I got a lot of feedback that the industry guest panel was too large and lacked moderation. That is true. This was my first time doing this kind of thing and I executed poorly. Despite the sloppy organization, the panel did provide a great deal of useful information. Several designers expressed that the content was very useful to them and will help prevent costly mistakes.
Next time I plan to do two panels, one Friday night and one Saturday night. They will be limited to 5 or so people each, including a moderator. I have two people who have volunteered to moderate.
It was suggested that we use NPR style written questions. People write out their questions and the moderator uses that bank of questions. Seems like a great idea.
I would like to do one panel titled “Everything but Kickstarter” where talking about Kickstarter is banned in order to focus on other topics. The second panel would be allowed to talk about Kickstarter, and thus would likely be all about Kickstarter. :-)
Lessons Learned:
Split the industry panel into two and limit each panel to no more than five people.
Designate a moderator for each panel.
Provide paper and pens for NPR style written questions collected in advance.
Designate one panel to not discuss Kickstarter at all so that other questions and areas can be addressed.
Thanks to our industry guests who took time to participate in the panel.
From left to right: Richard Bliss, Grant Rodiek, Kevin G. Nunn, Eric Vogel, Ted Alspach, Aldo Ghiozzi, Sam Waller, David Sirlin, Seth Jaffe and Jeff Cornelius.
From left to right: Richard Bliss, Grant Rodiek, Kevin G. Nunn, Eric Vogel, Ted Alspach, Aldo Ghiozzi, Sam Waller, David Sirlin, Seth Jaffe and Jeff Cornelius.