Tips for facilitating virtual panels

I had the great pleasure to facilitate a panel as part of inaugural Simply Coaching online event a few weeks back. I learnt a lot from facilitating my first virtual panel and wanted to share my learnings with others who may be doing similar work. In this article I cover my advice for what to do before, during and after facilitating a virtual panel.

Before

• Socialise with the panellists beforehand. This way you get to know them and they have a chance to get to know each other. This can help create a more relaxed environment with better rapport. We found this step super beneficial. I liked that I could check some of my more interesting questions to make sure they resonated with the panel.
•  Write and circulate a question list beforehand. I sent around a list of questions that I thought might be good to ask and augmented this list with questions suggested by the panel members themselves. I googled 'best questions to ask a panel' as well as read up more specifically on coaching to formulate insightful questions. I also had some questions in mind from previous panels I'd been to that I added to the list.

 During

•  If there is a keynote or other speech, capture some questions from that to add to your list. I thought it worked well to pick a question from the keynote as the first question I asked the panel as this functioned as a seamless link between the two. I tried to choose something that was being spoken about lots in the virtual chat too.
•  If your event has a chat, monitor the questions being asked there but don't feel you need to answer every single one. I liked giving credit to those who asked questions when I posed their question to the panel. 
• Keep track of who you have asked questions to/who as spoken to keep air time equitable. I had a post-it with each panelist's name and I'd add a mark each time I addressed a question to each panel member. I tried to end up with the same number of marks next to each person's name.
•  Don't feel you need to ask everyone each question. I think a panel is there for breadth rather than depth so I normally posed each question to max two out of four panel members.
• End with a fun question to bring it all together. One this coaching panel I asked each person to 'describe in three words what makes a great coach.' I found this was a good close to the session and gave everyone a chance to say any last thing on their mind too.

After

• Spend some time celebrating the end of the event! At the end of the event we all stayed on the zoom to debrief and congratulate each other. It was a super nice way to round out the event.

I hope these tips are helpful for anyone else facilitating panels (virtual or in person).

The  views  expressed  in this article are  mine  alone  and  do  not necessarily reflect the views of my employer