If you are going to lead a panel discussion or facilitate a Q&A in the next few weeks/months, I’m sure that subject line grabbed your attention. Keep reading!

…But even if you’re not – KEEP READING. Why? Because the skills that great interviewers and facilitators use to put their interview subjects at ease while also delivering tremendous value for their audiences are crucial. And they’re only becoming more crucial in the age of AI, because if AI wrote all your questions (I caught you), you’re going to look like a conversational klutz when you miss the golden opportunity to ask spontaneous questions. So brush up your interview / facilitation skills, people!

Why is this on my mind? Because I’ve been on all three sides of this dynamic lately: coach; guest; interviewer.

• I’m coaching the interviewers who will be leading panels on the mainstage at a huge Ed Tech conference in Colorado this week;
• I was interviewed along with Nate Silver on Mike Pesca’s How To! podcast recently
• and I’ll be interviewing John McWhorter, Alexis Gay, Steve Rathje, and John Limotte when I’ll be moderating the Hudson Valley Ideas Festival this weekend.

For this Good Talk, I’ll just focus on how to make your performance better if you’re the one leading the panel Q&A:

1. Remember: This isn’t about you. Let me say that again: THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU! So stop treating this like a life-or-death moment. It’s not. It’s simply a chance to be a conversationalist and help someone else—the panelists—succeed.
2. You’re allowed to interrupt. Blasphemous, right? Wrong. In fact, if a panelist is going off the rails and taking the discussion down a rabbit hole, it is your obligation to bring the conversation back and deliver value for the audience while giving your other panelists a reprieve. But you also can’t make the rambler feel reprimanded. Use the mentality of improv: make your interruption a “Yes, and!” Praise them and validate their topic, then shift the focus either to another guest or to a related or different topic. For example: “I’m going to interrupt you for a moment because that is such a crucial point; we need to underline that. Let’s get some voting. Panelists 2 and 3, do you agree with panelist 1?” Notice that nowhere in that sentence did “but” or “though” appear. If it had, the tactic would not be “Yes, and”… it would be “No, but.”
3. You’re not required to give equal time and equal chances. You are required to help each guest shine. And remember: the person who speaks the most won’t necessarily come off as the most impressive speaker. So do your homework and find ways to surface the best content from each person. If it helps, use hyper-specific questions to dictate the structure of their contributions. Try openers like: “If you had to describe this in a single sentence…?” or “What is the one thing from that process that nearly took it off the rails?” or “If you were going to give our audience one piece of advice, what would it be—extra credit if you can do it in a single word.”
4. Remember who really matters. The most important person on that stage is not the celebrity guest. It is the audience. So always look for opportunities to draw the focus out to them—in terms of content, interaction, and even eye contact. Remind the speakers that the audience needs them: “We have around 100 people out there, and likely half of them… [insert unifying commonality, then resolve to a question].” Gain information from the audience spontaneously—and involve them—by asking: “Show of hands: how many of you [insert qualifying question]?” Get the guest to direct their attention out to the audience using your eye focus and gestures. You can even use direct prompts in your questions: “Tell our audience what brought you to this idea…”
5. If you’re going to include audience questions, production value matters. Take the time in advance to problem-solve how you will get microphones distributed around the room, check their sound levels, consider how long it will take for people to reach the mics or how efficiently you can pass them around, and think about whether you’ll need a lighting shift so the audience is more visible. The audience Q&A is their chance to shine, so set them up for success too.

These are all concrete ways to embrace what we at GK Training call Other Focus. And when we’re focused on the other people in an interaction, not only do they get a chance to shine, we end up improving the quality of our own in-the-moment communication as well.

If you’re not leading a panel anytime soon, you can still use any and all of these techniques in the meetings and calls you have on your calendar every week. 

Happy Learning,
Michael and The GK Training Team

P.S. If you want to learn more about the Hudson Valley Ideas Festival, click here.

P.P.S. If you missed the recent podcast I did with Mike Pesca and Nate Silver, you can catch it here.