There are good pointers in your post and so I will bookmark it, in case I’ll need to moderate (or be part of) a panel someday.

Good luck with your upcoming panels!

Pamela, panels at *camps are odd. The point of BarCamp sessions is already to have a discussion, not as much about hearing from a pre-designated panel of experts.

However, we did do a panel on open government data at Gov20Camp, and it worked well in giving a focus to who was leading the conversation while still allowing others in the room to speak up and discuss.

The difficult part, as David points out, is layout to make the audience feel like they’re able to see the interaction but while making the interaction primarily between the panelists and not *to* the audience.

Where’s the book on “Panel:ology”?

One thought about the arrangement of the chairs in a semi-circle is that the people on the end will have trouble seeing the audience, for the same reason as their not being able to see each other at a flat table.

I learnt a trick waaaaay back a long time ago when I was receiving training in how to deliver adult education – put the chairs and desks in a V formation (with the open end facing the audience). That provides the best visibility and eye contact for everyone, and there is an additional spooky thing that you can do as a facilitator: merely walk into the V if you want to pull up a conversation that’s in progress. It works!

I always like to create circles out of the seating at events to encourage more interaction – I hadn’t thought about that in terms of panels. It’d be an interesting experiment. WhereCamp?