1/ The caliber of moderation determines the quality of the event. We gathered data from running 100+ virtual events. Learnings in THREAD

2/ Great moderators suppress the urge to respond with their own stories and, rather, continue to dig deeper into their guest's story. Moderation is like improv. The goal isn't to make yourself look good, but to make your partner look good.

3/ Uncover real stories. If your instinct is telling you that there’s something juicy one or two layers deeper, get to the real story by asking your guest: "Tell us more about…", "So when this happened, how did you manage to..." or "I’m not sure I understand..."

4/ Roadmap the conversation. Our brains are wired for stories. Your story arc creates a coherent and memorable event. Good stories cover what's being talked about, why it's important, and what the implications are. Organize your questions by theme and rank themes by importance.

5/ You set the tone: be warm and bring the energy. During the event, give your guest a warm intro (don't read their bio!), and set the tone by letting curiosity be genuine and palpable in your voice. Inject energy with questions for the audience.

6/ The big NOs:
- Don't hero worship.
- Don't put your guests on the spot by one-upping them, going for “gotchas,” asking them to give away confidential information or comment on/criticize their competitors or past companies.

7/ Go deep. Tricks we picked up from @mikiebarb:
- use open-ended prompts (e.g. “So let’s talk about what happens here” or “Tell me about the situation with")
- master the probe (e.g. "Can you give us an example of" or "Help me understand"), and
- share your own observations

8/ Tell them what you've told them. End with content takeaways and how you want your guests to feel. E.g. “I hope you leave feeling inspired to X (e.g. create your dream job) with a better understanding of how to Y (e.g. build allies on the Internet).”

9/ For many more tips and observations from our events, read our “Ultimate Playbook for Moderating Events on Zoom.”

https://www.renaissancecollective.co/renco-blog/the-ultimate-playbook-for-moderating-events-with-featured-guests-on-zoom

And reply to this thread with your own tips on moderation!

10/ TY @jokesonalizeh and @nifferkin for weaving together our collective wisdom, TY to @m1shti @dksf @zebriez @jonwlai @dnlhui, @nonmayorpete, Kali, Jeff, and Stan for insights. TY to @smc90 and @spchteach for their advice in @a16z 's podcast and @mikiebarb who inspires us daily!