Handling a panel discussion is a complicated task. It either ends up positive or negative, and it’s all up to the moderator to control the conversation.

However, stay in your seat. Even if it’s your first time moderating a panel discussion, I’ve got you covered.

You can share this guide with your appointed moderators as well. As long as you know the basics, you can have an effective panel discussion. These tips are already proven. You can try them for yourself and let me know if they helped!

Research about the panel discussion and meet your speakers

The first thing you need to do for every venture is research. Without it, you’d be lost. So, it’s good if you have knowledge about the topic. In that way, you won’t be surprised at the discussion itself.

Research as much as you can about your speakers. Search for their works and published articles. In addition, you can also visit their social media profiles so you can get an idea of who they are as a person, what tone they use, their stand, and more.

This goes hand in hand with meeting your speakers. You can discuss the flow of the panel and what topics might be touched upon. Having an idea of the flow gives some background, leading to a more natural flow of conversation.

If you lack time to meet a week before or two, you can arrange to meet on the day itself. It’s better to be late than never they say.

Time management and being neutral

Go through every question. You have your own questions, and you also have the audience’s questions. Have time for both. You have to ensure that the speakers have enough time to answer.

Some questions are simple and some are tough. As said earlier, you can ask the speakers how much time they will allot for answering questions. Additionally, you can discuss signals to alert them if they’re running behind or still have some time. You can also add time counters for every session so they’ll know when to stop.

Discussing questions makes you think about the perspectives of the audience, the speakers, and yourself. You’re bound to have different takes on the topics. Therefore, as a moderator, be neutral. Do not take sides or choose the question that you agree with.

Choose questions that will benefit the whole panel. Also, avoid approving messages that say ‘Thank you,’ ‘Wow,’ etc. You’re the moderator. Therefore, you should choose questions and facilitate the conversation. If you choose messages like that, it may seem that you’re picking sides.

Mixing it up

Combine your questions and the audience’s to create a conversation dynamic. Don’t just stick to your accustomed flow. It’s good to crowdsource questions from the audience in real-time. To do this, you’ll need a Q&A chat platform.

Create a Q&A chat with RumbleTalk. Just follow the steps below.

• Firstly, sign up for an account.
• Next, choose moderated chat as your preferred chat type.
• Set the chat moderators, which includes you and maybe other moderators. This depends on the size of the panel discussion.
• Be sure to share your chat’s link and direct the audience to ask their questions here.
• NOTE: You can also use these for other live events with Q&A sessions. Additionally, you can change chat types anytime so you can use it as a normal group chat as well.

There are two options that you can do for your Q&A session.

1. The first one is by allotting time for Q&A at the end of each session. This takes a lot of willpower and multitasking. You have to screen messages when the Q&A is happening. Therefore, this works best when you have a lot of moderators with you.
2. The second option is to allow specific time for Q&A. This means that all questions will only be answered at this time. You can do this if you’re short on manpower. For example, if you’re the only moderator on the panel discussion, you can collect all messages and approve the ones on the dedicated Q&A slot. However, you have to take a great risk since you can lose the audience’s attention. Some are not patient enough to wait for a whole hour just for an answer.

Concluding with a question

End the discussion with questions that can lead to a quick statement. Try: “Since we have time for one more question, what will be your final recommendation for the audience?”

This will wrap up the panel. Don’t forget to thank the speakers and the audience for their participation.

Moderating a panel discussion can be hard. However, when you’re prepared, you can give the audience and speakers a good time and an engaging discussion.

Got questions? Message us on Facebook and Twitter. Or, immediately create your chat and get started here.

I hope you can use this on your next panel. Good luck and always be ready!

New option to control your group chat menu. Do you have an account with us? If yes, I’m sure you’ve seen the chat menu. This is all the options a user or admin (which have more options) can change in the menu options.

Now, we made it easier for you to turn on/off any menu option.

In the newest feature, all the options that you see above can now be hidden or enabled for select users only. This blog post will show the use of the new feature. Also, it will tackle how you can use it on your admin panel.

Where to use the menu options?

The menu options are useful for members of the chat, specifically chat owners. Chat owners will be the ones to decide who gets to use a specific option in the chat menu.

It can be for admins only or select options are only available for non-admin members of the chat. A chat owner can also go as far as hiding all options for all members. So, the decision relies on the chat owner.

Why should you use it?

Different chat rooms have different uses. A public chat may not need as many options, whereas a membership chat is more customizable. Public chat rooms don’t also use the export option as much. Therefore, the export option can be hidden for non-admin members. This is just one of the examples.

The menu options let you take control of your chat room. It gives you more command of what direction your chat will take.

How do you use the menu options?

You can see the menu options on your admin panel.

• Firstly, click “Settings” on your admin panel.
• Secondly, choose “Menu options.”
• Lastly, choose the options you want to show, hide, or for admins only.

Here’s an example if you hide the sound and private chat popup options in the chat menu.

It’s that easy! Also, the menu options are applied to both mobile and web browsers.

More new features

This new feature is just one of the upcoming features. RumbleTalk is consistently listening to customers wishest. Therefore, you can send your comments and suggestions to us. You can send them on our contact page.

If you’re following us on our social media pages (Facebook, Twitter), you can also send your messages there. We love hearing your feedback!

You can check out our latest blogs if you want to know more about new features and updates. Additionally, you can also check our social media pages.

Please continue to support RumbleTalk in the future!

Q&A chat, when you want to engage your audience with a secured chat where every message is approved.

With a Q&A chat, you may turn on message moderation to have messages approved or blocked before they’re sent to the rest of the group.

What is a moderated Q&A chat?

This is a chat referred to as “moderated chat”. To moderate means to preside over. With a moderated chat, an admin pre-approves messages before they get sent out.

Any appointed admin can approve or delete a message. Non-admin members of the chat can only send messages. Additionally, they are not able to see other messages of other members of the chat before they are approved.

With that said, let’s discuss the two views on a Q&A chat.

The two users and their views

Before discussing the two views, let’s tackle the two types of users in a moderated chat.

• Firstly, we have the admin users. The admins see all of the messages sent in the chat room. They serve as the moderator of the chat, approving or deleting any message. In conclusion, they choose what appropriate questions or messages that the speaker will answer.
• Secondly, we have non-admin users or chatters. These are individuals who are ordinary members of the chat. This means that they have no authority in the chat room. So, they depend on the admins to approve their messages. Moreover, they cannot see unapproved messages sent by other chatters.

Moving on, let’s talk about the two views. Views here mean the perspectives of the two users above. Here are their differences.

• For the admins, they can see everything that’s happening in the chat room. From good questions to negative ones, the admins see all. Therefore, it is their task to choose the appropriate ones to approve. All malicious or harmful messages can be deleted.

• Next up is the chatters’ perspective. As said above, chatters are permitted to send messages only. They cannot see other chatters’ messages, let alone approve one. So, here’s an example of a chatter’s view.

How can you get your own Q&A chat?

Intrigued? Well, I can’t blame you. It’s very useful for live events, Q&A events and communicating with your followers in general. This is how you can get your own Q&A chat.

• Firstly, create an account on the RumbleTalk website. Just click “Sign-up” on the upper right corner of the page.
• Secondly, choose moderated chat as your preferred chat type.
• Then, open your chat and check if the moderated chat works properly.
• If you’re logged in as an admin user, you will see all the messages in the chat room. Each message will be accompanied by check and cross boxes on the right side (see example above).
• If you’re logged in as a chatter, then check if you can send messages. Approve the message as an admin and see if it appears in the chat. Delete the message an admin and see if it doesn’t appear.
• After that, you’re all set! You can now start a Q&A session with your followers.
• NOTE: Approved questions will appear normally in the chat. Deleted questions are gone forever. Chatters, if their messages are approved or deleted, will not be notified. They will just see it in the chat.

Advantages of having a moderated chat

1. Hold a live event directly on your site or on your page.
2. Creating an account is easy. There are only simple steps.
3. Strengthen your relationship and rapport with your followers.
4. Change chat types with just a click. In addition, you can change chat types anytime.
5. Moreover, the best advantage of your website is adding paid access. Through this, you can gain income. To add activate monetization, just choose “paid moderated chat” as your chat type. Then, set your preferred prices and payment times.
6. If you need more automatic chat moderation, then you can use the block and filter words feature.
7. Lastly, there’s also chat moderation features for admins. Admins can ignore and disconnect chatters that are creating a commotion. Also, admins can ban IP addresses for persistent troublemakers.

With features like these, you take control of your chat and achieve a civilized discussion with your community.

A civilized discussion for your community

The Q&A chat can help create a safe space for your community. You protect them from harmful messages from other chatters. Public chats always have this problem. So, it’s best to have a counterattack for these kinds of issues.

That’s where the Q&A chat comes in. As a chat owner, you control what’s happening in the chat room. By appointing admins by your side, you strengthen the security of your chat. Therefore, chatters feel safe in the chat.

By having a website, it’s a must. This is your way of communicating with your audience. Interested in what other offers RumbleTalk has? Then, check out the blog to know more. Also, you can check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for news and other media!

So glad you read up to here! Hope you can read the next one! Stay tuned for more updates and releases!