Run A Niche Panel Discussion That Builds Authority Without A Full Summit

A niche panel discussion is a live online hour where you moderate three or four experts on one narrow problem your buyers have. It builds authority because you picked the problem, chose the people and ran the room. That's a fraction of the work a full summit takes.

I'm writing this for coaches, therapists, healing practitioners and anyone with an expert-led service business. You're good at the work, but clients still tend to arrive in bursts. You may have thought about hosting a summit and felt tired just picturing it. A panel still puts you in the host's seat on a stage you built, and the prep takes a few weeks.

Below you'll find how to choose the topic, pick panelists, write registration questions that show you who's ready, and run the hour. The last part covers the follow-up and repurposing that keep the panel paying off once the Zoom call ends.

Key Takeaways

• Choose one problem narrow enough that your ideal client would describe it in their own words, and build the whole panel around it.
• Invite three or four panelists whose expertise sits next to yours, so each one covers a different piece and nobody repeats the others.
• Ask two or three registration questions that reveal urgency, then use the answers to decide who gets a personal follow-up.
• Decide on one clear next step before you invite anyone, and say it out loud before the panel closes.
• Plan the replay, clips and follow-up emails ahead of time, so the panel keeps working for weeks.

Why Hosting a Panel Makes People See You as the Authority

When a prospect watches you moderate a panel, they see you doing what a trusted insider does, and that shifts what they believe about you. You named the problem. You brought the right people together. And you asked the questions they'd have asked if they knew enough to ask them.

Some of the panelists' credibility rubs off on you as the host. Each of them also has an audience, and most people are happy to tell their followers about an event they're appearing in. So three complementary experts can put you in front of people who would never have found your posts.

Live panels also earn trust quickly, because people can put a real question to a real expert and hear the answer on the spot. Summit host Auguste Crenshaw runs a whole Saturday of live panels at her summits, with each speaker giving one hour. On a podcast she explained that when people get that kind of direct contact, they may need two or three touches before they act instead of seven. She also said several of her panel guests went on to become her clients after watching her host. That's one host's experience, and it doesn't predict yours. Still, it shows a panel can build trust with the people watching and the people on stage at the same time.

When a Panel Fits Better Than a Summit

I still believe every coach needs a virtual summit. My first one, the Solopreneur Accelerator Summit, had 27 speakers over four days and grew my list from about 100 people to 750. I built it in two weeks, which I don't recommend to anyone. A summit is a real project. If you want the full picture first, here's what a virtual summit is and how coaches and experts use one.

A panel suits you when you want to be visible this month, test a topic, or warm up a small list before something bigger.

If you'd rather teach on your own, a micro event built around one problem is lighter still. And if your main goal is to find out whether a new program has demand, you can test your next coaching offer with one expert roundtable.

Here's a tip. Run the same panel on a regular rhythm, every quarter for example, with the same title and a fresh lineup. Each round builds recognition, because people start to expect it. And the second one is far easier to run than the first, since you already know what you're doing.

Choosing One Problem Narrow Enough to Fill the Room

The topic does most of the selling. A title like "Thriving in Midlife" draws curious people. "Going Back to Work After a Burnout Leave" draws people with a specific problem they'd like gone, and those are the people who book calls.

Try this test. Could your ideal client type the problem into a search bar late at night, word for word? If so, you're close.

Then check three things:

1. It sits right next to what you sell, so the step after the panel feels obvious.
2. Three or four experts can each add a different angle to it.
3. You'd be happy to be known for it a year from now.

For example, a business coach who helps solo consultants raise their prices might host "Raising Your Rates Without Losing Your Best Clients", with a pricing strategist, a bookkeeper who works with solo businesses and a sales trainer.

A couples therapist might host "When Arguments About Money Keep Coming Back", with a financial planner, a mediator and another couples therapist. Present it as public education about a common problem. The panel gives general information, it isn't therapy, and nobody's personal situation gets worked through on screen.

Picking one problem and returning to it is how you become the obvious choice in your niche before anyone books a call. The panel is just one public way of claiming that ground.

Picking Panelists Who Each Add a Different Piece

For an hour, three or four panelists works well. With two it starts to feel like an interview. With six, nobody gets enough airtime to say anything worth remembering.

Look for people next to you, not on top of you. Each panelist should own a slice of the problem you don't cover yourself. That makes the conversation richer, and it means nobody's competing with you for the same client.

The panels people remember have a little friction in them. Invite people who see the problem differently, and plan a few harder questions, even slightly uncomfortable ones. Then the panelists respond to each other instead of saying the same thing in different words. Brief each one on their angle a week ahead so they know where they fit.

You can find panelists in a few places:

• Your current referral partners, who already know your work.
• People you've seen speak well on podcasts or at other events.
• Speaker Connections, the free Zoom networking event Jennie started in February 2022. It meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month for about two hours, and usually 70 to 110 speakers and hosts attend.
• The EventRaptor speaker directory, which lists more than 3,800 speakers who want to be invited to events.

Keep your invitation short. Say what the problem is, who the audience is, the date and time, what you'd like them to cover and what they'll get, such as the replay and a mention of their free resource. Ask them to share the panel with their own audience, and make that easy by giving each person a ready-made email and a unique link, the same approach used when recruiting summit speakers who promote.

For therapists and practitioners, inviting fellow clinicians and allied professionals does double duty. It's public education, much like a virtual summit for therapists, and it's also one of the most natural ways to build professional referral relationships.

Registration Questions That Show You Who Is Ready

Most hosts ask for a name and an email and stop there. Add two or three short questions and you learn who's ready to talk, plus the exact words people use for their problem.

These three are a good start:

1. "What's the biggest thing getting in the way of [the problem] right now?" Make this an open text box.
2. "How soon do you want to sort this out?" Offer three choices: this month, in the next few months, or just exploring.
3. "Would you like a short call with [your name] after the panel?" Yes, maybe, or no.

The first answer is marketing gold, because people describe the problem better than any copywriter. The second and third tell you who should hear from you personally.

Keep the form short. Every extra field gives someone a reason to close the page.

If you're a therapist or practitioner, keep the questions about the topic. Don't ask about anyone's health history, diagnosis or symptoms on a marketing form. And check your licensing board's advertising rules before you promote the panel, especially around how you describe yourself and what people can expect.

How EventRaptor Handles the Registration Side

On EventRaptor, a panel can run as a Meeting event, the simpler event type built for this kind of session. It has its own registration page with your custom questions, a thank-you page, and an attendee dashboard with the Zoom join link. Registrants sync to GHL/CRMRaptor with tags. So the people who picked "this month" can get a different email from the "just exploring" group without you exporting a spreadsheet at midnight.

Running the Live Hour

A simple run of show stops the hour drifting. Here's one that works for three or four panelists:

1. Minutes 0 to 5. Welcome everyone, name the problem in one sentence, introduce each panelist in one line and mention that you'll share a next step at the end.
2. Minutes 5 to 35. Three rounds of questions. Ask one question per round, let each panelist answer in about two minutes, then invite one of them to respond to another.
3. Minutes 35 to 50. Audience questions from the Zoom chat. Read them out without names when the topic is personal.
4. Minutes 50 to 55. Each panelist gives one action the audience can take this week, and says where to find them.
5. Minutes 55 to 60. Your next step, said clearly and posted in the chat.

A few moderating habits make a big difference. Call on panelists by name so nobody talks over anyone. When someone starts repeating a point, ask, "What would you add that hasn't been said yet?" And keep one spare question ready for the moment the chat goes quiet.

By the way, if you dread being on camera, moderating is a gentle place to start. I'm an extreme introvert, and speaking for four minutes at a monthly company meeting used to terrify me. As moderator, your job is to ask good questions and watch the clock while the panelists do most of the talking.

Test your recording before the day. Raymond Sidney Smith hosted a panel with five panelists at his productivity summit and expected Zoom to record everyone on screen together. It recorded speaker view instead, flipping between faces. A YouTube Live stream he'd set up as a backup caught the full layout, so he used that one. Run a test call, check the layout in the file, and have a second recording going.

Ending With One Clear Next Step

This is the part people skip. At one of my own summits I was too exhausted to put a proper offer together. Speakers and attendees loved it, and it added 476 new people to my list, but it made only about $1,800 during the event. Those people will keep buying for years, so I still count it a success. It also taught me never to take my eye off the offer again.

Decide on your next step before you send a single invitation. For a panel it's usually one of these:

• A short call to talk through their situation.
• A small paid workshop that goes deeper on the panel topic.
• A waitlist for your next group program.

Say it once, plainly, at the end of the hour. Put the link in the chat. Then repeat it in your first follow-up email.

A clear ask straight after you've taught can work very well. Lucy Bedewi, a copywriter, hosted the Out-Earn Your Man summit, which we produced for her in September 2021. She booked 4 discovery calls right after she presented, and all 4 became clients. This is one person's result. It doesn't predict results for another host.

Therapists can offer a consultation, a workshop or a group waitlist in the same way. Keep the invitation low pressure and worded in line with your board's rules.

Following Up So Attendees Become Conversations

This is where most panels quietly fail. Over the years I watched coaches add hundreds of people to their lists through events and convert few or none, because they had no process for what happened next. In my experience, a good follow-up process might turn 10 to 15% of those people into clients. That's what I've seen, not a promise for your panel.

Use the registration answers to sort people:

Don't forget your panelists. Thank each one, tell them how many people registered through their link, and offer to appear on their stage in return. Auguste Crenshaw said some of her speakers come back to every summit she runs. Relationships like that grow from small courtesies after the event.

With EventRaptor, the reminder and follow-up emails run on the event's timing, so the replay email goes out when it should even if you're with clients that day. The tags from registration feed your GHL/CRMRaptor workflows, so each group gets its own sequence and your booking calendar sits at the end of each one.

Turning One Panel Into Weeks of Content

An hour of experts answering hard questions is a lot of usable material. Plan for it before you go live.

Summit host Navid Moazzez advises keeping session content as evergreen as you can, which means not mentioning dates on air, so the recording stays useful later. Afterward, get it transcribed and turn it into blog posts, social posts and longer pieces. Dr. Brian Mowll took eight or ten minute snippets from his interviews and reused them on his podcast and YouTube.

A simple schedule might look like this:

• Week 1. Send the replay to registrants, and send each panelist a thank-you with their best clip.
• Week 2. Publish a blog post on the three most useful answers, with a link to the replay.
• Weeks 3 and 4. Post one short clip for each panelist and tag them so they can share it.
• Weeks 5 and 6. Write a short email series built on the problem as registrants described it in their own words.
• Next quarter. Announce the next panel to everyone who came to this one.

Ask panelists for permission to clip and reuse the recording when they say yes to the invitation, not afterward. If you're a therapist or practitioner, leave out anything that could identify an attendee, including names, faces and personal questions read from the chat.

What EventRaptor and Our Team Take Off Your Plate

A panel is small, but the setup still adds up. Pages, links, reminders, a CRM import and a follow-up sequence can eat a weekend you'd rather spend with clients or family.

Your part stays the same either way:

• Choose the problem and approve the panelists.
• Moderate the hour and make the offer.
• Take the calls that come from it.

On the platform, EventRaptor gives you the registration and thank-you pages with your questions, the attendee dashboard with the Zoom link, reminder and follow-up emails timed to the event, and a promoter link for each panelist so you can see who brought people in. Registrants sync to GHL/CRMRaptor with tags, ready for your workflows.

If you'd rather hand it over, our done-for-you team can write the page copy and panelist introductions, set up the Zoom meeting, make the social images and connect everything to your booking calendar. We've run 13 summits of our own and over 40 summits for clients, so a one-hour panel is well within what we produce.

To be clear about the limits, EventRaptor doesn't have built-in polls or Q&A. Live sessions run on Zoom, and audience questions come through the Zoom chat. Your recording and replay don't need a separate video host, though, because video hosting is available through CRMRaptor, EventRaptor's GoHighLevel solution. EventRaptor's video view analytics also show you how the replay is being viewed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Panelists Should a Niche Panel Discussion Have?

Three or four panelists plus you as moderator works well for a one-hour panel. That gives each person enough time to make a real point without the conversation getting crowded. Choose people with different angles on the same problem so they don't repeat each other.

How Long Should a Panel Discussion Be?

An hour is long enough for three rounds of questions, live audience questions and a clear next step at the end. Shorter panels often run out of time before the audience gets to ask anything. Longer ones tend to lose people before the offer.

Do I Need a Big Email List to Host a Panel?

No. Your panelists can share the event with their own audiences, which is one of the main reasons to run a panel at all. Give each panelist a unique link and a ready-made email so promoting it takes them only a few minutes.

Can Therapists Host Panel Discussions Ethically?

Yes, as long as you present it as public education and not therapy, keep registration questions free of clinical details, and never use client stories or testimonials. Check your licensing board's advertising rules before you promote it. Panels with fellow clinicians and allied professionals are also a natural way to build referral relationships.

How Is a Panel Different From a Virtual Summit?

A panel is one live hour with three or four experts on one narrow problem. A virtual summit usually brings together many speakers over several days, with more promotion, more pages and more coordination. Many hosts run a panel first to test a topic and build relationships before taking on a full summit.

Your Next Step

Before the week is out, write down one problem your best clients describe in their own words, then three people who could each cover a different piece of it. That page is the start of your first panel.

If you'd like help deciding whether a panel, a summit or better follow-up should come first, Book your Client Attraction Planning Call. We'll look at what you sell and how people find you now, then plan an event you can actually run.