Moderating a Q&A? Start with the Right Tech

Moderating a Q&A is a BIG responsibility. When done well, the flow and effectiveness of an entire question and answer session can be…

Moderating a Q&A is a BIG responsibility. When done well, the flow and effectiveness of an entire question and answer session can be nothing short of impressive. But if you fall short with your moderating duties, your audience (and presenters!) can come away feeling completely let down.

But doing this completely on your own can be challenging. You’re bombarded with dozens of raised hands, repetitive questions, or in some cases, offensive comments or questions that aren’t productive to the conversation.

Moderating a Q&A? Start with the right tech

Luckily, there are lots of tools and tricks to help you moderate a Q&A like a pro. In fact, using audience polling software like Swift Polling during a question and answer period can be a game changer.

Our live Q&A software can actually do some of the moderating work FOR you. That’s right, with the proper tech tools on your side, your moderating job gets easier, and events run better.

Here are some ways using live Q&A software during your next panel discussion works to your advantage.

Set up a Q&A to automatically filter out certain words, including offensive phrases

Chances are, certain subjects or phrases are unwelcome and inappropriate during any event.

As a moderator, it’s your job to deal with these questions or comments effectively. When questions are asked verbally in a live setting, this is tough to do.

But with our Q&A software, you can automatically filter out certain words or phrases to save you the work and disruption of dealing with audience members who ask these questions.

Choose to moderate the questions or answers that are displayed to the audience before they go live

If you could read audience members’ minds before they asked a question, wouldn’t that make your job moderating a Q&A much easier?

You’d know whether their question was productive and appropriate, and you could also sort out which audience members have the same questions. With Q&A software, your audience can submit questions and you can moderate them before they’re shared with the rest of the audience.

This is really useful for preventing repetitive or offensive questions, and sorting what’s most important or popular. And, it’s the next best thing to mind-reading!

Save unanswered questions

When you’re moderating a Q&A, one of your jobs is doing your best to make sure as many questions and audience members are answered and included as possible. Otherwise, your audience will leave feeling like they didn’t get a fair shot, or they’re left with important questions they thought would be answered.

Swift Polling automatically creates a digital record of the questions submitted during your event. Then, the presenter can choose to reach out after the event to make sure these questions are answered adequately.

Let your audience upvote the questions they’re most interested in

Have you ever sat in on a panel discussion when an audience member asked a seemingly irrelevant or off-topic question? This throws the flow of the presentation off, and it’s a waste of valuable Q&A time.

Want to help make sure only the most important and popular topics are answered? Give an audience the ability to upvote their favorite content!

With live Q&A software, your audience can view questions and vote for their favorites. If you notice one question has 10 upvotes while another has 200, this is a clear indicator of what direction to take when you’re moderating a Q&A.

Empower an audience to speak up

Dealing with TOO many questions or comments from an audience is one thing. But what if you’re not getting the audience engagement you hoped for? Maybe your audience is shy or doesn’t feel empowered to speak up? What can be done?

Give them the option to ask or answer questions anonymously!

It’s true–Q&A moderators often notice engagement rates skyrocket when they offer an audience the option to hide their identity.

This virtually eliminates their fear of being called out by other audience members. During corporate Q&As, it can also eliminate the fear of repercussions by management or team members.

Moderating a Q&A with Swift Polling on your side

Whether you’re moderating a Q&A remotely or in-person, Swift Polling can help!

Our question and answer software can be activated with a single click so you can start collecting questions and comments in no time. Then, let our system store and process the data for you so you can focus on other elements of Q&A moderation.