Panel Chair Guidelines

Panel Moderation - Some Information, Guidelines, and Suggestions

Many of you are experienced moderators, and need only know a few basic details, which will vary with this program.  Others have requested more detailed guidelines and advice.  Please note the parts which apply to you, and feel free to question us before or at the Worldcon on any details you wish.

The Moderator's Role (Our Philosophy)

1.  The moderator's role will vary slightly depending on the size of the panel and the ease of the participants.
(a) On panels with 5 people or less (including the moderator), the moderator is considered a "participating" moderator.  In additions to the role of "making it all happen" you should feel free to add your own comments.

(b) On panels with 6 or (heaven forfend) more (including the moderator), the moderator is to be "non-participating."  Your role is to keep everyone involved, hearing all points-of-view and moving the panel through the questions/issues you wish to cover.  You may use your discretion to insert a comment or question when appropriate.

2.  The moderator should meet with the panelists 45 minutes before the schedules panel in the Green Room, if possible.  There we would like you to meet each other, briefly find out each other's pertinent background, and "get the ball rolling" on where the discussion is going to go.  By the time you walk down the hall as a group to the schedules room, we hope everyone will feel comfortable about just what will be discussed and emphasized.

3.  As most of you know, the moderator treads the tricky line of leading the discussion, making sure everyone has the opportunity (or is energetically encouraged) to participate, and seeing that it makes sense to the audience.  Your leadership and direction may be overt or subtle, depending on how vocal and self-directed your participants seem to be on the subject.  It is important that you see that the discussion stays on the schedules subject, not on the endlessly fascinating side-tracks which always seem to appear along the way.  Stick to the subject the audience came to hear.

4.  Please allow time for questions and answers from the audience, even if this becomes part of the continuation (see below on this policy).  Repeat the questions so that the whole audience can hear what question you are answering.

Continuation Policy/Room Use

1.  The audiences will grow accustomed throughout the con to seeing panels continued frequently after their scheduled end.  In most cases, we have tried to keep the room available during the hour following your panel, should you wish to continue and your audience is enthusiastic to stay on.

2.  If another panel is scheduled in the same room the following hour, we will try to arrange an "overflow" room on request.  (Please check your pocket program during your Green Room discussion, and ask the staff for overflow help.)

3.  Please consult your panelists in the Green Room, and find out who is willing to continue and who cannot.  If you, the moderator, cannot continue, ask if another panel member is able to become moderator when you leave.  At the beginning of your panel, tell your audience your intentions on carrying on beyond the end, including which panelists will be leaving and which continuing, so the audience can plan ahead.

4.  Please continue no more than 45 minutes after the end of your original hour.

Unsolicited Suggestions and Advice

1.  Attached to this memo is a description of each panel you are scheduled to moderate.  We have included the most current information we have as this mailing goes to press, names of panelists and moderator, the time, date and room, and some suggested approaches to the topics as we originally conceived them.

2.  Those suggested approaches are meant to start you thinking, and will be available in the Green Room for everyone to see.  If you wish to take a different tack, please keep us informed so we do not mislead others in the final pocket program.

3.  If you haven't been a moderator before, remember that you are not just "first among equals," but a leader and director.  You must keep track of your agenda, see that the discussion seems to flow, involve all participants (both the vocal and the more silent), and watch the audience response.  Don't hesitate to suggest "Why don't we start the responses to this one with Mr. X" if Mr. X has been fairly quiet so far.

4.  Don't hesitate to encourage debate, every fan's favorite aspect of panels.  If everyone on the panel agrees, the audience goes to sleep!

5.  The moderator and other panelists are the people who make the ideas we've hatched come to life.  We thank you for making this happen.  If you have any questions, please contact ********* before the convention at PHONE or EMAIL.  At the con, you can contact us through the Green Room.