As a panel moderator, asking insightful and interesting questions is one of your biggest responsibilities.
Don’t make up your mind about the topic.
Rather, come in with the perspective that you are intensely interested in the topic and want to gain insights by questioning the panelists.
A Chinese proverb says, “Tell me something, I’ll forget; show me, I’ll remember, involve me, I’ll understand.”
According to recent studies, when people participate in a presentation, the material becomes at least three times more memorable for them than if they merely listened to a lecture.
I get freaked out when an audience stares blankly at me.
Audiences can look creepy - it’s not all in your head
Don’t take the glacier gazes personally, though, since members of the audience are... just being an “audience”.
They are operating under the principles of audience psychology, obeying certain unspoken rules about how to act and how not to act.
Obviously, you will be struck by a lightning bolt and no one will ever talk to you again.