Conference support
Panels worth the audience’s time.
Preparation and coaching for chairs, moderators and panellists, so the discussion goes somewhere and the room leaves with something.
The difference
Most panels are four prepared speeches. They don’t have to be.
Usually
Rehearsed positions that never touch. Serial self-introductions. Questions read from a page, and an audience that could have got all of it from the panellists’ own websites.
Instead
A session with one job: the thing a delegate walks out knowing that they could not have got anywhere else. Real disagreement found in advance and handled fairly.
The method
A map, not a script.
What a moderator carries on stage: where the real tensions are, how the minutes are spent, and what to do with whatever comes back.
- low heat
- medium
- high
- interest
- forecast
- definition
Movements against the clock; width is minutes.
- 01
Research from the record
Every panellist, from what they have actually said and done: positions, interests, track record, forecasts. Verbatim and cited. Nothing invented.
- 02
Map the real tensions
Where their positions genuinely collide, with the strongest counter-argument on each side and a fairness note, so the collision is handled well. When a panel is aligned, say so.
- 03
Plan the movements
The session’s arc against the clock: macro then personal, consensus then collision, theory then case. Every panellist carries something.
- 04
Questions with branches
Questions the stump line cannot answer, and a branch for whatever comes back.
- abstract
- jargon
- overcertain
- vague
- polished
- emotional
- disputed
- evasive
- monologuing
- 05
The day itself
Fifteen-minute pre-panel calls for expectations and warmth, never the questions. Contingency cards for the monologue, the boil-over and time collapse. On stage, a map on a phone that needs no signal.
What I do for you
For everyone who has to make the session work.
For organisers
Sessions people talk about afterwards
Session design and chair preparation across a programme, so each slot has one job and a way to land it.
For moderators
A playbook for your panel
- The one job
- The tension map, with fairness notes
- The movements and their minutes
- Questions with branches
- Contingency cards and pre-panel calls
For panellists
Say the thing only you can say
Preparation and coaching, so the stump-line question doesn’t catch you and your time on stage counts.
Kind words
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“He does not just speak at people. He connects. And in my experience and opinion, that makes a real difference.”
Darla BennettEnvironmental geochemist
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“I was personally amazed with Haydon’s myriad of skill sets and in particular those related to communications and organizations. These are simply stellar.”
David BrownConjugate Margins Conference
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“The presentation was thoughtful and completely captivating.”
Jim FisherAfter a lecture
