Margie Dana

There are debates in the air – can you feel it? Talk about slings and arrows…

All this talk about who’s moderating the presidential debates got me thinking about panel moderators.

I often moderate panels. Here’s the content I must have at my disposal when I do:

Names, titles, and bios of each panelist. If someone has a tricky name to pronounce, I have the phonetic spelling of that name as well, just to make sure I don’t botch it.
Short introduction. It never hurts to have your introductory remarks printed off and handy, plus the name/s of the event sponsors if applicable.
List of questions I’ll be posing. And then some. It’s standard to share the questions ahead of time with your panelists so everyone’s prepared. Always have extra questions handy as well. Sometimes you go through the prepared questions quickly and find yourself at a loss for words. Avoid this! Draft a lot of extra questions.
Copies of relevant articles if available. Often, the topic we’re covering is timely and/or controversial, and other journalists or experts have weighed in. I like to print copies of such content and have them with me. I highlight key passages on them so I can reference them quickly.
Attendee list. If you’re lucky, you’ll have received a list of audience members. When I get such a list, I print it and have it in front of me. Rule #1 of public speaking: know thy audience.

Having this information handy will ease your job as moderator and enhance your professionalism.

What is wrong with some people? Do they actually believe that content they “find” on the Internet is public property – free for the taking?

In a recent Boston Globe report, a newly elected middle school principal was nailed for having plagiarized a chunk of copy to use in an email to her staff. Was this a one-time blunder? Hell, no!

Today I read in the Globe that she has resigned. The Globe sleuths discovered she also stole a 5-paragraph summary from Oregon State University’s website to use in her job application.

Is there no shame? This from an adult. This from an educator of our children. People worry about kids stealing content from the Internet, and evidently, we can’t take our eyes off of adults, either.

Years ago when I first started my own business, I hired a writer to do some work for me, going so far as to send her a chunk of source material, since the topic was so technical.

She turned the article around quickly enough. Reading through it, I found myself thinking, this stuff is too perfect to be true…rather, truly HERS. And it wasn’t. She lifted whole sections from the source material I’d sent her. When I confronted her, she said she thought it was public information and therefore free to use.

What I thought was, “What are you, HIGH?” What I said was, “Sayonara.” (And this: don’t ever use my name as a reference.)

Just so we’re all clear: when you come across content online, it is NOT yours to take. It is the property of someone else, regardless of whether you see a copyright line attached to it.

How can

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we expect to teach our children well* if we’re creepy thieves ourselves?

*phrase reminiscent of the song, “Teach Your Children,” by Graham Nash.

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This Is the Content a Panel Moderator Needs

Don’t You DARE Copy/Paste This