The Art of Moderating: A Guide to Maximize Stage Time
Christina L. Glancy and Caroline Duffy at DC Startup Week 2023 discuss bridging the communication gap between founders and VCs.
You find out you’re moderating, now what?
Now is where the value of the conversation comes to life. You get to collaborate with other thought leaders to give the audience access to inside information they’ve paid to travel to see and get in the room.
Moderating is mostly about the audience. You can include steps along the way to amplify who you are and what you do, but don’t make that the main priority. The audience can tell and you have a higher chance of losing their trust than you think.
As a moderator, the audience trusts you vetted the panelists' perspectives to convey the information that they paid to get access to. Do not take this role lightly. The role of a moderator is to make the conversation seamless and empowering. The audience should walk away with practical steps to act on immediately.
Moderator: Lead and mediate a discussion that solves a debate
Synonyms: Mediator, Arbitrary, Reconcile
Now that you know your role, let’s get into how you’re going to maximize your stage time.
Start conducting your research
There are two levels to the baseline research that you should do as a moderator.
With the organization that you’re moderating for
Research your panelists
If you’re not familiar with the topic you are moderating on you could ask the host and panelists or do a quick Google search.
Questions to find out from the organization:
Know the theme or the purpose of the event you’ll be moderating
Your panelist will ask you questions about the event. Have a POC you can filter these questions through
What are the expectations and topics of this panel from the organizer’s perspective?
Who is in the audience?
Run some preliminary questions by the organizer to see if you’re on topic. You’ll more than likely update them once you talk to the panelists.
Are the panelists required to post for promotion or codes?
Research your panelists
Find your panelists on social media and connect with them on
Search their profiles to see how established they are and google them to see what else pops up to help you prepare
Find out things like What about their expertise might the audience need to know? or What about their journey might relate to the demographics of the audience
Pay attention to the information they already shared freely online and make sure they go deeper or give more inclusive information during the panel.
Dawn Myers, Angela Dingle, and Buki Froelke sit down with Christina to discuss how to navigate different pathways in tech as a woman of color.
Schedule a meeting with your panelists
A way to maximize stage time is to have an organic flow between you and your panelists. I do this by scheduling a time with my panelists before we even make it to the event. I suggest meeting at least 3 days before the event to not interfere with travel arrangements (if you or the panelists are not local).
The rapport will show on stage in how your panelists listen to you and connect with your questions. You may not have to do this depending on the event planners for the conference. When I hire Simona Wright-James and Nia A. Mobley from PorchfestDC, it’s included in their event curation package which saves everyone time.
The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the agenda with the panelists, practice questions and answers that will be talked about on stage, and provide conference details like parking.
Here is the outline I use for the meetings…
Before the meeting
Send calendar invites for the time of the panel and the time of your check-in meeting.
Send an outline of the questions that will be asked (in Google Workspace you can add the doc to the invite or email it separately)
Get on a group chat or email change to send updates.
Confirm the time they have to be in the building before the panel
Attire/Outfits
Remind the panelists to be camera-ready for the people taking video and photographers on site.
If there’s a conference theme that they have to follow you tell them that at this stage.
Go over questions you will ask them and time limits.
During the meeting
Go over ground rules to discuss pace, intentions and set expectations
Time frames: Explain that you will interject if the answer gets too long. The answers need to be more like short elevator pitches, not the keynote version of their talk. The stage time we’re given keeps the whole production on track.
Promotion: Distribute promotion codes, hashtags, etc.
Dry run of intros: You can provide insights and other things they should consider like pace or tone.
Energy check: Remind your panelists to bring the energy. We’re here to inspire and evoke change in the audience's lives, not bore them with details.
After the meeting
Send a recap of what you’ve talked about and any updates to the outline of the questions. Keep an open line of communication from this time until the day of your panel.
Day of the panel
Find the event host or the event curator and ask for updates like if the event is on time or if there are any changes.
Moderator prep
Request a shot list and the best time to take it - either before or after. Sometimes it’s an extra step but it is worth it for the exposure the social media posts will bring in for the host when they have clear shots. Here are some common ones I ask for:
Moderator single
Panelist singles
Moderator + panelist
Moderator + Host
Moderator + panelist + host
I use speaker cards to keep me on track with what I am saying and amplify my brand. Sometimes I’ll use my cards with my face and information or I’ll promote my upcoming events.
Moderator + Panelist Prep
Meet with your panelists for a few minutes before you go on stage to go over the following
Game plan and if anything changed from the meeting
Reconfirm timing, pace, intentions, and housekeeping rules.
Have printouts of your outline just in case the wifi at the event is overloaded
During the panel
Make sure you start the panel by introducing the topic and why it matches the theme of the conference. This is your chance to showcase your expertise on the topic or why it’s a gap that needs to be bridged. The more you express here will help the audience tune in more and start to trust you to lead the conversation.
Remember to introduce yourself
Ask the questions to the panelists
Recap their insights to give people a recap before you switch topics
If you have a tripod, record the panel for yourself to go on your YouTube channel or to post recaps on IG. Here are examples:
Baltimore Innovation Panel for FemEquity’s Black Women Equal Pay Day Conference in 2023
The Art of Negotiation Panel for FemEquity’s Black Women Equal Pay Day Conference 2024
Side note: I used these tips I’m sharing with you to get rebooked for the second year
After the event
Repost your takeaways on social media. Tag the event host, your panelists, the photographer, and the location of the event to get the most traction on the post. If you write a compelling enough recap, you have a high chance of people resharing your post. This will help you get more reach organically.
Send a thank you email to the host congratulating them on the event.
Request a follow-up with them and provide your availability or a calendly link
Be sure to include the following in the email:
to ask questions
to give feedback (when requested)
Request feedback on my performance
Provide the freebies or content that was mentioned on stage to go out in the event recap
Ask them to keep you in mind for future panels that they may come across and provide my booking form
Send a thank you email to the panelist. You can also go old school and give your card panelists a handwritten card, just make sure you bring them with you to the event.
Ask your panelists for any information such as freebies or resources they shared on stage to give to the event host for the follow-up email that the host sends out to everyone.
Moderating doesn’t have to be hard. It has to be beneficial to the audience. I hope these tips set you up for success and help you maximize stage time! Let me know if I missed anything or if you use these tips when you get on stage.
Christina leads her signature talk Mind Your Business + Boundaries with wellness experts Leila Bournes, Marsha Evans, and Imani Joye Samuels at ChocolateCon 2023.
Christina L Glancy is a leading voice in shaping first-generation professionals into confident and decisive leaders. She’s a welfare kid turned techie who used strategy and grit to beat the odds of her environment. She’s dedicated her career to helping people design their careers around their ideal lifestyle because she’s seen too many of her elders work their lives away. If she’s not strategizing with her clients, you’ll find her globe-trotting or starting pillow fights with her nieces and nephews.
Follow her journey on social at the handles in the footer!
