How to Read the Audience in Real Time During a Panel Discussion
Powerful Panels
In this episode, panel expert Kristin Arnold reveals how great moderators read the room moment by moment. She shares practical techniques for scanning facial expressions, body language, and energy shifts to sense when the audience is confused, engaged, or drifting. Kristin explains how to adjust pacing, redirect questions, or shift formats to keep the discussion lively and relevant. By staying fully present and responsive, moderators build rapport, maintain engagement, and deliver a panel experience that truly resonates.
info_outline
Do Journalists Make Good Panel Moderators
Powerful Panels
In this episode, panel expert Kristin Arnold explores whether journalists automatically make great panel moderators. While journalists excel at interviewing, probing, and uncovering facts, Kristin explains that panel moderation requires additional skills—like balancing airtime, managing multiple voices, and guiding a cohesive conversation. She highlights where journalists shine and where they may stumble if they default to one-on-one interviewing instead of facilitating group dialogue. With the right mindset and preparation, journalists can become excellent...
info_outline
Top 10 Trending Topics for Panel Discussions Q3, 2025
Powerful Panels
info_outline
Panels Shouldn't Be a Break; They Should Be a Breakthrough
Powerful Panels
Too often, panels at conferences and events are treated as filler content. They give the audience a “break” between keynotes, or a convenient slot to showcase multiple voices without much effort. It's a lazy format that yields predictably bland discussions, recycled talking points, and checked-out audiences. A panel should never be a passive interlude. Done well, it can be the most dynamic and valuable part of the entire program. Here are a few tips to create a panel that offers something other formats can't: spontaneous, multi-perspective conversation where ideas clash, insights...
info_outline
Navigating Sponsored Panels Like a Pro Without Losing the Audience’s Trust
Powerful Panels
You’re preparing to moderate a panel only to discover it’s “sponsored.” Maybe even fully funded by one of the panelists’ companies and packed with speakers who “paid” to participate. Ick. Now you’re wondering: Am I facilitating a panel…or hosting a commercial? The lines can get blurry pretty quickly! Here's how to navigate a sponsored panel like a pro.
info_outline
Lean into Curiosity: The Panel Moderator’s Superpower
Powerful Panels
The most effective panel moderators aren’t just great timekeepers or expert facilitators...they’re relentlessly curious. At every stage of the panel experience - before, during, and after - curiosity is a mindset that sets extraordinary moderators apart from average ones. Here's how:
info_outline
Introducing Panel Design Cards – Your Secret Weapon for Remarkable Panels
Powerful Panels
are a powerful new tool to help you quickly and creatively design panel formats that are engaging, memorable, and fun. These cards are the culmination of years of experience, thousands of hours of research, and an obsession with making panel discussions not suck. So, what are Panel Design Cards? Listen here.
info_outline
Why Do We Tolerate Mediocre Panel Discussions?
Powerful Panels
If the keynote got a “not bad,” we’d reevaluate the speaker for next year. If the AV was “not bad,” we’d call a tech meeting. If the food was “not bad,” we’d be emailing the caterer. But for panels? Somehow, we let it slide. Here's why this happens and what we need to do better.
info_outline
What’s Your Moderator Style? Mirror a Famous Face to Lead Your Panel
Powerful Panels
Every panel needs a moderator—but how you moderate can vary wildly depending on the topic, tone, and your personal style. Are you a steady guide, a fiery instigator, or the one keeping it light and lively? Here’s a breakdown of seven moderator archetypes, matched with famous personalities to help you find your own style—or adapt to the moment.
info_outline
The Red Flag Panel Discussion Technique
Powerful Panels
on The Jennifer Hudson Show featuring the cast of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, the cast played a rapid-fire game of “dating red flags,” where they each responded to cringeworthy relationship scenarios by literally holding up red flags. It was quick. It was playful. It was packed with personality. And it's a brilliant panel technique. Here's how to pull it off.
info_outlineWhether you stumbled into panel moderating by accident or are now getting paid to guide conversations on big stages, one thing’s for sure: moderation is a skill that evolves. It’s part art, part science, and part stagecraft.
Here’s a deeper look at how you grow as a moderator — and what it takes to climb to the top.