How to Stand Out on a Panel: A Presence Coach's Guide
By Kate Ziuz | Presence & Body Language Coach in LA
Over two days recently, I watched more than forty women speak on panels. Accomplished, credentialed, genuinely impressive women. And the gap between the ones the room remembered and the ones it forgot had almost nothing to do with expertise.
Everyone up there knew their material. That was the baseline, not the differentiator.
A panel is one of the hardest formats to shine in, and almost nobody prepares for it differently than they'd prepare for a solo talk. That's the mistake. A keynote belongs to you. A panel is three to five experts competing for the same attention, the same airtime, the same camera. Show up with solo-talk energy and you blend into the row of chairs.
Here's how to actually stand out — before, during, and in the long stretches when you're not even speaking.
Kate Ziuz speaking on a panel of Modern Day Wife, Beverly Hills
Before the Panel
Know the two or three stories that do your selling for you.
The panelists who fumble are the ones who prepared topics in their head but never said them out loud. Thinking through an answer and delivering it under lights are two different experiences, and the second one is harder than people expect.
You don't need a script. Scripts make you sound stiff and they collapse the moment a question arrives sideways. What you need is two or three stories you can drop into almost any question — one that shows what you stand for, one where a client got a real result, one from your own path. Know them well enough to tell them naturally and you'll always have something concrete to reach for.
Load your real examples in advance.
This is the single biggest thing separating memorable from forgettable, and it starts before you sit down. Decide ahead: what's the one number, the one named example, the one actual case you want people carrying out of the room? Vague advice evaporates. Come with the concrete version already prepared.
Dress to be the one the eye lands on.
On a five-person panel in neutral tones, the person in bold color owns the room's attention. This isn't vanity, it's a mechanic.
I once sat on a panel in red, and afterward people kept referring to me as "the woman in red who said—". That's the entire point. A strong color, a distinctive accessory, a clear silhouette gives the audience somewhere to look and a way to describe you later. Plan it on purpose.
During the Panel: What Makes You Memorable
Give real examples, not vague advice.
Answer a question with "invest in yourself and stay consistent" and you've said something true that evaporates before you finish the sentence. Say "I did two million last year, and here's the one decision that moved it" and people reach for their phones.
"I use AI for my business" is air. "Here's the exact prompt I use and when" is a screenshot on someone's Story.
Numbers, named examples, real cases. Quotable is what gets remembered.
Use your voice, not just your volume.
Panels happen in big rooms with imperfect sound, and the soft-spoken expert loses the back half of the audience regardless of how good her content is. So yes — be willing to be louder than feels comfortable. What registers as "too loud" from the inside almost always lands as "confident and clear" from the outside.
But volume is only part of it. A flat, one-note delivery is forgettable even at the right volume. Vary your pace. Slow down to land something important, speed up when you're building. Let your pitch move. Drop into a pause after a strong point instead of rushing past it.
A voice with range holds attention. A monotone loses it, however loud.
Take your own angle.
There's a trap on panels where everyone politely builds on the last person — great point, and I'd add — until every answer blurs into the same soft agreement.
Be willing to see it differently. You don't have to be combative. A respectful "I actually look at this another way" makes the whole room lean in, because contrast is interesting and agreement is forgettable.
Say it once, then stop.
The other panel killer is the person who makes a good point, then makes it again, then once more to be sure.
Say it with conviction, land it, leave space. Silence after a strong answer reads as confidence. Over-talking reads as insecurity. The most memorable panelists are often the most economical ones.
Bring warmth.
One light, human moment breaks the monotony and makes you the person people connect with. You don't have to be funny. You have to be willing to be warm.
Left to right: Gohar Hakobyan, Kate Ziuz, Melissa Baker at Modern Day Wife, Beverly Hills
The Part Nobody Prepares For: When You're Not Talking
This is what I watch most closely, and what most panelists get most wrong.
On a panel you spend the majority of your time not speaking. And on a stage, with an audience and usually cameras, not speaking is not the same as off. While the moderator talks, while another panelist tells her story, the room can see you the entire time.
Wandering eyes. A face gone slack. A posture collapsed into the chair while you wait your turn. All of it visible, all of it read.
The panelists who look like they belong there stay present the whole hour. Eyes on whoever's speaking. A slight lean in. Posture held rather than dropped. A face that's responsive instead of checked out.
That's the difference between someone who commands a panel and someone who happens to be sitting on one. Your presence isn't your three minutes of answers. It's the full hour you're visible.
The Mechanics of Sitting on a Panel
Panel seating is designed against you. Low couches, deep chairs, and the one that genuinely frightens people: the tall bar stool.
I'm only half joking when I say some clients nearly cry when they learn they'll be perched on a stool for an hour. Where do your feet go? How do you not sway? How do you look grounded with nothing solid underneath you?
It's completely workable once you know the mechanics — and it's exactly the kind of thing we train for.
Sit toward the front third of the seat rather than sinking back into it. On a stool, hook one foot on the rung so you're stable and not micro-swaying, which cameras read as restlessness. Both feet grounded if you're in a chair. Shoulders back and down so your chest stays open and your voice has room.
And the mic: if it's shared or handheld, set your distance once and trust it. The tell of an inexperienced panelist is constant mic fidgeting — leaning in and out, drifting off it every time she turns to look at someone. Keep your mouth in the mic's zone even when your face turns toward whoever you're answering.
When Someone Tries to Talk Over You
This is rare. But when it happens, how you handle it becomes the thing everyone remembers — so it's worth being ready.
I saw a clip recently where a moderator was, frankly, unprofessional. He kept skipping the one woman on the panel while repeatedly praising the men beside her for their ambition. At one point he tried to rush her along: let's keep it short, we're running over.
She didn't raise her voice. She didn't get flustered. She stated the fact, calmly: of course — but you've skipped me twice, so I'm going to take my time. Then she took it, and shared a specific result about how her company had grown.
She named what happened without heat, and held the room while she did it.
That's what presence looks like when someone tries to talk over it and fails. Not volume. Not outrage. A grounded, factual I'm not done, delivered with enough composure that the room backs her instinctively.
She said afterward that some people called her difficult for it. But staying quiet only makes it harder for the next woman in that seat. Speaking up — calmly, clearly — is how the standard changes.
And one myth worth killing while we're here. Someone commented under that clip that panels don't have turns. That's simply wrong. A moderator's entire job is managing pace and making sure every panelist gets real airtime for their expertise. When that isn't happening, it isn't a panelist being difficult. It's the moderation failing.
You are always allowed to claim the space you were invited to fill.
Standing Out Without Taking Over
Here's the balance that matters, especially for women, who get pushed toward either shrinking or over-correcting into dominance.
Standing out doesn't mean talking the most. It doesn't mean interrupting, one-upping, or taking more airtime than your share. The panelist who takes over the whole thing isn't memorable — she's exhausting, and the room feels it.
Standing out means being the most perceivable person, not the loudest. The one with the sharpest specific answer. The one who stayed present when others checked out. The one whose different take woke the room up. The one people could actually see and remember.
You can be generous to your fellow panelists — let them finish, build on their points when it's genuine, share the floor — and still be the one people quote afterward. Those aren't in tension. The most impressive panelists do both.
The Close
When the panel ends, don't rush off. Don't break posture, grab your phone, and shrink the second the applause starts.
The moments right after still count. People are deciding who to approach. And there's almost always a group photo — panelists lined up on stage, sometimes with the audience. Be ready for it.
Stay in your presence through the close. Hold your posture for the photo. Be approachable. Let the panel end on your terms, not with you already halfway back to your seat.
If You Have a Panel Coming Up
Panels are one of the highest-leverage visibility moments available to you — a room full of your ideal audience, watching several experts and deciding who's worth remembering. Blending in wastes that.
Standing out is a learnable, trainable set of mechanics, down to how you sit on the dreaded bar stool. That's exactly what I prepare founders for.
If you've got a panel, summit, or speaking slot on the calendar and you don't want to be the forgettable one in the row, let's make sure you're the one people quote.
Kate Ziuz is a presence and body language coach in Los Angeles, working with women leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs building visible brands. She teaches the mechanics of presence — posture, eye contact, pace, gesture, and stillness — for speaking engagements, podcast interviews, on-camera content, and media appearances. Featured in Best Holistic Life Magazine, Authority Magazine, VoyageLA, and more.
