How to Stand Out as a Panelist When Everyone Else Blends Into the Background

Panel discussions have become far more common than traditional solo speeches at business events, yet almost no one teaches us how to perform well in this format. We are often invited because we are “experts,” but expertise does not automatically translate into engaging delivery. Most panellists, despite impressive credentials, appear flat, quiet, and forgettable on stage. The environment itself—seated, compressed, and conversational—makes it difficult to project authority, energy, and personal connection.

The fundamentals of great presenting do not change simply because we are sitting down. What changes is our awareness and our ability to adjust. When we fail to compensate for the physical and psychological limitations of being seated, our presence shrinks, our voice loses power, and our gestures become constrained. To become memorable in a panel environment, we must deliberately amplify the attributes that seated format naturally suppresses.

Mini-summary:
Panel formats are structurally limiting, and most experts underperform because they do not adapt. With strategic adjustments, a panellist can become the strongest communicator on stage.

When we stand to speak, our posture expands, our gestures are more expressive, and our voice naturally projects. Standing positions us as an authority figure, visible from head to toe. Sitting changes all of that. We are physically lower, our posture collapses, and psychologically we drift into conversational mode—the same posture and tone we use during relaxed coffee chats. While pleasant socially, it severely reduces the energy required to hold an audience’s attention.

Microphone technique adds to the problem. Panellists rarely get to test their mic beforehand and often misuse it—covering the mesh, speaking too softly, or holding it in a way that restricts gestures. Seated posture further reduces access to body language, making it difficult to project ki (気) to the edges of the room. Without deliberate compensation, panellists quickly become small, visually and energetically.

Mini-summary:
The seated position suppresses posture, volume, gestures and energy, making even strong experts appear weak unless they consciously counteract these limitations.

To stand out, you must adopt a strategy that treats the panel format as a deliberate performance, not a casual chat. Begin by ignoring the other panellists and the MC during your speaking moments. Instead, connect directly with the audience. Use six seconds of unwavering eye contact with one person at a time. This creates powerful engagement, and at a distance, the people around your chosen listener believe you are looking at them as well.

Divide the room into six zones—left, center, right, and front/back halves—and rotate your attention through them. This ensures full-room engagement. At six seconds per person, you can touch six individuals in a minute. With the ripple effect of the surrounding seats, you are influencing more than one hundred people in just a few minutes.

Sit tall and forward on your chair’s edge, physically leaning your body toward the audience. Project your ki (気) to the back wall of the venue. Hold the microphone slightly away from the mesh and speak across the top of it, allowing your voice to fill the room. Use your free hand for larger-than-normal gestures to compensate for your reduced physical height. What feels exaggerated to you looks normal from the back row.

Mini-summary:
Direct audience connection through strong eye contact, full-room zoning, amplified gestures and proper mic technique creates presence and memorability, even while seated.

When your eye contact, gestures, energy and voice align, you immediately separate yourself from the other panellists. You look more authoritative, sound more confident, and project more presence. While others shrink into their chairs, you stand out even while seated. You become the speaker the audience remembers—not because you dominated the stage physically, but because you mastered the performance mentally and energetically.

Panellists typically fade into Lilliputian insignificance on stage. By contrast, a presenter who uses ki, controlled eye contact, strategic projection and refined microphone technique becomes instantly memorable. You will outperform the MC, overshadow other experts, and establish yourself as the standout communicator—simply by adjusting the fundamentals to the demands of the seated environment.

Mini-summary:
A panellist who uses projection, eye contact and energy intentionally becomes the most commanding presence on stage, despite the limitations of sitting.

• Sitting diminishes your physical and psychological presence unless you compensate strategically.

• Use six-second eye contact with individuals and rotate through six room zones for maximum connection.

• Sit tall, lean slightly forward and project your ki (気) to the back of the venue.

• Hold the microphone correctly and use amplified gestures to counter reduced visibility.

• Ignoring the MC and other panellists during your speaking moments increases audience connection.

• With these techniques, you can become the most memorable and impactful communicator on any panel.

Founded in 1912 in the United States, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and organisations worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentations, communication, people skills, executive coaching and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, continues to serve Japanese and multinational companies with world-class training solutions.