The problem with panels

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Viv Groskop is the author of ‘How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking’ (Transworld)

There are many experiences in modern working life that can provoke ire and irritation. But one professional phenomenon seems to unite many people in a particular form of dread: the panel discussion.

After hosting and appearing on several panels this year, I posted some observations on social media, expecting a mild response. Instead a cathartic outpouring ensued, from a wide range of people all evidently horrified by panels they had appeared on or witnessed.

A common complaint is a chair who behaves as if they are not the chair at all but in fact the Most Important Panellist. Some act more like a keynote speaker who happens to have silent and increasingly exasperated aides onstage with them. There are tales of contributors checking their phones as fellow panellists talk. Others seem to have not the remotest idea why they are there.

There is no denying panels are a popular business event format. They offer a chance to see multiple speakers at the same time and the effect can be eclectic and exciting. At corporate functions they break up what might otherwise be a succession of lectures, and offer a rare chance to hear from senior industry figures. They frequently inspire post-match chat and networking for those on and offstage. In organisational terms they make sound business sense: the prospect of “better value” than a single presenter.

In reality, though, many of these promises are illusory. A great panel is more work, requires more skill and is riskier than most solo performances or interviews. Yet this rarely stops organisations from picking four people who have the vaguest of links to their theme (and often adding another at the last minute because they are connected to the sponsor).

The worst panels I’ve seen have been badly booked or overloaded with participants. Stages have groaned with speakers, all often physically resembling each other and with no clear differentiation in their experience or views. I have witnessed the facilitator interviewing their “favourite guest” as if it were just the two of them on stage — until the other panellists sprung to life, annoyed and embarrassed, in the second half.

But there are examples of how panels can be done better. One that I chaired at Hay Festival this year stands out.

Good practice starts with booking the right people. The title of this discussion was The Limits of Comedy. The panel consisted of a TV writer, Joel Morris; the actor Julian Rhind-Tutt of sitcom Green Wing; and comedian Aditi Mittal, one of India’s top stand-ups. They had enough in common to keep the focus narrow and deep, but also found enough points of friendly disagreement to make things lively and unexpected. My main job as chair was to make sure their voices were heard equally. No one likes a panel where one person — however fascinating — dominates.

When a panel is actually good, it can be so surprising and refreshing it feels life-changing. I still remember a sparkling conversation between Sir Mark Walport, then government chief scientific adviser, and Astronomer Royal Martin Rees at an Editorial Intelligence event more than 10 years ago. Crucially I don’t remember the chair. Whoever it was did the perfect job by getting out of the way. I do, however, recall how respectfully the two panellists listened to each other and crafted a conversation that was challenging and insightful.

This panel offered a recipe for success: a competent, generous chair who is a good listener but not afraid to say “let me stop you there”. And panellists who are prepared to speak — with concrete examples, colourful stories and data — spontaneously from the heart and who care what their fellow contributors have to say.

There is one final ingredient to improve the experience: change the furniture. Let’s ban trendy bar stools, the hallmark of the worst panels, which leave you either with your legs dangling like a toddler or pretending to sit as you half stand balanced awkwardly on one foot.

Those stools demean participants and onlookers alike. There is no networking opportunity so great it can erase the humiliation.

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