Learning Moments

How to organize panel discussions with everyone in the spotlight.  

It happened again. A conference organizer suggested a panel discussion. 

“Mmmh….”, I thought. 
“Not my cup of tea.” 

Panel 
: a group of persons who discuss before an audience a topic of public interest.  
Merriam Webster

Panel discussions … 

• … are showtime providing a bit of entertainment onstage for an observing audience. 
• … offer a platform for experts and hierarchical positions to express their opinions. 
• … are used as attendance drivers in large conferences. 

Refreshing panel discussions I witnessed, were by the way moderated by a journalist. They know how to tease out interesting answers and make the panel punchy, provocative, and inquisitive. Journalists know all about interview tactics. That is how they earn their daily bread. 

Panels are the darlings of conference organisers.  
But not necessarily of facilitators.  

Whom do you put into the spotlight? 
Expert or user? 
That is an important question for facilitators. 

Knowledge does not follow a hierarchy. We have to break through that logic.

Tim Pilbrow

My passion is to unlock the wisdom of the whole group. I care about the process and group dynamics. I bring participation formats engaging every single participant. I want to see the group immersed in joint thinking till they reach some novel thinking. For this to happen, I must create the conditions for everyone to learn from each other.  

Facilitation is a Philosophy. (…) It is the understanding that when three people share their ideas, they build on each other’s concepts, expand their own and each other’s thinking and create new ideas. It is the deep-seated conviction that 1+1+1=infinity.

Kimberly Bain

Flip the panel 

So don’t ask me to facilitate a panel discussion unless everyone can be a panellist. 

Let’s turn the panel idea into User Experience Fishbowl, in short UXF.  

How do you facilitate a User Experience Fishbowl? 

To set it up, you play with chairs. In the middle of the meeting room, you arrange a smaller inside circle with 3 up to 5 chairs and an outside circle for the rest of the participants around it. If you do a fishbowl online, you will play with webcams on/off (more below).  

The last UXF I run onsite had an inner circle with 3 innovative academic lecturers – our ‘fish’. The fishbowl started with a first conversation among the 3 of them while the outer circle (also lecturers) was listening. The three ‘fish’ shared their experiences of how Liberating Structures enabled them to flip their classes. When I looked around the room at those seated in the outer circle, I saw that everyone was hooked.  

Having listened for 10 minutes to what worked well and what was challenging, everyone in the outer circle split into small groups to reflect on their observations. This intermezzo with lively little buzz groups triggered some interesting questions for the ‘fish.   

The ‘fish’ reflected on the questions (they received them on post-it notes) for another 10 minutes. 

The same process is possible online: The fish in the inner circle have their webcam on and additionally are spotlighted. All the others turn the webcam off. For the intermezzo with little buzz groups, you use breakout rooms. Instead of questions on post-it notes, invite the groups to type their questions into the chat.  

I like the dynamic of the User Experience Fishbowl: 

• It creates a “world apart” by breaking with hierarchy for the duration of the conversation.  
• The spotlight is on the users and the wisdom of the crowd.  
• Everyone is activated and contributing to a lively discussion. 
• The fishbowl is conversation and certainly no presentation.  
• The focus is on concrete experiences.   
• The process is flexible, with many creative variations possible (if you are curious find some options here).   

If everyone is a potential panellist, then the whole room is the panel. 

That’s a deal I can say yes to.  

What is your experience with panel discussions and fishbowls? 

Related stories 

• Lively panel discussions in meetings, workshops, and conferences – ready for some twists and tweaks!  
• Input? Sure if it is inspiring, engaging and co-created! 
• Beyond input + Q&A – or how to design workshops the flipped way