you

9:36

invite them to meeting say listen we

9:38

want to make this something really

9:39

different this event we want to make it

9:41

where attendees get super involved in

9:42

everything and we really want you to be

9:44

part of it please help us do that set

9:47

that boundary moderators have to come to

9:48

a pre-event meeting have to come to some

9:50

meetings with us beforeand so you can

9:52

then get that kind of information across

9:54

anyway so part of the training is

9:57

introductions now it might seem a small

9:59

thing it's actually really important now

10:01

some people think we should sack

10:03

introductions on panels alt together the

10:04

guru of panels actually Kristen Arnold

10:07

she's actually written a book on it's

10:08

great she says we shouldn't bother with

10:11

them because all the information about

10:12

who's going to be talking should be on

10:13

the event app or in the brochure or

10:15

somewhere in all the event bump and

10:17

people can find out who it is and know

10:19

who it is they proba already made the

10:20

decision to come to the session based on

10:22

who's in the panel but I would say I

10:26

think you still do need introductions

10:27

because lots of people my myself

10:29

included don't always read all the bump

10:32

um there's a lot going on your lives are

10:34

busy you may be going from lots of

10:35

different events lots of different

10:36

things so it's quite handy to quickly

10:37

see who's on the panel and understand

10:39

why they're there and their relevant and

10:41

that's actually it it's quick so the

10:43

moderator comes on and does quick

10:44

introductions because if you allow

10:45

people to do their own introductions

10:47

that way Madness lies people waffle and

10:50

then you are eating into your important

10:52

session time and you are limiting the

10:54

opportunities that you have to engage

10:56

your Audience by doing so so that needs

10:58

to be part of moderator's job um getting

11:00

that nice and tight and that will be

11:02

part of their preparation moderators

11:04

need to prepare questions that are going

11:06

to be valid for different members of the

11:08

panel so that you are not just asking

11:10

everybody the same question and going

11:12

down the line saying and what do you

11:13

think and what do you think and what do

11:14

you think that's so boring and very

11:17

repetitive and it is not a discussion

11:19

and and it's not encouraging engagement

11:21

either you really want the panelists to

11:22

be engaging with each other you you want

11:24

to be controlling the conversation you

11:25

don't want to be running it if that

11:27

makes sense so so you want it to be

11:30

a back and forth between people on the

11:32

panel and of course also the audience

11:34

again talk about that in a minute and

11:36

you want to be asking people for things

11:37

like for instances and examples rather

11:40

than you know letting them give sales

11:41

pitches if they start to do that you

11:43

want to be as moderator strong enough to

11:44

cut that off you want to just get that

11:47

side of things knocked on the head

11:49

quickly no sales okay so there's an idea

11:52

for some of the training for the

11:53

moderator and and assuming you've got

11:55

them sorted and understanding what their

11:57

roles are get the panelists right please

12:00

now this is actually a really big job

12:02

curating a panel needs some art and some

12:05

intention it's not just oh yeah these

12:08

five people talk about that subject

12:09

whoop them on the panel you really want

12:12

diverse views and perspectives not a

12:14

bunch of yes I Echo that view types

12:17

disagreement is a great way to learn and

12:21

you shouldn't be afraid of controversy

12:23

or the unexpected surprise is good it it

12:28

it stirs things in us it's emotional and

12:31

actually want people to feel emotion

12:34

because it makes the session exciting

12:36

thought provoking and memorable for all

12:38

the right reasons and of course it is

12:40

very possible to argue calmly and

12:42

without ranker um at business events

12:45

we're not all crazy politicians who are

12:47

all being unpleasant and trying to um

12:49

and trying to win votes we are grown-ups

12:52

discussing and potentially disagreeing

12:54

and that's fine and also many members of

12:56

your audience May disagree with you and

12:58

that doesn't mean that you're session is

12:59

wrong you don't want 100% agreement

13:02

disagreement is how we learn different

13:04

perspectives and

13:05

viewpoints so how many panelists do you

13:08

want well you need to think a little bit

13:11

here about your timings for example if

13:13

you've got four people on a panel and

13:15

the moderator and you've got a 30 minute

13:17

session that is going to mean if you're

13:19

totally fair with the amount of time

13:21

everybody has and you're including the

13:23

audience I seeing the audience as

13:25

another voice then that's five voices to

13:28

hear hear from in 30 minutes and that

13:31

means that really there's only 6 minutes

13:33

for each person to

13:35

talk so that's not a lot if you want

13:39

four questions or four points discussed

13:41

so I think for me the perfect number is

13:44

three plus the moderator and the

13:46

audience so three panelists a moderator

13:49

and the audience so essentially five

13:51

entities they all get you know over 10

13:54

minutes um in 45 minutes because

13:57

obviously the moderator can be a lot

13:59

tighter they should be able to get their

14:00

questions and their responses and their

14:02

intros and stuff down to about 5 minutes

14:05

if they've done the preparation so

14:07

therefore 45 minutes for three

14:10

panelists a moderator and the

14:15

audience so now just as we talked about

14:18

training your moderator you need to do

14:20

preparation with the panelists you need

14:22

to get them all in a call beforehand

14:24

because winging it is for the birds not

14:27

for your amazing panel that you're

14:28

attending are going to

14:30

love so this actually helps everybody as

14:33

well it helps the panelist too because

14:34

it helps build some chemistry beforehand

14:36

it sets

14:37

expectations and it also makes people

14:39

who are a little bit nervous about being

14:40

on the panel a little bit more confident

14:42

they understand it it's so important as

14:44

a human being when you're going to do

14:45

something new or meet a whole lot of new

14:47

people and you're going to be on a stage

14:48

that you understand what it's all going

14:50

to be like and what's expected of you it

14:52

just feels a little bit safer and and

14:54

also you're making friends that way

14:55

beforehand which is always lovely to go

14:57

on stage knowing everybody it's also

14:59

good because then the moderator can

15:00

think okay I know who the big talkers

15:02

are going to be and the ones that I'm

15:03

going to need to draw out more I now

15:05

know all the different perspectives of

15:06

where they're coming from I can see the

15:08

point that they're really going to want

15:09

to be making I can be saying to them

15:11

okay how relevant is that to the

15:12

audience is this what audiences care

15:14

about can you make sure that when you

15:15

give us your answer you give examples

15:17

that the audience is going to understand

15:19

all those kind of things you get ideas

15:20

as well about how you're going to

15:21

introduce them soly remember that's

15:23

going to be part of what you do a very

15:25

tight little introduction now it's

15:28

really good as well there you are

15:30

setting boundaries for the panelist you

15:32

are saying listen I want you to have

15:34

tight good answers that you thought

15:36

about I don't want you to rehearse them

15:38

I don't want you to have any notes be

15:40

conversational I want you to also ask

15:41

questions of each other you can also get

15:43

ideas from them about questions that you

15:45

could ask the audience to encourage

15:47

audience engagement and set boundaries

15:49

you can also say things like please

15:51

don't waste time with lines that people

15:54

tend to put out there they sometimes

15:56

everyone sometimes people on a panel

15:58

seem to think they're on the breakfast

15:59

so far and they have to say thanks CLA

16:01

for that great question and then go into

16:03

none of that that's not what you do in a

16:04

normal conversation this is a

16:06

conversation on a stage in front of

16:07

other people that are also going to come

16:09

in and say stuff you wouldn't say great

16:12

question Claire

16:13

to would you you just wouldn't so don't

16:16

do it on the panel and make sure that

16:18

you kind of politely say that to people

16:21

I I I see it more and more and it makes

16:23

me cringe anyway my cringing apart it's

16:26

now time to talk about what I think is

16:29

arguably the most important part of the

16:30

panel and that is getting the audience

16:33

to become part of this panel session

16:35

because that's what I'm all about

16:36

bringing in the attendee as much as

16:39

possible putting them at the heart of it

16:42

now recently heard that the first 60

16:45

seconds of a panel are what it's all

16:47

about so you can annoy the audience

16:50

straight away straight away by doing the

16:54

same thing walking on and waffling if

16:56

you come on and the moderator says hi

16:59

I'm clar I'm the moderator very quick in

17:01

this is who I am super quick super quick

17:03

as I said even about yourself now I want

17:05

to ask you guys a question before I

17:06

bring on the rest of the panel you've

17:08

already sort of fed encoded to the

17:11

audience that they're part of the panel

17:12

and it's super easy to do and they're

17:14

suddenly like oh okay this isn't one

17:16

where I'm just going to sit back and ask

17:17

questions at the end I can be

17:19

involved and it's then brilliant you've

17:22

already got them on your side and you've

17:25

also kind of set boundaries that it's

17:27

not going to be just about the the panel

17:29

boring at you we want to hear from you

17:30

you are the fourth

17:32

panelist now one of the reasons that

17:34

panels fail is because there's no

17:36

preparation sometimes though it's quite

17:38

hard if you've got a subject that is

17:40

very broad like AI or diversity equity

17:44

and inclusion you don't always know the

17:46

knowledge of your entire audience on

17:48

this and so one of the great ways to get

17:51

them involved and make them feel that

17:52

you care about them is by right at the

17:55

beginning kind of sort of getting some

17:56

polling going about what people's level

17:58

of knowledge is and I think in many

18:01

subject that can be the case because you

18:03

can have a very broad group of people in

18:05

the room for example events for events

18:07

people we're all coming from totally

18:09

different perspectives and I might not

18:10

know about the detail of um event

18:14

production I have an interest in it

18:16

because obviously it's something I deal

18:17

with but when I go to an event I'm not

18:19

an absolute Pro on it so I need it to be

18:23

delivered at a level I understand and if

18:24

somebody tries to find at the beginning

18:26

where are where we all sit with and

18:28

polling which is super easy to do now

18:30

you can ask a few questions and get a

18:32

really quick answer that's a great way

18:34

to start and also if you have a very big

18:36

audience you might be stuck essentially

18:39

with polling as the only interaction for

18:42

them Beyond getting hands up and stuff

18:44

like that because it might be too

18:46

difficult in a huge room but I would try

18:48

and avoid that if you can if you can try

18:49

and do any form of getting an audience

18:51

involved even on a very small level for

18:54

example when you poll people and it

18:56

comes back with um 15% of the people

18:58

there don't agree with something that

19:00

everybody else has agreed with you might

19:01

be able to say hey is there anyone in

19:03

the front who we can get a microphone to

19:05

who is part of that

19:06

15% um we really want to hear why

19:09

because you might only get that one

19:11

person's answer but they are kind of

19:13

Representative of that 15% and then that

19:15

15% will feel a bit validated you've

19:17

given them some representation so I hope

19:20

you've got from what I've just been

19:22

saying that there are lots of ways you

19:23

can get the audience involved and engage

19:26

them and that you need to be asking the

19:28

audience questions not just saying to

19:30

the audience have you got any questions

19:32

now so I think this has potentially been

19:34

quite a long podcast so far or it's

19:36

certainly in danger of becoming one of

19:38

my longest and I never want to bang on

19:40

too much I just want to leave you with

19:42

one final point which is if you have an

19:45

event coming up and you are now thinking

19:47

oh my god I've got too many panels and I

19:50

can't really justify the existence of

19:51

them and I'm doing it or wrong help I

19:53

can't change it you can change a few

19:55

things I want you to think there are

19:57

different ways to make your panels a

19:59

little bit more diverse and a little bit

20:00

more interesting if you know you've got

20:02

one where there's very diverse opinions

20:04

on it you can say let's set this up more

20:06

as a debate you could have two lect

20:08

turns you could have the moderator

20:10

sitting there as if it's a kind of

20:11

presidential debate and and that's not

20:14

too difficult to set up then the next

20:16

panel we're going to have three people

20:18

on we're going to get the each of them

20:21

to speak for say eight minutes each and

20:24

then to quiz each other on their points

20:26

and obviously still take questions from

20:28

the audience so that's likly breaking it

20:29

up a little bit you can also it's a

20:32

smaller group thing we've got our three

20:34

guests who are going to have three

20:35

different points of view or three

20:37

different subjects they talk about it

20:38

quickly and then everybody in the

20:40

audience picks which one they're going

20:41

to go to talk to afterwards and then you

20:43

have little smaller breakout sessions in

20:44

that panel depending how large it is and

20:47

of course there are so many different

20:48

ways to do this I hopefully have given

20:50

you some idea do get in touch if you

20:52

want to discuss more options for what

20:54

you could do in panels if you've got

20:56

your own ideas share them on social Med

20:58

media tag me in I'd love to hear about

21:00

it and I look forward to seeing you on

21:03

the next not the same as last year

21:11

podcast