Question

1. What are the duties of a moderator in a panel discussion? Why are these duties important for the panel discussion?
2. In what ways does a team presentation resemble an individual speech?

Answer 1

A moderator basically has several duties and helps the audience to get access to the things that will fulfill their needs and a moderator takes care of the fact that the content is relevant or not and it happens through the panel format. The moderator not just sets the tone but he makes sure that the panel is lively or not and if the discussions are irrelevant then he himself can make changes. A moderator's responsibility is about maintaining a good relationship with the panelists even if they pass disagreeable comments, they are allowed to share their point of view. A moderator is also punctual and he or she makes sure that the program ends on time. Their job is to engage the audience and a moderator never get biased or he/she can never be partial to any specific person, it's against the job's ethics. He/she should be always neutral and plays the role of an instigator and helps panelists build the dialogues and also pushes them to not talk about things in general but talk about some specific topic. A moderator is also an energizer and adds some humor in between the discussions to create a healthy environment. He/she is called as literally the champion of the onlookers. From preparing the list of the items to decide the topic which should be discussed also delivering the introduction part, there are plenty of responsibilities that a moderator takes and he/she is like the backbone of every panel discussion just like the rest.       

If someone is given the scope of sharing individuals concepts then he/she should follow the same steps which are followed during individual's speech and it should not be practiced for others but for the one as well who is presenting his/her thoughts on their own. like the development of the outline and also analysis of the listeners. It's not group based but one must take care of the fact if it's general then he/she should do it on their own since each member will be given a speaking part on a particular part.