Tag Archives: good questions

The Commandments of Moderating, Part 6: Prepare, But Don’t Overprepare, Panelists and Part 7: Directing Traffic

Posted on January 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

With the new year I bring you the long-overdue second half of the Ten Commandments of Moderating.  Next up: How to prepare your panelists; and how to direct traffic. Continue reading →

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The Commandments of Moderating, Part 5: Paint Pictures

Posted on October 8, 2010 | 2 comments

The first two commandments of moderating are here, the third here, and the fourth here.   I started out without much concern on the order of these pieces of advice, but the list seems to be developing a structure: The first two commandments are the most basic.  They’ve been followed by three on formulating questions. After that, we’ll have a couple on preparation and directing traffic, followed by the most important commandment of all.  Now for the last piece of advice on questions: Continue reading →

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The Commandments of Moderating, Part 4: Conversations

Posted on September 30, 2010 | 1 comment

The first two commandments of moderating are here, and the third here.  Next up:

4. Create Conversations — As I have ranted about before, far too often the label “panel discussion” is a misnomer: The event instead is a set of presentations followed by a series of questions from the moderator to each panelist.   The good news is, this creates a great opportunity for you:  If you can actually get panelists talking to each other — to actually have a discussion at your “panel discussion” — both panelists and audience will be very pleasantly surprised.  You’ll see smiles and greater engagement all around.  Here are several ways to make it happen: Continue reading →

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The Commandments of Moderating, Part 3: Hard Questions

Posted on September 21, 2010 | 2 comments

Following up on the first two commandments of moderating, here is the third:

3. Ask Hard Questions that Get Answered — You have probably seen certain investigative news shows, or dramas about courtroom lawyers, in which the crusading attorney or journalist hurls accusatory questions, and is rewarded with the object of the questioning either running from the cameras or confessing to guilt on the witness stand.  Those kinds of questions are great for creating tension and making the questioner look strong.  What they’re terrible for is getting answers.

I love hard questions; a panel  discussion isn’t worth having without them.  But I like having them answered, and that’s a lot more likely to happen if you don’t make answering the question equivalent to losing a battle of wills with the moderator.  Here are some techniques for asking hard questions that get answered: Continue reading →

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Panelists Just Say No

Posted on September 2, 2010 | 3 comments

It’s not a suggestion, it’s an observation.  And it can help you ask questions that keep the conversation flowing. Continue reading →

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My Favorite Question

Posted on May 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

Or at least, my favorite question that’s not related to a specific scenario:

“How would that work, exactly?”

Far, far, far too often, folks — especially those in politics or punditry — get away with sweeping, and sometimes compelling, statements about how things should/would work under the principles they espouse (or about the terrible way things work under their opponent’s leadership).  The only problem is, they’re not actually explaining the how it would work part.  And that’s the question that should always be asked: “Walk me through it.  Take us step by step and show us how it happens.”

The best case: the speaker knows what he/she is talking about, and by turning that knowledge into a concrete picture of how something plays out, conveys it to the audience far more vividly.

Worst case: Another liar is called out on his/her BS.

Examples: Continue reading →

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