A panel discussion is prepared in five steps: sharpen the thesis, cast the panel, hold preparation calls, build questions with a dramaturgy, and settle staging and technology. Plan four to six weeks for this and you get a conversation instead of a series of monologues.
Step 1: turn the topic into a thesis
Most panels fail long before the stage, at the choice of topic. "The future of the industry" is not a topic; it is fog. A panel becomes viable when the topic is phrased as a contested question that reasonable people answer differently: What comes first, price or speed? Who carries the cost? The test is simple. If every panelist would agree with the same statement, there is nothing to discuss, and the slot would work better as a talk.
Step 2: cast the panel for friction
Cast for perspectives, not for rank. Three to four guests are enough if they look at the thesis from different directions and at least two of them represent visibly different interests. Four people with the same standpoint are not a panel; they are a choir. Speaking ability matters too: the best expert is wasted if she answers in written prose. When in doubt, watch a short video of a previous appearance.
Step 3: preparation calls and questions
Two to three weeks before the date come the preparation calls, 20 to 30 minutes per person, ideally by video. They clarify positions, red lines and the points where the conversation can spark. From them grows a question script with a dramaturgy: an opening that brings every guest into play early, an escalation in the middle, audience questions, a clean ending. The guests know the direction, not the wording. This is how Jasmin Wölke works: for the SAP Tech Leadership Forum she prepared eight panels with preparation calls, two days of programme, entirely in English, in front of more than 300 executives.
Steps 4 and 5: flow, staging, the final week
In the final week the frame is fixed: position in the programme, seating on stage, microphones, a clock in the moderator's sight line, microphone runners for audience questions, the handover to the next programme item. How the panel fits into the overall day is covered in the event moderation run sheet. On the day itself, a short meeting with all guests before the session is enough: confirm the flow, answer last questions, then the stage belongs to the conversation. What the moderator contributes and how to brief her is explained on panel discussion moderation and in the briefing checklist.