How to Moderate a Panel Discussion With Skill – 7 Top Tips

How do you moderate a panel discussion successfully? How do you moderate a webinar? What techniques work for a panel moderator? Learn how to moderate a panel discussion like a pro.

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

How to Moderate a Panel Discussion

Panels are excellent marketing opportunities and they help build your profile. But how well prepared are you?

Moderating panel discussions is a real skill.  And it’s a skill you can learn.  We’ve coached hundreds of people how to moderate panels and how to be good panellists and great panel moderators. 

Moderating a Panel Discussion Like a Pro

If you’re moderating a panel event for the first time, you might feel a bit unsure about how to effectively moderate a panel and what is the correct way to keep the conversation flowing. But don’t worry—a really good moderator doesn’t have to be an expert on the discussion topic.

Your job is to guide the panel members, involve audience members and create an interesting discussion. Whether it’s a live audience or a virtual panel discussion, your role is to make sure there’s an informative discussion that stays on track and keeps people engaged.

Before the Panel

The first step in how to moderate a panel discussion is preparation. A prep call with your fellow panellists and the meeting organiser is essential. Use this time to understand the main theme, share relevant questions, and set ground rules. You’ll learn these ground rules in our panellist coaching programme.

Skilled moderators don’t just show up with their own questions, they research the subject and think of specific questions that will bring out valuable insights. It also helps to have a list of questions ready, including a mix of open-ended questions and some follow-ups to keep the conversation dynamic. Share questions with your panellists in advance. They need time to prepare.

During the Discussion

A great panel discussion feels natural, but it’s up to you to make that happen. Keep an eye on body language, both yours and your panel members. If someone hasn’t spoken much, you can bring them in with a good question.

If a panellist gives a prepared statement that sounds too polished, interrupt (there are ways to do this politely), ask a follow-up question to get a more authentic response. Keep track of time limits, so no one dominates the conversation. And don’t forget the audience Q&A. Give audience members enough time to ask their own questions and encourage a mix of perspectives.

Wrapping Up

A smooth Q&A session can make or break an interesting discussion. As the conference organiser will likely tell you, the moderator’s job isn’t just to introduce speakers but to ensure a lively, engaging, and balanced conversation.

Whether you’re moderating your first or tenth panel, every little thing, from how you ask the next question to how you handle real-time discussions, makes a difference. Keep the energy up, stay flexible, and make sure everyone leaves with new insights from a great panel discussion.

Panel Discussion Moderation Tips From The Experts

So that you shine when you next moderate a panel, we’ve put together some quick tips how to moderate a panel discussion like a professional:

Learn How to Lead a Panel Discussion

Let’s explore each of these tips for moderating a panel discussion in more detail. All of this is covered in our conference panel coaching programme :

1. It’s how you prepare your panel

While great panel moderation looks effortless, that’s only because the moderator has carefully prepared the panellists. As a moderator you should create great questions (the simpler and bolder the better) and share these with your panellists in advance. Ask the questions that you know your audience would want to ask the panellists if they had the chance.

Tell your panellists to prepare stories and examples they can use to illustrate what they say.  It’s much better to have a few strong ideas to talk about than to offer an opinion on everything under the sun. And remember to practice your panel performance.

Example of a powerful opening question:

A few years ago I was moderating a panel on the subject of fundraising in private equity. My panellists were all investors in PE funds. The first questions I asked was “What was the worst fundraising pitch you have ever seen?” The audience loved it. It gave my panellists the chance to tell some great stories and to give valuable advice to anyone about to start fund raising.

2. Offer bold ideas

A great panel will inform, educate and entertain. While you may think that a webinar is a great opportunity to share your thoughts, in reality your opinions are not very interesting. Much more engaging are the stories you tell, the practical advice you give and the different position you adopt. Avoid saying “I agree” – that phrase kills a discussion.

For example, a few years ago I was coaching a group of journalists to become panel moderators at the next COP conference. Those how were real subject experts found it hardest to become great moderators. Their challenge: they needed to ask simple questions and create clear discussion for a broad audience. Their expertise meant they found it hard to simplify the discussion so that it would be interesting for the audience

3. Be a performer

A panel is not a fireside chat. It’s a piece of entertainment where you need to speak directly to the audience. Use all the skills of public speaking to bring your and your panellists’ language to life:

• short phrases
• short words
• long pauses
• high energy
• big ideas.

Sit forward in your chair, look at your audience / your camera and speak as if to one person.

Why Pick Benjamin Ball Associates for Your Panel Moderating Coaching

At Benjamin Ball Associates, we’ve been coaching business people to improve their business communication skills for over 15 years.  Our coaching is fast and effective.  We work with individuals and with companies, one-to-one and in groups.  Call us today to learn more.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

Our most popular training courses include:

• Presentation Coaching
• Public Speaking Coaching
• Investor Pitch Support and Coaching

Trusted by some of the most successful companies globally

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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4. Start powerfully

As a panel moderator, you set the tone for your panel in the first few seconds. Tell the audience how important this discussion is; remind us how great your panellists are; and give one-line introductions on each panellist (don’t let them introduce themselves).

How to start a panel discussion as a moderator? Make sure your first question is big, bold and unexpected. 

For example, I was chairing a panel of private equity fund managers recently and my first question was “What was the toughest fund raising challenge you have faced recently?”  It was a great way to break the ice, for the panellists to tell stories and at the same time both entertain the audience and give practical advice.

If you are introducing yourself on a webinar, make sure you read our tips on doing so memorably.

5. Involve the audience

If your audience can be part of the conversation they’ll enjoy the experience more. For example, when moderating panel discussions, ask them a question early on. Tell them to prepare questions for the experts. And help them ask interesting questions.

Expert Tip:

Never leave audience questions for the end of your panel. Instead, as a moderator of panel discussion, get the audience to ask questions about three quarters of the way through. Then you can be sure that you can follow the advice in Tip 6.

6. End with impact

How to moderate a panel ending? Audience questions are not the best way to end a webinar or panel discussion.  Instead, as a moderator, finish your panel with something big. For example, you might ask each panellist for a final one-sentence tip.

Or you might end with a summary. And then, as the panel moderator, sum up some highlights before thanking your panellists and telling the audience what a great experience this has been.

7. Special considerations for webinars

How do you moderate a panel online? How is a webinar different from a panel discussion? As a moderator, running a panel discussion virtually, you have a few things to consider:

1. You need to fight for attention in a webinar. Your audience for a webinar are sitting at home or in their office with screens, calls, deadlines and TikTok all completing against you for attention. That means you have to work harder to be heard. How? Introduce more interaction, especially at the start of your panel discussion. Perhaps ask your audience some questions they need to respond to. And you need to throw more energy into your performance. IN fact, you should listen to the best radio hosts, and work out why they are so successful at keeping millions of people listening day after day
2. Keep it short. Keep your webinar short. Keep your questions short. Keep your panellists’ answers short. It needs to be lively and change page regularly.
3. Keep reinforcing. As a moderator of a webinar, your job is to make things easy for your audience. That means you can regularly sum up what has been said. You can recap an answer and you can provide an ongoing commentary of what has been heard. Like this you are adding value to your listeners.

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How to moderate a panel discussion – get coaching

Do you want help to prepare your next panel discussion? If so, talk to us.

We have developed a robust toolbox of techniques to help you organise clear, confident panels. We’ve coached panel moderators from New York to Abu Dhabi.

We’ll help you look and sound impressive so that you hook and engage your audiences. In just a few short hours we’ll help you become an impressive panel moderator.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to discuss how we can help learn how to moderate a panel.

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Why Choose Us:
Transform your pitches and presentations with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

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Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How to Moderate a Panel Discussion

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