In this third and final ‘how to’ segment I’ll cover the final step of importing images into PowerPoint 2007 and some of the options you can use to manipulate them.

Step 1 – Import: It’s really very simple. Choose [Insert] [Picture] from the main menu and choose the image file you want. It will be dropped into the slide in whatever size it was saved in. You can then drag and reposition it as necessary. Here’s the picture I took at the market in Laos imported into a blank slide:

Step 2 – Manipulate: Once the image is in the slide your options are endless. As an example, I can take the fabric photo and fill the screen then add a rectangle with [Insert] [Shape] and then right-click and [Format Shape] and assign a [Transparency] of 51% with a light gray color. Onto this, I [Insert] [Text Box] and put my title for the presentation.

Another use for the photo would be to add another rectangle with no transparency, leaving a small border, and then right click and [Format Picture] [Recolor] to give a muted border for an Agenda slide and a template for other slides in the presentation.

Reducing PowerPoint File Size

I mentioned in the first posting in this series about the risk that very large high-res pictures will make your PowerPoint file too bulky. I’ve seen slide decks that exceed 20MB – impossible to share via email. You can reduce the size of the PowerPoint file, often by over 70%, by using the ‘Compress’ menu option. This is difficult to locate. Follow these steps:

Step 1 – Once you’ve added all your pictures, click on any picture in your presentation.
Step 2 – Look for the menu bar on the top right to change to [Picture Tools]. Click on [Format] [Compress Pictures] and be sure to check out the [Options] in the pop-up window:

If you want the smallest possible file size, choose the [Target Output] [Email]. Otherwise [Screen] will be best, and significantly reduce the size of a PowerPoint file with high-res images.

Expert Advice

I’m embarrassed to show any more of my lame examples of how to manipulate pictures in PowerPoint. Now you understand the basics, I suggest reading books which deal with the purpose and aesthetics of creating visually compelling slides written by professionals in the field. The two best books that I know of are Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds and slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte. Both books are jam-packed with practical ideas and many examples to help you create beautiful, well-designed presentations.

Also, check out Garr’s Presentation Zen blog for exquisite examples of slides which use visuals in a compelling way.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of three blog postings on how to use images in PowerPoint and will be able to move away from relying on plain text and boring clip-art in your next presentation.

In my previous posting, I discussed how to save, crop and resize image files.

But where can you find images – photographs, logos, graphics – that illustrate your subject and match the theme of your presentation?

Google Image Search

An obvious place to start is with a simple Google search and select ‘Images’ from the top menu bar. This is a fast way to find images on any topic. But the big danger is the copyright ownership of almost all images. Google warns:

The images displayed in a Google Image Search may be protected by copyright, so we can’t grant you the right to use them for any purpose other than viewing them on the web. If you’d like to use images from our image search, we suggest contacting the site’s webmaster to obtain permission.

So be aware, just saying “Picture copyright XYZ” does not cover you.

Assuming you needs images which are not just for your personal use, but for slides which will be shown to an audience, it’s not worth the risk grabbing one from Google or the trouble of asking the sites webmaster for permission.

Your own photographs

Don’t overlook the obvious. Use pictures you’ve taken with your own digital camera or a still from a Flip video. Manipulate them by cropping, resizing and saving to your computer.

I took this picture in a market in Laos and I’m just waiting for the right moment to use it as a the background for a title slide.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has an extensive description of the copyright on uploaded images. This means that most of the images in the various articles have clearly labeled copyright terms of use. For example, the article on Ben Franklin has an image which is a photo of the painting by Duplessis hanging in the National Portrait Gallery. The information page on the image makes it clear that it is a Creative Commons image and “photographic reproduction is … considered to be in the public domain.”

Flickr

Flickr is an awesome image hosting and video hosting website, now owned by Yahoo!. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media. In September 2010, it reported that it was hosting more than 5 billion images. It has very clear guidelines on copyright for the images. Many of images are made available under the Creative Commons license. To find these, choose [Advanced Search] and check box near the bottom of the screen ‘Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content’

The cleanest Creative Commons license is the simple ‘Attribution’ which gives express permission to use an image if you give attribution to the owner – usually by inserting their name from Flickr under the photo. It could also be included in a closing frame in a video. If you are planning to deliver in a business setting, be aware of the ‘Non-Commercial’ limitation.

Here’s a great photo of a statue of Benjamin Franklin which I’ve attributed to the photographer:

cc licensed flickr photo shared by tonythemisfit

Hint: Compfight is a great tool for speeding up your Flickr searches. Be sure to set ‘Creative Commons = only’ to the right of the search bar.

istockphoto

There’s a number of stock photography sites. istockphoto.com is my favorite. The images cost $1-2 each and include rights to reproduce for commercial or non-commercial purposes without attribution. There’s a wide range of photographs and graphic illustrations. This photo of Ben Franklin on the $100 bill came from istockphoto.

I make use of Lightboxes to save multiple pictures for a project, and email Lightbox contents for review by colleagues. While you are spec’ing out a project you can download a ‘Comp’ version – a low-res image with the istockphoto watermark embedded. These work as placeholders in your PowerPoint slides to see if they look right.

Once you decide to purchase simply buy some credits and then download the images you like. You’ll only need to download the smallest size available (the one with the minimum number of credits) which work fine for PowerPoint or blogs.

Other resources

I’ve just given a couple of examples from the sources I use. Garr Reynolds has an extensive list of inexpensive and free sites, with many more suggestions in the comments to his original posting. Presentation magazine also lists sites. Some of the commercial stock photo sites like Getty can be quite expensive. Oliver at Rethink Presentations has a useful comparison table which includes pricing information.

At a recent Toastmasters Club meeting, Tevis encouraged us to appreciate the impact of adding pictures to PowerPoint presentations. Unlike plain text, a memorable photograph adds to a talk without distracting from the speaker.

It was obvious from the discussion that some Club members did not know the basics of how to find, save and manipulate images. Since this is part of my day job, I offered to write up a series of simple ‘how to’ guides for Windows XP users.

In the first of the series, I’ll show how you can start to build up a library of pictures for future presentations by learning how to save, crop and re-size image files. These can be used in PowerPoint presentations, posters, magazine and newsletter layouts, websites and blogs.

Saving an image file

Putting aside questions about where to find image files, copyright issues and how to insert image files into PowerPoint – which I’ll discuss in a later posting – the first practical step to understand is how to save an image file.

I’ll take as an example the photograph of the book cover I used in my last blog posting. It was sourced from a Google Image search for the title of Harold’s book: 4 Steps to Financial Security for Lesbian and Gay Couples. (I had permission from the author to include his book in the profile, so copyright was not an issue).

Step 1 – Save: Right-click on the first file from the Google Image search results and you’ll be given the opportunity to ‘Save As’. Choose .JPG or .PNG and a name for the file that makes sense.

Step 2 – Crop: The image as saved includes white space on either side of the book cover. Right click to ‘Open With’ Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Then choose [Picture] [Crop] and move the left and right handles in until the white space is removed

Click ‘OK’ and [File] [Save] and overwrite the existing file.

Step 3 – Re-size: You can re-size images inside PowerPoint so they’ll fit your slide. But for newsletters and, especially, web pages and blogs, it’s crucial to have a source file that’s the right size (width and height).There’s also the question of file size (in MB’s).While a small book-cover image is not a problem, other images, especially high definition photo’s, will make your presentation file size very large. So shrinking it down in Picture Manager can be useful. Select [File] [Resize] and choose from a number of pre-defined width and height settings or reduce by a percentage of the original width and click [OK] to save.

Experiment with different sizes and see what resolution you get when importing into PowerPoint.

Putting it into practice

Here’s an image I purchased from istockphoto.com of a railroad yard.

I used the [Crop] function to select a narrow band of tracks to insert in a title slide

Knowing these simple steps for manipulating image files is useful for building an image library for your future presentations.

In my next posting I’ll deal with various sources for photographs on the web and all-important copyright issues.

Harold Lustig is the Founder and CEO of the California Estate and Elder Planning Center and Managing Member of Lustig Financial Services LLC.

After the distressing experience of hearing his father saying he had outlived his assets, Lustig began a life-long journey to assist seniors increase income and protect their assets, enjoy a higher quality of life and reduce their tax obligations, thus leaving more wealth for their spouses, children and grandchildren. With over 30 years of financial planning experience, his focus and passion is to help seniors and their families with retirement and estate planning as well as long term care planning.

Lustig obtained a business degree in accounting and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Currently, he holds the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), the California Life and Health Insurance license as well as the Series 65 Investment Advisor’s License.

Lustig is the author of the first financial and estate planning book for lesbian and gay couples. The book, 4 Steps to Financial Security for Lesbian and Gay Couples was published by Random House. In the Spring of 2011, Lustig will launch his second book Naked in the Nursing Home: The Women’s Guide to Paying for Long Term HealthCare Without Going Broke.

The mission of the California Estate and Elder Planning Center is to help seniors and their families protect their lifestyle through estate planning, long-term care planning and wealth transfer. Harold works closely with an Elder Law Attorney and his wife who is an Elder Care Advocate and RN.

Pro-Track Profile

Harold is another long-time member of the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association who has signed up for the Pro-Track training. To hear an update on his business and what he thinks of Pro-Track, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:47 — 1.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

“How do I get a job as a speechwriter?”

That’s the question Robert Lehrman’s students in his American University speechwriting class have on their minds.

The answer, and an extensive catalog of the elements of speechwriting, are contained in the textbook for his course: The Political Speechwriter’s Companion: A Guide for Writers and Speakers (CQPress 2009). It is an invaluable resource for writers and speakers in both the political and corporate worlds. The book is by far the most comprehensive and well-written guide to speechwriting I have read.

Lehrman has more than three decades of experience writing speeches. He has written for politicians, celebrities, nonprofits and corporate CEOs. He worked as chief speechwriter in the White House to Vice President Al Gore.

His writing career began as a novelist who studied with Kurt Vonnegut at the Iowa Writers Workshop. He still enjoys the balance between writing under his own name and putting words into the mouths of the powerful.

Real-world lessons

Lehrman is the author of four novels and numerous op-ed’s. But it’s the experience gained as a speechwriter in both houses of Congress, as well as the White House, that is the source of the lessons he shares in the classroom and his book.

Together with political humorist Eric Schnure, he teaches two semesters a year at the American University in Washington, D.C. Many of their students have wanted to be speechwriters since middle school, when they became hooked on episodes of “The West Wing.” Graduates of the AU course have found work for politicians in Congress and even for ambassadors.

It’s obvious from his background that Lehrman is a staunch Democrat. But he teaches the techniques of persuasion to supporters of any political party. In fact, his willingness to draw lessons from speeches delivered by both sides is a refreshing surprise in our increasingly polarized world. Testimonials inside the front cover of his book come from both republicans and democrats.

His book—The Political Speechwriter’s Companion: A Guide for Writers and Speakers—took him two years to write. However, some of the lessons it contains were those he first shared with interns in the Clinton White House in the 1990s. Don’t be misled by the title. Lehrman claims that 90 percent of the content is useful for speechwriters outside politics, including those of us who write for the corporate world.

Lessons include:

• Realizing that the beliefs and values of the secondary audience might be more important than the people who are actually in the room when the speech is delivered;
• Why it’s important not only to research facts and figures, but also spend time researching the stories and poetry that makes a speech sing;
• Why Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is the best way to structure a political speech;
• Ways to make a speech memorable and move the audience to action, including checklists for everything from speech structure and supporting arguments to problems that are relevant to the audience and plausible solutions.

The challenge, he reminds us, is mastering the nuts and bolts while keeping the text of many political speeches at a seventh grade reading level so the majority of the audience can follow along.

Lehrman’s book illustrates, with links to dozens of speeches, how some of the best writers practice their craft. He takes us behind the scenes with colleagues such as Clinton speechwriters’ David Kusnet and Lissa Muscatine and George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum.

Social media and the Internet

Lehrman embraces change. He encourages speechwriters to take advantage of the Internet, especially the ease of access to speech archives at www.americanrhetoric.com and doing research with a search engine. But he’s also aware that YouTube means politicians today have nowhere to hide an unguarded remark, such as Senator George Allen’s “Macaca moment” on the 2006 campaign trail.

As for getting hired, Lehrman tells his students not to worry:

“With 200,000 candidates running for 60,000 elected positions in America every two years there’s no shortage of work for anyone who can stand the long hours and low pay,” he says. “Ten hour days, six days a week, are common. While corporate speechwriters make three times the salary and can go home to their family, those who want to influence public policy are, and will always be, drawn to politics.”

This review was originally published in ragan.com.

In a recent posting 10 Tips on Moderating a Panel Discussion I listed suggestions for anyone who has been appointed a panel moderator.

In this companion piece, I’ll list tips for those of you who’ve been invited to speak on a panel. Simple math indicates there’s a greater chance you’ll be asked to be on a panel than moderate one (unless your name is Terry Gross or Jeremy Paxman).

Many of the tips for moderators have a corollary for panel members. Just as the moderator should know the audience; schedule time to participate in panel rehearsals or pre-event meetings; and be aware of the electronic backchannel, so should should panelists. The reverse if also true. If panelists need to learn to shut up, the moderator must make sure to engage less aggressive panelists in the discussion. Not only is this courteous, but it provides the attendees with a more rounded, more interesting discussion. A good panel is a dialog between an intelligent and aware moderator and an engaged group of panelists for the benefit of the audience.

10 Tips for speaking on a panel

1. Know about the panel you are on

There’s a vast difference between participating in a political slug-fest such as Crossfire or light entertainment like Just a Minute. Even if you know that’s it’s an industry panel, be aware, for instance, if you are the sole Microsoft representative on an Open Source panel. Some moderators delight in generating controversy and might introduce an unwary panelist into a hostile environment.

2. Know the other panelists

Use social media tools to find out the scoop on other panelists. Search their names in Google, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter. Find out what other panels they have been on, read any reports and look for videos of them on YouTube and read about them in blogs.

You should know what positions they’ve taken in the past and opinions they hold. Nothing is more disarming than to reference their Alma Mater (listed in LinkedIn) or an important paper they’ve written in the middle of the discussion.

3. Know your material

It’s assumed you are an expert, but refresh yourself by checking in Google News and doing an advanced search into the Twitter archives to update yourself on the venue, issues and other hot topics. Heck, you don’t even need a Twitter account to do this.

4. Don’t be boring

Remember you are there to entertain, not to inform.

National Speakers Association President Kristin Arnold suggests:

Panel members face the same challenge as all speakers, the need to move from being boring to “bravo!”. Be keenly aware of how much airtime you are using, keep you remarks short and to the point. Be relevant and controversial – a little chutzpa goes a long way!

5. Be prepared – don’t walk into the panel cold

Once you’ve spoken to the moderator and other panel members, sit down and create an outline of the points you wish to make. List the brief stories you can tell to illustrate the points. Remember, an entertaining story includes a great opening line and an obstacle that was overcome. One tool to use to list your points is the Challenge, Action, Response framework.

Media trainer TJ Walker advises:

Treat a panel like any other speaking opportunity. Have an outline with a few points. Make sure you have a story and specific case studies for your audience to make your points come alive.

6. Respect others

Even if you get into a heated discussion with another panelist or an audience member criticizes you, don’t lose your cool. Stay in relationship with the other panelists and audience. This means interacting with other panelists, acknowledging what they say, agreeing to disagree. Be aware of the flow of the panel discussion and sensitive to the mood of the audience, but don’t allow yourself to be bullied. You can see mistakes to avoid and pick up some survival techniques by watching anyone with liberal opinions being interviewed on Fox News.

UK business commentator and experienced panelist Stephen Harvard Davis says:

I always remember that I’ve been invited to join the panel because someone else has views and opinions that are different to my own. When responding to what they say I should never take their words as a personal attack and must always remain calm and pleasant, whilst making my point robustly. After all, it’s not their fault that their opinion is wrong! I always remember that the audience has come to hear all the panel’s opinions and not just my own. The audience wants to see a gladiatorial contest of wits and be entertained by it. A couple of minutes in answer to any one point is more than enough and whilst my opinion may be the only one worth listening to, I must let the audience be the judge of that.

7. Don’t be a show-off

Don’t compete with the moderator or other panelists for time or attention. It’s not a discussion if one person dominates. Keep your bio brief. Don’t promote your company. Get into the topic right away.

Joel Postman, author of SocialCorp, notes:

In school, there was always that guy in the front row who had his hand up for every question, begging to be called on with pleas of ‘oh, oh, oh, oh.’ Well he grew up and he participates in every panel discussion. And he’s still just as annoying as he was in Mrs. Benson’s English class.

8. Remember you are always onstage

Even when not speaking, maintain eye contact with other panelists and the audience. It’s not advisable to look at the moderator, even when you are talking, it’s the audience you are there to address.

9. Hang around afterward

Unless you are a CEO with an entourage and places to go, stick around after the panel ends. Audience members who need some of your time will come up to speak. Exchange cards with them. You never know who you’ll meet.

10. Have fun!

After all, that’s what the audience wants to see. Part of the fun might be blogging or tweeting about your experience and using social media to magnify the impact of the discussion for those unable to attend the event.

I’d like to thank Kristin Arnold, TJ Walker, Stephen Harvard Davis and Joel Postman for their contributions to this blog posting.

Diane gives talks about living with bipolar disorder. Her husband, David (profiled in this series back in March) had to overcome his own struggles with bipolar. It’s estimated that 1 in 50 people in the USA have this disorder.

It is also estimated that 20% of people with bipolar disorder will commit suicide either on purpose or by reckless behavior during depressive or manic episodes. Biploar causes more deaths than aids and most forms of cancer. Bipolar disorder is believed to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and is treatable with many different medications.

However, medication alone is not enough to effectively control this illness. She and David share what else is necessary to live a healthy happy life in spite of having this devastating illness in their book Surviving Bipolar’s Fatal Grip – The Journey to Hell and Back.

Diane’s presentations describe her own story about living with this illness in her family and offers practical advice to others. She shares a success model and encourages the audience to use strategies such as mood tracking; getting adequate sleep; discovering their own triggers and learning how to lessen those triggers; taking their medicines at the same time every day; and other important strategies that will help them avoid depression, mania, and mixed bipolar states.

Pro-Track Profile

David and Diane are the only husband and wife team in the 2010 National Speakers Association of Northern California Pro-Track class.

I asked Diane what motivated her to get into the speaking business. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:02 — 1.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Guy Kawasaki is a Silicon Valley legend. The erstwhile Apple software evangelist, now a successful VC, has written a string of best sellers from the 1990 The MacIntosh Way to the 2009 The Art of the Start.

He’s currently working on a new book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. On Thursday he gave an entertaining presentation to an internal sales group at Cisco – where I’m employed in executive communications – based on his new book. From tips on how to smile with sincerity, to ways to enchant the influencers in a group, Kawasaki shared insights on ways to understand and influence change.

I caught up with him after his presentation and asked him to share something about his approach to public speaking and life as a professional speaker.

Click on the podcast icon below to hear Guy reveal:

• what he looks for in an audience to see if his message is connecting with them;
• the reason he likes speeches built around Top 10 lists;
• what he thinks of people tweeting while he’s speaking;
• what speakers can learn from The Grateful Dead.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:36 — 1.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Boring to Bravo: Proven Presentation Techniques to Engage, Involve, and Inspire Your Audience to Action

Kristin Arnold is a speaker’s speaker. Her new book is filled with nuggets of wisdom based on her years of experience as a professional facilitator. She also features guest content from an A-list of contacts she’s cultivated as the current President of the National Speakers Association.

This is not a basic presentation skills book. Arnold encourages readers to step outside the role of the speaker as an authority figure who controls the audience from the front of the room, to someone who passionately participates in an event that is enjoyed by the audience as a collaborative experience. Rather than speaking at an audience you should have a conversation that engages and connects with them. This tracks the move from Web 1.0 (carefully controlled content delivered in a one-way stream for mass consumption) to Web 2.0 (a social media dialog or conversation with mostly user-generated content).

Dynamic tips

In this book Arnold gives us a smorgasbord of techniques we can start using today. Tips range from straightforward suggestions on how to deliver a well-crafted introduction to more subtle hints about which side of the stage to enter (stage right, from the left side of the room).

She lists a range of ways to break the mold of the “boring” presenter and become someone who will elicit “bravos”. Refreshingly, she does not attempt to bake all the references you need into the book. Instead, in current social media style, she links to her dynamically maintained website where references are continually updated and readers comment on their experiences using the book in her lively blog.

You just know from how she writes that she has first-hand experience of all of the techniques she suggests. Checklists and chapter recaps provide an easy way to move from reading to implementation. Oh, and as they’ll tell you in the Twin Cities, the Mall of America is in Minnesota, not Michigan (p. 154).

So, if you are curious about the ways a presenter might use a contractors measuring tape; when it’s appropriate to bribe audience members; how to make eye contact with an audience of thousands; who to contact to license copyrighted music or movies for your event; how to conduct pre-event surveys on the web; or eight ways to conduct an audience poll; and much, much more…read the book.

See Kristin run

If you want first-hand evidence that Kristin walks the walk, check out her own “Bravo” performance on YouTube:

Have you noticed? Panel discussions are replacing keynotes and solo break-out sessions by experts at conferences. Rather than a rock-star presenter, who might disappoint, meeting planners are choosing to put a panel onstage and hear from multiple points of view. It’s a refreshingly democratic approach to conference content – safer than having all the eggs in one basket.

Speakers, corporate types and industry experts can expect to be asked to participate or moderate a panel discussion. This presents unique challenges for participants and moderators alike. I’ll address the best practices in moderating a panel in this post, and follow-up next week with Part II on how to prepare if you are asked to participate in a panel.

Like any blood sport, a good panel discussion needs a referee. The moderator’s job is to be the voice of reason, the champion for the audience and, if necessary, the inquisitor who probes beneath the surface for compelling comments.

So, if you’ve been assigned to moderate a panel, there’s a lot to be aware of. Here are ten things to bear in mind.

10 tips on moderating a panel discussion

1. First and foremost, just as any speaker should, a moderator must know the audience. What are their key interests, needs and concerns? What is it about the panel that attracts them? What questions are they hoping to find answers to? What will be the impact of the panelists’ comments on their work and lives? This helps you to prepare a discussion guide that captures your intention in hosting the panel and will keep the discussion relevant and meaningful to the audience.
2. Allow sufficient time for advance preparation. This includes understanding the purpose of the panel; becoming updated on pertinent/controversial industry issues; researching/contacting panelists; establishing panelist ground rules; writing your own introduction as well as the program introduction and the introduction for each panelist that correctly summarizes their bio and qualifications; verifying correct name pronunciation and title for each person; and creating a list of questions.
3. Choose panel members carefully. Just as you would if planning the ultimate dinner party, you need the right mix of expertise, ability to express an opinion coherently and divergent points of view. If everyone is a senior vice president of blah-de-blah it won’t be as interesting as if there’s a customer or partner from outside the organization included. Research the panelists and know their points of view on the topic, as well as as much as you can about their interests and background. Look for diversity in backgrounds, opinions and vested interests. Be cognizant of the hidden agenda they’ll each have for agreeing to be on the panel.
4. Prepare open-ended questions in advance that are both specific to each panelists’ individual interests and representative of issues the audience will be interested in. Part of the art of moderation is the art of interviewing, and any interviewer will tell you that preparation is the key to asking the most interesting and provocative questions.
5. Schedule rehearsal time for the panel members, ideally in person, otherwise over the phone or via video-conferencing. This helps establish chemistry between panelists. Share the results of your research into audience expectations. Lay out the timeframe and any other ground rules or guidelines they need to know. Review the room logistics and the time you expect them to arrive in the green room or other location prior to coming onstage.
6. Immediately before the event, attend to room logistics (seating arrangement of panel as well as audience, use of amplification, position of moderator, room temperature, lighting, acoustics). If you are hosting a virtual event, such as panel over WebEx, make sure the dial-in logistics are handled and you have a fall-back way of contacting panelists – such as their mobile number – if the main lines of communication have any hiccups.
7. Once the panel is in session, be sure to introduce each person, especially if anyone is a last-minute substitute whose name won’t be in the event program. Start out with an easy question or topic so that they can settle in and relax. Then, raise the stakes, probing into more controversial areas.
8. While the panelists are talking—especially if there’s a part of the panel where panelists deliver prepared remarks—listen very carefully and take notes. Wherever possible, capture important statements verbatim. Then use what you’ve heard to invite other panelists to comment on particular parts of other panelists’ statements. Keep an eye on time; too many moderators let speakers ramble on and on. Be prepared to navigate and intervene with panelists on behalf of the audience as needed. Ask follow-up questions that get to the story behind the canned response: Ask “Why do you believe this…?” “Do we all agree with what Joe has just stated…?” Panels that are too general or full of platitudes tend to bore audiences; controversy keeps it interesting.
9. Rather than field every question yourself, allow the panelists to question each other. The audience will be far more interested in dialog between panelists than every single exchange starting with your question. If you are allowing questions from the audience establish simple systems everyone can access. This might range from an open mic in the aisle to note cards they can write questions passed to your assistants to online systems for submitting questions.
10. Finally, talking of online, be aware of the increasing likelihood of what author Cliff Atkinson describes as The Backchannel. Expect that more and more audience members will be carrying smartphones and PDAs and communicating about what they see and hear onstage on Twitter and social networks while the event is in progress. This has the potential to sow the seeds of conflict. Opinions expressed by the audience need to be taken into account. Atkinson suggests effective ways to incorporate the backchannel into the discussion. Ignore these suggestions at your peril.

I’d like to thank the members of the Speakers and Panelists Group on LinkedIn who submitted many of these tips. Specifically:

Robert Buccino
Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Kay Meyer
Dale Klein