Accidentally in Code

Tag: panels

  • On Panels

    On Panels

    Luck-Mushrooms-Danbo-Fig-Cute-Good-Luck-Funny-2008797.jpg
    Credit: Max Pixel

    I don’t like panels. I don’t like them as an audience member, because I find they are usually unfocused and boring – there always seems to be one guy who talks too much and says too little. I don’t like them as a moderator, because it’s a lot of work. And I don’t like them as a panelist because I don’t love extemporaneous speaking, and I worry I will be next to the guy who talks too much and says too little, and need to interrupt him. Or worse, that I will be him (is it possible to be that guy with you’ve been socialized to be paranoid about taking up too much space?)

    At events with lots of panels, I’ll talk with people and we’ll say, meh, most panels are bad. So why do we have them? Because in theory panels can be really good. Having different perspectives, taking on a topic from multiple angles… this is a counterpoint to one-dimensional Think Pieces and their on-stage equivalents.

    The other reason for panels is that it fills a slot with less work… which is a reason for a lot of them being bad. A good panel might (I’m not convinced) be less work than preparing a talk, but it’s not no work.

    A final reason not to enjoy being a panelist: it’s scary to get on stage with people you don’t know. You don’t know what they will say, how your ideas connect – and where they don’t. You don’t know if they are anxious too – and if they are anxious, how that anxiety will manifest.

    I was on a panel the other day, and it wasn’t my favourite, but the worst part of it was how much time I spent angsting about it. This was a thing that I worried about, daily, in the time leading up to it, but in a way where I was just frustrated and didn’t feel like I had the time to do anything about it.

    If I wanted to be happier as a panelist, I would need to figure out two things:

    • How do you get comfortable giving up control on stage?
    • How do you get better at extemporaneous speaking?

    Both of these things are related – I believe in preparation as the best antidote to on-stage anxiety.

    Sometimes you prepare actively – as with a talk. But sometimes you prepare generally, for surprises. When I’ve done my best extemporaneous remarks, these have been topics that I have thought deeply and written (or ranted on Twitter) about.

    I’m interested in other people’s thoughts on panels: what do you like about them? What don’t you like about them? How do you prepare as a panelist? A moderator?

  • Panel Discussions and Dissent

    Panel Discussions and Dissent

    two bunnies in cups
    Credit: Flickr / Sarah Embaby

    Speaker panels can be a bit overwhelming, because there end up being so many people on stage, which makes them a special problem. We did an interesting thing for the speaker panel at 360iDev which I think is worth talking about.

    Any question was supposed to be taken by only one panelist, and then there was a separate section of three people (including me!) for strong opinions. One of us was supposed to weigh in after, only if we disagreed.

    I thought this was an interesting strategy because it limited the number of people speaking (a problem on larger panels) and also eliminated the dull “I agree and here’s why I agree” answer. I’m not really into arguing for the sake of arguing but it was kinda fun to be expected to disagree!

    I’m moderating my first panel soon so I’m thinking about how you make things more engaging and encourage differences of opinion. This wasn’t a perfect solution (pretty sure there isn’t one) but I think there was a lot more dissent than I usually see, and that made it one of the more entertaining panels I’ve been on.

  • Book: The Eloquent Woman’s Guide to Moderating Panels

    Book: The Eloquent Woman’s Guide to Moderating Panels

    The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels

    As a long time reader of The Eloquent Woman blog, of course I bought Denise’s book, The Eloquent Woman’s Guide to Moderating Panels (Amazon) almost as soon as it came out, and only waited a couple of weeks to read it!

    I’m not a fan of panels because so often they are bad, so it’s great to have a resource on how to do them better.

    The parts I found most useful were:

    • The step by step guide to preparing as a moderator – I read it contemplating my first moderator gig and having no idea what to do! (It fell through, so now I’ll have to look for another opportunity to use what I learned.)
    • The set of exercises and questions to make the panel less generic.
    • Ways to interrupt! Which let’s be honest is useful for women in meetings, too.

    The book is targeted at the moderator, but could also be useful for being a good panelist because it’s packed full of tips. I highly recommend reading it if you are involved in any kind of panel.