About the Book

Drawn from her extensive experience as a nationally recognized speaker, master facilitator and panel moderator, Kristin Arnold provides a step-by-step approach to help you moderate a lively and informative panel discussion.

With this 24 page user-friendly guide, you will learn five steps to successfully moderate a panel discussion like a pro, including:

  • The moderator’s role and responsibilities
  • Various panel formats
  • How to clarify the starting conditions
  • How to select, invite and confirm interesting panelists
  • How to prepare to moderate the panel – including how to research the topic, the panelists and the audience, write the welcome, curate the questions you will ask, decide the audience Q&A format, determine the logistics, assemble the slideshow and promote the session.
  • How to moderate the panel, including things to do just before the session starts, how to open the session, get the conversation started, keep the conversation moving briskly, intervene firmly and respectfully.
  • How to facilitate the audience Q&A
  • How to conclude the session
  • How to follow up once the session is over!

Everything you need to know is in this step-by-step guide. By incorporating just a few of these best practices, you will dramatically improve your ability to moderate an amazingly successful panel discussion.

and get these BONUS Gifts with purchase!

  • Planning Worksheet

    to use with the meeting organizer or planner to understand the starting conditions.

  • Moderator Index Card Template

    Your trusty tool to remember the key opening comments, introductions, questions and closing comments.

  • Countdown Checklist

    of the key activities you need to do to moderate a successful panel.

  • Panelist Do's & Don'ts Tip Sheet

    A reminder to your panelists on what to do...and what not to do during the panel session.

  • A PowerPoint Template

    to introduce the panelists' credentials quickly - without eating up valuable discussion time.

  • Logistics Checklist

    of the things you need to remember to ensure a conducive and positive environment.

  • Tipsheet to Engage the Audience

    to involve the audience early and often with these ideas.

  • Kristin Arnold

    Certified Professional Facilitator | Master

    Kristin Arnold

    Kristin Arnold MBA, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, CPF | Master, is passionate about making all panel discussions more engaging, interactive and collaborative. She has surveyed and studied what makes panel discussions absolutely fabulous – or not.

    Since 1993, Kristin is the founder and President of Quality Process Consultants, a boutique consulting firm specializing in galvanizing leaders and their teams to think things through, make better collaborative decisions to achieve sustainable results.

    She’s a high stakes meeting facilitator, trainer, keynote speaker and panel moderator, known for her concrete approaches and practical concepts, tools and techniques her clients can apply immediately to see positive, substantive results.

    Kristin was one of the first female graduates of the United States Coast Guard Academy and the first woman stationed onboard the USCGC Buttonwood, a seagoing buoy tender.

    She parlayed her understanding of teams and teamwork with an MBA in Marketing Strategy into a specialized management consulting firm focused on building extraordinary teams in the workplace.

    She is an award-winning author and Past President of the US National Speakers Association. She divides her time between Scottsdale, Arizona and Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Jeff Hurt, CEO, Empowered Epiphanies

A Must Read for All Who Plan Meetings

Jeff Hurt, CEO, Empowered Epiphanies

Panels. The very word causes most of us to groan as it brings up feelings of dislike and disdain. Kristin Arnold has taken the dry, boring, traditional panel format and infused it with excitement, engagement and anticipation all for the audience’s pleasure. Her book Powerful Panels provides a step by step approach to creating 21st Century panels and is a must read for all who plan meetings, events and education formats.
Wayne Cooper Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Group & Publisher of Chief Executive magazine

Priceless

Wayne Cooper Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Group & Publisher of Chief Executive magazine

Kristin Arnold is an expert public speaker and moderator who knows how to make meetings engaging, insightful and valuable. In this priceless booklet, she shares her expertise and wisdom to help others lead more effective panels. If you are running a conference, meeting or panel, you owe it to your audience to probe Kristin’s ideas.