10 Controversial Panel-Hosting Rules *Uncensored*

I recently published an article in Forbes titled “Hosting A Panel: 10 Controversial But Effective Rules“

That article’s sure to ruffle some feathers.
There were a few details that Forbes wouldn’t let me include (on rules #6 and #9) because they were too controversial for them, so I’m posting those two here on my blog in full… (you’ll want to read the original article first)

#6 DO Encourage honesty.

Ask probing questions. Ask follow-up questions (for heaven’s sake don’t just follow a question list!). Don’t let people off-the-hook with vague or overly-diplomatic answers.

On several occasions I’ve participated in videogames industry panels where a bottle of whiskey or vodka is shared on-stage by the panelists. This is only appropriate in the [late] afternoon and at certain venues, but it is a surprisingly effective tool to achieve a higher level of flow, transparency, and disagreement. It needs to be done tactfully and respectfully and should be approved by the panelists beforehand (people have a range of highly-valid reasons for being uncomfortable around alcohol).

In addition to the on-stage payoff, this tactic also happened to pay off financially. In 2016, I was clambering for a bottle of scotch to serve my panelists at a conference in Asia. I found a liquor store a few blocks from the venue, where I recognized a ridiculously underpriced bottle of discontinued Vodka on the shelf, and bought the store owner’s stock of five bottles. I served one on the panel, and broke my ‘no checked bags’ rule to bring home the other four. They are worth approximately $4,000 each. There’s a longer story here I’ll save for another blog post.

#9 DO Provide Clear Guidance to the Audience

If you really are going to allow walk-up-to-the-mic, then it’s important to provide clear guidance to the audience: Questions must be brief, and they must end with a question mark. Add this to the list of things that seem obvious but for some reason aren’t.

And if they don’t follow the rules, please cut them off!

50% of hand-raising audience members chosen randomly, and 80% of audience members that win the race to the microphone have a long opinion to share that no one cares about.

25% are about to give a full entire well-rehearsed verbatim startup pitch followed by a “…what do you think about that?” (so it qualifies as a question).

Shoot that crap down. Rule #6 (the interrupt rule) applies tenfold to self-promotional audience members.

Happy Paneling!