The dos and don’ts of panels

Well kids, it’s that time of year again, the time when TPTB at Bouchercon hand down their panel assignments to 400+ lucky folk. I always equate this process to arranging tables at weddings and bar mitzvahs: you try really, really hard to get a good mix of people at the right table, but inevitably, this faction of relatives refuses to speak to another faction, one best friend wants desperately to sit with another BUT NOT THAT PERSON OVER THERE, and so on and so forth.

The difference is that only your tablemates have to hear what you say, and they are scarfing catered food all the while. With a panel, it’s a bit different, and Crime Spree editor-in-chief Jon Jordan offers some tips to authors on how to be the perfect panelist:

The people coming to the panels are paying to be there. They hope to see an informative and/or an entertaining hour with authors. It turns me off when it turns into an infomercial for the book. I have seen quite a few panels where an author doesn’t really answer the question, they just turn it in to a chance to sell their book. You really don’t need to do that. The truth is if you are giving informed answers or are entertaining people will remember you and look for your books. I have actually written down author names and later decided against buying books because all they could talk about was themselves.

It’s a fine line between promoting and being obnoxious.

Indeed it is. But as Jon points out later and is backed up by others commenting, nobody likes what I call a moderator-hog — the person who refuses to shut up and doesn’t cede the spotlight to the panelists. I firmly believe that moderators must act like they are the least important person in the room, keeping questions short and concise while giving equal time to each panelists. Because the audience didn’t come to see you, whether you’re an author or not. They came to see everybody else.

But in the spirit of niceness — or maybe I’m thinking about luxurious catered wedding food — what’s the best panel you ever attended or participated in, and why was it so good?