Clarity on Moderating from the London School of Economics
Next Paparelli Zoom Chat for Entrepreneurs: Wednesday, July 8, at 9 am.
My son David is on the tail-end of his Executive MBA at the London School of Economics. He is also hosting sessions just like my Zoom Chat for Entrepreneurs. In these times of social distancing, they are inviting worldwide notable social impact CEOs and investors to join them in a Zoom Q&A. It’s been a great success and a terrific networking and learning opportunity for him and his cohort.
After hosting a few of these meetings, the professors and the students did a post-op review on moderating. Some excellent ideas surfaced.
Moderating or chairing is more of an art than a science.
Principles of Moderating
Start and finish on time - It is your job to ensure that things start and finish on time. You are the custodian of the schedule.
Thoroughly prepare - Put time into preparation. The amount of homework you do depends on the formality and the stakes of the event. You need to know more than the audience and anticipate the inflammatory views so you can manage those.
Check how to pronounce the speaker’s name!
Know the speaker’s current title and position.
Understand things about the speaker that are not obvious to the audience.
Take into account your speaker’s personality in how you manage the introduction and flow of the session (i.e. a shy speaker may require more care in their introduction and guidance during the Q&A).
Represent the audience - You are not there for yourself. You are there as a representative of the audience. Prepare for your audience. Ask what the audience would ask.
Interrupt and keep things moving - Use eye contact and interrupt if the audience has had enough or someone else needs to be engaged to keep things moving.
You are in charge - Manage the audience and manage the speaker and manage the energy in the room.
Ask simple questions - Simplify your questions with the goal of eliciting interesting conversation. Complexity risks offending the speaker or audience.
Be flexible - Do not let your preparation overshadow what the speaker says in the session. Be flexible and competent in engaging the speaker with the new information they present.
Give the speaker the last word - Let the speaker, not the audience, conclude the Q&A.
Summarize well - Use content from the session to summarize what was learned. Phrases like “So it turns out” may help in leading into a summary.
Say "Thank you" - Thank the speaker, the people in the background working to make the event happen, and the audience who are the reason the session took place.
Extra Tip
If the audience's questions get too many and time is short, you can use a “speed round.” Get all the questions at once, write them down, and guide the speaker through them yourself to save time. You may find you can combine and simplify a lot of them.