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.

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 moderators—but it's not guaranteed.

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 emerge, and the audience feels part of something real.

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:

Panel Design Cards 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.

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.