Nick Leifker <nightelf@thekeep.org> wrote:
(in reply to me)

As someone who has some experience in running fanfic panels, I'm

curious:

what do you mean by "letting the audience ask the questions".  In the

five

panels I've run, I've *always* let the audience ask the questions! 

Truth to tell, it has its good points and bad points.  The main bad point
is relevance; it's easy for the panel to get seriously off-topic, as one
question or comment leads to another.  Making sure that the panel doesn't
stray or that it doesn't dwell too much on a topic is something I will
have to work on.  Another bad point involves its limits; it oftentimes
keeps the panel in the hands of the audience members, while not
giving a chance for the panelists to explore topics that they may wish to
address.  

I guess what you have to ask yourself is: why are you holding the panel? 
Is it a soapbox for your panelists, or an opportunity for con attendees to
get to know their favorite authors?  In my view, it's a little of both, but
primarily the panel is for the audience.  My rationale is that we writers
don't *need* an audience to just talk amongst ourselves.  We can just as
easily do that in a restaurant.  If we feel the need for an audience, the
Internet provides a much bigger one than any con panel.

That being said, I've never stopped any of my panelists from speaking his
or her mind on any topic.  But once someone in the audience puts up a hand,
as moderator I try to find a good place to break the conversation and allow
the question.

The first year, I followed how I'd
seen other "general" anime con panels: in other words, the panelists
talked for awhile about what was on their mind, then the floor was opened
for questions.

Well, I do that too, in a sense.  Each panel member introduces his or
herself, briefly mentioning the type of stories they write and what they've
written in the past.  It takes about fifteen minutes to get through the
introductions, then I allow the audience to ask questions.  I always have
topics ready if nobody has any questions, but that hasn't happened yet.

The thing about "other panels" is that a lot of them are news oriented. 
For example, the ADV Films panel is of course going to spend the first 15
minutes or so talking about all the latest acquisitions before taking
questions.  Similarly, a "State of the Industry" panel will discuss the
state of the industry first.  The best parallel to a fanfic panel would be
a modeling panel, or a subbing panel, just a group of artists with a common
interest addressing an audience.

The thing that I consider to be important above all else at my fanfic
panels is this: everyone should have a good time.  I truly believe that the
best way for me to accomplish this as moderator is to get out of the way. 
My role as moderator is not to direct, but to contain.  It's not to control
the flow of the dialogue, but simply to keep it on-topic and to manage
things so they don't get too chaotic.

It's a learning process.  Only at Katsucon this year did I finally get the
hang of not looking at the other panelists while they talk.  My job as
moderator is to notice when someone puts a hand up, and IN WHAT ORDER. 
Once I got it down that this meant keeping one eye on the crowd at all
times, I did much better.  This was the first year that I had to say "no"
to people who wanted to be on the panel, after the debacle of the '97
Katsucon panel, with 11 panelists.

To finish, let me add that there's no reason why our panels have to be
identical.  I've sat on MegaZone's AX panel every year, and his panel is
different from mine.  (I tend to attract the FFML crowd, while he gets many
Eyrie panelists.)

------RM