Panel Discussions: Painful or Productive?
Emily Watts and I are in the air en route to Houston for the annual Dance/USA conference. During the flight, I have several hours to catch up on some work, review the conference agenda, contemplate questions that I would like to discuss with colleagues, and ponder the purpose, and future, of the panel discussion format. In today’s world of blogs, vlogs, tweets and seemingly limitless people connecting as friends online, is the panel discussion still valuable and viable or an ineffective forum for addressing issues today?
It seems everywhere we turn there’s a panel discussion about this or that. How many panels have been offered in the last six months about the economic challenges facing the arts in America? Is anything solved? Is it supposed to be? What’s the value of these discussions? Is there a more effective way to do this nowadays? Do people attend primarily for the networking opportunities and refreshments afterwards? If so, is there a better way to facilitate this AND discuss the topic?
What panels have you attended that really worked well? Why? Is there a magic formula the others that aren’t so stellar should adopt? On a related note, who do you know that does a great job of capturing discussions and making them available for people who are unable to attend in person? Does anyone actually “take the discussion online” in a meaningful way? Does anyone follow up on the ideas discussed or are they left hanging in the air like the faint scent of the leftover brie?
Wow, with all these questions, you probably are hoping that I don’t take another flight anytime soon. I am truly curious about your thoughts on the topic, if you have a second, I’d really appreciate hearing what you think. We certainly have a lot to discuss and tackle in the arts, wouldn’t it be great if we could tweak a few things to make both the discussions and resulting action plans more meaningful? Thanks.
Tags: Panel Discussions
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I think panel discussions can be useful but in this economy, people are not as willing to spend money or time to attend them. I’ve been trying to figure out ways to continue the discussion online to reach a bigger audience but haven’t come up with any good solutions yet. I’d be interested to hear what other people have to say.
A quick list:
Panels = Useful
+Live interaction breaks up info dump of other media
+Conversation can fuel networking after panel
+Familiar–No confusion from panelist or audience about how the model works
Panels = Not Useful
-Easily turn into whine-fests
-Often storytelling without take-away action points for audience
-Psychic barrier between panelists and audience
-Stale format is easy to ignore
-Hard to share content with peers who did not attend
-Event sits by itself, context and continuation and hard to grow
-Can’t skip parts you’re not interested in
-Specific time and place
Positive aspects of panels are personal interaction - if it’s a good crowd and format is relaxed, then a certain potential or energy is generated within the space. The formal context can create focus, and the opportunity to feel a part of the discussion. As others commented, if the discussion isn’t of interest to those attending, or if too much ‘whining’ or regurgitation of already-knowns, then it can be Painful! Questions: who really benefits? With information and contact readily available on blogs, etc… what is the purpose of meeting in-person? I guess, the actual specific geographic location creates community. Ambiance? A panel in Beijing is different than a panel on a community college campus in Eureka, California. If it’s good, it’s good, if not, BOORRIINNGG. Perhaps there’s a performance aspect.
I think that the central shortcoming of panels - that they are often a disjointed series of stories with no engagement or resolution - may be a symptom of a larger problem, namely the lack of debate or real dialog in American society.
The art of open debate and social discourse has largely been eliminated in America as a deep schism has developed between liberal and conservative view points and both sides have disengaged from each other, retreating to conversations with like-minded individuals that reiterate a shared viewpoint.
I suspect that panels (or online dialogs or any forum intended to facilitate discussion) will not be truly effective until we learn how to really listen and engage in debate and dialog with each other whether we agree or not.
That being said, I have had the opportunity to hear many interesting and engaging speakers as part of panel discussions over the years. Even if panels are not providing the dialog and engagement that I wish they would, the chance to hear some of these inspiring perspectives is enough to keep me coming back for more.