The Mindshare Advisors team recently did something they’ve not done is quite a while: attend an in-person conference.

It was great to visit with our current and prospective clients. And the show helped prove the principles that comprise our Laws of Mindshare (we’ll publish them in a forthcoming infographic). It also forced us to think how one of the laws – If you don’t work to create positive mindshare, others will be more than happy to create negative mindshare for you – applies to conference panel moderators.

In a recent post, we observed that everything and everyone has mindshare. So, if you’re a moderator, the podium is an ideal opportunity to build mindshare, right? While we wholeheartedly agree, in practice, however, many moderators unknowingly achieve the wrong kind of mindshare.

That’s because moderating a panel is highly nuanced.

The most common mistakes moderators commit are hogging the mic, talking over panelists, and otherwise grandstanding. In other words, hijacking the panel.

In a post a few years back, I urged moderators to “Put the spotlight on the panel subject matter experts, not yourself. Stay humble, your job is to bring out the best in your panelists.” Read the entire post here.

Moderators have a leg up when it comes to building mindshare because of their position. After all, the perception is he or she must be a subject matter expert if the conference organizer selected them to lead the panel. (Of course, we know that’s not necessarily true because moderators are unfortunately often selected based on sponsorships rather than credentials. Which reveals another of the Laws of Mindshare: Mindshare is perception, derived from your market’s interpretation of your value proposition. Perception is everything and wrong most of the time.)

Even if they’re not the smartest person in the room, a moderator can establish relevance, believability, and trust – the hallmarks of mindshare – simply by confidently laying the foundation for the relevance of the topic and then fostering an engaging discussion.

Because most of us only get the chance to moderate panels a few times a year, it’s helpful to observe how other conference moderators and media professionals do it and integrate some of those approaches as best practices.

Ironically, less is more for moderators intentionally seeking to do the work to create positive mindshare. But don’t try to force it on-stage!