Moderation

Moderating teams should generally follow the advice below to help ensure a successful Conversation:

• Everyone on the team should plan to speak at least once. One simple strategy is for everyone to come prepared with a few "go-to" questions and to take turns asking questions. However, in practice, the questioning does not always go as planned, so be mindful of each other's participation and share the opportunity to participate. Additionally, it is helpful to arrange a few plants in the audience to be prepared to ask questions. This strategy will kick start audience participation in the conversation.

• If anyone thinks of a new question or followup question during the Conversation that is better than their prepared questions, change to the new question. Try to keep the conversation natural and connected rather than a sequence of unrelated questions. If there is an opportunity to ask a fantastic followup question, take that opportunity rather than waiting for "your turn".

• One person on the team should volunteer to introduce the guest. This introduction does not have to be long or comprehensive, and the introducer can ask the guest to introduce themselves. The introducer should warm up the guest before the team launches into questions, for example, "Welcome everyone to Conversations in the Studio with our special guest, X. X is Y from Z. We're really excited to have you, X!" Give the guest a chance to say they are "happy to be here" before having to answer a hard question.

• One person on the team should volunteer to be the MC. The MC is responsible for calling on teammates and audience members who have their hands raised to ask questions. The MC is also responsible for keeping the conversation going, and should always be prepared with a question should no one else have one.

• At the very beginning of the Conversation, the MC should remind the audience that this a closed-door Conversation: no recordings are allowed, nor is it allowed to share over social media any specific quotes from the guest—but it is OK to share general statements about the Conversation.

• The MC and team are responsible for the energy of the Conversation. In order to keep the Conversation informal, intimate, and engaged, be sure to balance professional and personal questions, avoid common (Google-able) questions that often shift guests into soundbite mode, and balance moderator and audience questions. Also, time the rapid-fire questions to be in the middle of the Q&A after a particularly heavy answer in order to restore the informal vibe of the room (i.e., don't wait to do them right before the takeaways, which are also fast-paced.)

• The rapid-fire questions work best if only person asks all of the questions, so that no time or energy is lost passing the microphone. Also, be sure to announce both the start and the end of the rapid-fire questions so that the guest is clear about when the special format starts and ends.

• The team should wait in the "Green Room" (Studio 141) about 15 minutes before the Conversation. The instructor will meet the guest at the front door, escort the guest to the Green Room, and introduce the guest to the team. The guest and team will hang out in the Green Room before heading on stage.

• While moderating, do NOT turn off the microphone. Having said that, everyone will turn off the microphone. Therefore, when someone hands you the microphone, always make sure that it is on.

• Make sure that questioners from the audience always use the microphone—even if the questioner claims to have a loud voice, or even if the guest says they can hear them, many people in the audience will not hear them clearly.

• Moderate Q&A for about 45 minutes.

• After Q&A, the MC should tell the audience that it is time to share "takeaways", and should explain to the guest what this means: "we will now share with you our key takeaways from this awesome Conversation". One person on the team should volunteer to be the first person to share a takeaway. Additionally, it is helpful to arrange one plant in the audience to be the second person to share a takeaway. This strategy will create enough time for other audience members to think about what they will share. Exhaust all takeaways from the audience, even if time is running is over; takeaways are critical to close the loop with the guest. Normally takeaways take about 10 minutes.

• Immediately after the takeaways, someone on the team should present a token of appreciation to the guest, saying, "We have one more takeaway for you". This could be a Cornell Tech t-shirt or anything else the team considers a nice small gift. (You can pick up a t-shirt from the Studio team.)

• At the end of the Conversation, the MC should say that the Conversation is over and that the guest is going to hang out in the Studio a bit longer for casual conversation. The MC should thank the guest very much for joining us for a Conversation in the Studio and ask for a final round of applause from the audience.

• After the Conversation and before the guest leaves, one of the moderators should take a Polaroid of the guest for the picture wall and ask the guest to sign it at the bottom. (You can pick up the camera from Khoa.)