How to Moderate

Whether managing a meeting, doing a panel, conducting a live event, presenting a talk, or even hosting a podcast  -- how to moderate a discussion is top of mind. Especially in a world where remote and virtual work is increasingly become the norm for many knowledge workers (given the pandemic and even beyond it), and where we're increasingly communicating through little "Hollywood Squares, Brady Bunch" boxes.So how does one translate physical and nonverbal presence even in virtual environments? How to manage unruly discussions? Do parasocial vs. social interactions change things here? And beyond these contexts, how do all the things inside us -- whether tics or anxiety -- manifest outwardly, and can (should?) we control them?In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Matt Abrahams -- lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (where he also has a podcast, "Think Fast Talk Smart"); principal and co-founder of presentation and communication skills company Bold Echo; and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out -- shares frameworks for moderation and best practices in communication in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. Their discussion offers lots of concrete tips for moderation across all kinds of modes and mediums. image: Håkan Dahlström / Flickr