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Preparing for a Panel
By Elizabeth S. Craig @elizabethscraig
Tomorrow, November 14, I’m on a panel for
the Get Read online conference—a
conference that’s all about helping writers learn more about effective
marketing.
My panel is “Publishing Your Way To
Success.” The description:
The core
thing that connects writers to readers is the stories you craft – be it
fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry or any form of writing. In this session, we
explore how releasing new work can grow and more deeply engage your audience.
It panel runs for about 40 minutes and
starts at 1:45 p.m. ET.
I tend to enjoy panels, although
as a rule, I’m not fond of public speaking.
Panels are easier for me and I get a lot from listening to the other
speakers…occasionally to the point where I forget what the original question
was and have to ask for it to be repeated when it’s my turn.
A good panel is the result of good
moderation. I’ve been on panels before
where the moderator lost control of the panel—we veered wildly
off-subject, ran out of time for audience questions, and once didn’t even have a chance for
everyone on the panel to talk.
I remember one panel I was on, years
ago. I felt good about it. I sold my books at the end of the panel and
one of the audience members came up to me and said confidentially, “I felt so,
so sorry for you.” She patted me on the hand.
I gaped at her in horror. Had I had some sort of horrid wardrobe
malfunction? Why on earth did no one let
me know? Then she said, “You know. Because that one person went on and on and
you didn’t get a chance to speak.”
Oh.
Well, even though I assured her that the panel hog hadn’t bothered me at all and I never care if I don’t get
as much of an opportunity to speak…it had certainly bothered her. And since then I’ve noticed that folks in the
audience do look uncomfortable when one person is speaking at the expense of
the other panelists. A good moderator reins in a chatty speaker.
I’ve done online interviews quite a few times before, but
this online panel will be a first for
me. Dan
Blank, the conference organizer, is using an application called BigMarker to run the conference. I tried
it out a couple of times and found it very easy to use the
interface. You can listen in as an
audience member without video or audio, or turn it on as a panelist. There’s even a button you can press to
‘raise your hand’ to indicate to the moderator that you have a question. And a chat box on the side of the screen.
I did warn Dan that I likely wouldn’t be
able to chat, listen to the other panelists, and recognize when it was my turn to talk. :) My
multi-tasking has limits.
Here are
my tips for being on in-person panels:
Find out the book selling protocol at the conference. Are we allowed to sell our books at the
event, after the panel? Is the
conference buying the books through a bookseller or are we responsible for
bringing our own books? If we bring our own books, we need to know that crucial fact in enough time to order some copies.
Be conscious of over-promoting while on
panels. It tends to stand out if we
bring up our book title every time we answer a question or have all of our
titles on the table in front of us during the panel. I usually have one or two books, tops, on the
table (if the conference even allows them).
Ask how they handle book selling. Sometimes you sell
books right after your panel in the same room, sometimes you go to a commons
area outside of the room, sometimes you have a special area to report to at a
specific time.
It’s also important to know if someone
else handles the purchases while you sign, or if you’re signing and ringing up customers. (Which is a nightmare for me…I tend to get
flustered.) If you’re not sure, best to
come with a calculator and with extra dollars to make change with.
I’ve watched panels, as an audience
member, where panelists were thinking so hard about how they were going to
answer the question that they didn’t appear to be listening to the other
panelists as they spoke. Definitely
doesn’t look good.
Sometimes,
the conference forgets to supply water. I like to have a small water bottle
with me, just in case.
Online
conferences/panels:
Well, your guess is as good as mine. But I do have general tips for doing Skype
and other interviews, and you can find
the post here. Mainly, I make sure
the lighting is good (artificial lighting is usually better than sunlight),
that the audio and the camera are working,
that I put the animals away so they won’t jump into view of the camera
or bark, and find/wear my makeup...which
is, as I recall, in the children’s bathroom since it was last used to help with
special effects for their Halloween costumes.
Any tips for panels? Things I missed?
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