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Festival of ideas - any ideas for chairing big sessions in public fora?

23:47 / 03.07.05

going to the adelaide festival of ideas this week. & i have been asked to chair this session!

so excited - it is in the big hall and there will be around a thousand people... i don't get nervous (i remember my first ever gig, did four original songs, and wasn't the slightest bit nervy...) but i don't really know much about chairing such things.

luckily i've only one speaker to cope with - many sessions have up to five! i'd hate to have to try to remember five people i didn't know well and their areas of expertise to field the questions!! - and the format is, he talks and then the public get an opportunity to ask questions of him... all up about 45mins.

i actually know peter - he is on our board and i have met him; a lovely chap, just like a nobel laureate should be!

but anyone got any advice on chairing these things? anyone done it before? any skills to pass on to deal nicely with those in the community who might be inclined to use this as a platform for their own loopy hobby-horse?

i'm sooo excited!! (will give a report next week...)

12:38 / 05.07.05

Having never chaired a Festival of Ideas Session with a Nobel Laureate, I can only imagine the challenge, astrojax, but I'm sure you will triumph. I do facilitate lots of other public forums though and here are some things I have found useful.

1: Everybody gets nervous (except Autocrats and Automata). Laurence Olivier was sick as a very queasy parrot, with nerves, to his dying day. Once you're off and running, the nerves will work for you.

2: Remember to breathe. Deep, cleansing breaths before you kick off, and whenever you can in the middle, to keep yourself centred.

3: Remember to smile. You can get away with most things, as long as you're smiling. It's hard to dislike smiley folk. It also makes you look more chilled and in control, so the audience don't see easy pickings. If you fluff anything, make a joke of it, immediately, and pass on.

4: Nobody will care what you do or say, anyway. They're there for Peter Doherty and he will be well rehearsed. All he will need is a nod from you and he'll ramble on brilliantly for twenty minutes, I'm sure.

5: Is it likely that anyone in Adelaide will be turning up expecting (the other) Pete Doherty (with Babyshambles)? Maybe you should take along a geetar and forewarn your guest star he might be required to stumble about lost on the stage for a while, forgetting the words and sniffing a lot.

Break a leg.

13:18 / 05.07.05

What Xoc said, but also adding this (most of which I'm sure you'll know, as you probably have experience chairing smaller sessions/attending public talks, yes?)

(1) If at all possible, make sure you're familiar with the room and with any tech that might be used. Try and find out whether your speaker is going to be using any tech (Powerpoint, OHP, etc) and what you should do if any of it goes wrong (will there be support people on hand?). Also, find out whether there will be roving mikes for the audience questions, because this always means a fair bit of waiting in between you pointing at the next questioner and the mike-wrangler running up and down stairs/in-between rows to get the mike to them, and you will want to have a strategy for the awkward silences (even if that strategy is just don't fidget nervously).

(2) Your speaker has probably had a fair bit of experience in this kind of thing and will be able to field hostile or insane questions. I'd say that if this happens - which is probably unlikely - your job is not to cut the questioner off straightaway like a Hollywood star's minder ("Professor Doherty isn't taking questions on this topic"), but make sure the questioner doesn't respond to the speaker's response and try to start a filibuster. Be polite but firm, and say something like "I'm sorry to cut this discussion short but we really must move on now; there's a lot of people anxious to ask questions," and get the roving mike person to take the roving mike away!

That's all I can think of. It sounds like fun. Good luck!

13:21 / 05.07.05

'Jax in Pete up Kate.

Never done anything quite like this, but ...

-as Xoc says, they're coming to see Doherty, and you will be doing a good job if people hardly know you're there

-45 mins will be over in a flash so keep the intro v. short

-if you can, liaise with Doherty beforehand. I would imagine that he's done tons of these things and can give you some advice on your role. He might suggest a strategy for dealing with stupid questions (a polite "I'm not sure if we have time to go into that, yes, next question, you with the beard" might work) and might give you an idea of the sort of question territory he will look to you to filter out.

- do practice your introduction beforehand, preferably in front of a friend/partner/colleague. You might find that unbeknownst to you you have the habit of shuffling your papers or twiddling a pen. These minor things can be extremely irritating but are very easy to cut out if you know that you are doing them.

Other than that - good luck.

02:12 / 07.07.05

am in adelaide and will probably not get a chance to 'lith again before the big event, so thanks all that very pertinent advice - taken on board!

will be chatting with peter d before the event and have him run his eyes over my intro - which will be short!

- and get a few dorothy dixers from him in case the audience is reticent. i doubt i'll need them...

watch this space...

02:26 / 11.07.05

did all the above - was witty and brief, doherty spoke for over half an hour [yeh!] and questions were quite good, we even had to turn people away from the mic... thanks all the advice!

his current work sounds fascinating; the first genetically modified vaccine (he works out of uni of melbourne and from st judes, memphis, on influenza vaccines mainly)

had a wonderful hour or two with him for lunch before hand (i bought a nobel laureate lunch!) and he is a warm, personable man with a very quick and incisive intellect.

the whole festival was fabulous - big thumbs up to the organisers - and very stimulating.