Let’s just say it. No one really likes a panel discussion. Sure, it’s fun for those on the panel, if you like that sort of thing, but for those of us sitting passively in the audience, they are tedious more often than they are effective. I recently attended an industry event that had a number of panels, many of which were quite compelling, and it got me reflecting on when panels are useful and what makes them work. Here’s where I landed.
When to use (and not use) a panel
Panels are a (relatively) easy thing to throw together, and ostensibly a valuable use of time: gather some experts to talk about something topical and draw in the crowds. Easy enough to coordinate that they are often used in cases where they should not be. Biggest culprit: lazy knowledge transfer. You’ve got a captive audience, so you get a group of people on a panel to tell them about things that are new or things they should know. The problem here is that it is often uninspired and ephemeral. After a few minutes, you can see the audience’s eyes glaze and people start tuning out. How much will anyone remember? Likely very little. And if that knowledge is something people will later need to apply, good luck. Find a different method for this, please. There are many.
Another major misuse of panels is for trotting out the titles. I’ve listened to many a panel where one or more of the people on it had an impressive role or resume but were rambling or confusing communicators. It’s a fast way for someone to lose credibility. Which is unfortunate, because maybe this really is a brilliant thinker, just not a brilliant talker. If so, let them communicate in a different modality (blogs, books, 1:1 conversations, etc.) and invite someone else to the panel, please.
Finally, and perhaps the most egregious misuse of a panel, is using it for scripted, one-way “conversations.” Why have people on a panel together, if you’re just going to ask each person a pre-planned question, and then let the topic die? “Thank you. The next question is for…” is my cue to head for the door. I would hope the purpose of bringing people together with different experiences and perspectives would be to let their insights inform and inspire each other. That can’t happen if they don’t get to converse.
So what are some great uses for a panel? There are several. Here are a few examples:
- Expand people’s world view on a topic: Gather people with different experiences and perspectives together and let them have an authentic conversation with each other. Explore their differences. Respectfully challenge each other’s perspectives. In the best of cases, this might unlock a new or unexpected insight that may even surprise the panel, as well as the audience.
- Let people be the fly on the wall: We can likely all imagine fascinating conversations that we’d love to listen in on but would never have access to. Like a small group of authors or artists that have very different styles talking about their crafts. Or people with unique lived experiences sharing stories beyond our frame of reference. Or the leaders of different companies or teams discussing challenges they’ve had to overcome and how they approached them. The kinds of things you wouldn’t normally get to hear if you weren’t in the room where it happened.
- Level set before engaging: Every once in a while, a big conference or event will do this crazy thing where they try to tap into the expertise in the room, rather than treating attendees like empty vessels to fill with knowledge. When they do this, a panel is a great way to give everyone a shared context before asking them to discussion things amongst themselves. This is especially true when grappling with big ideas or challenges. Bring in people who have seen different sides of the issue to paint a broad picture as the backdrop for the follow-up table conversations.
The shared theme for each of these is they offer something compelling that benefits from interactions between the panelists. Trying to achieve the same goals in another way would be less effective. (On the flip side, if you could achieve your goal more effectively in a different way, use the different way.)
How to set a panel up for success
Even the most promising panel can end up being tedious and even the most mundane topic can end up being thrilling. It all falls on how the panel is run. Here are some do’s and don’ts.
Do
- Invite strong speakers with a gift for storytelling.
- Ensure a mix of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
- Encourage unscripted dialog amongst the panelists to dive deeper into the topics at hand.
- Provide a way for the audience to submit questions and allow the moderator, or even the panelists to select the ones they find most topical. Bonus points if you allow the audience to vote on the questions, they’re most interested in having answered.
- Tap into the expertise in the room: Give participants the opportunity to engage with the content via table discussions or group problem solving.
Don’t
- Invite people to be panelists if they are rambling or inarticulate.
- End up with a homogenous, milquetoast group of speakers.
- Only ask canned questions that the panel has been prepped on.
- Use a pass-the-mike approach to taking questions at the end of the panel: the first question or two aren’t necessarily the best, and it’s too easy for this to go off the rails with an obscure question or a participant using the mike to share their own personal diatribe.
- Restrict participants to being passive observers. Sitting silently and listening loses its luster after a while.
Finally, the moderator can make or break the panel. Find someone who is a great listener, who can probe and redirect, encouraging discourse. Someone who can distill and synthesize salient points. Most importantly, someone who is authentic, and genuinely interested in the conversation.
