Strategize your content and your timing

5 Try to be the final speaker. This will give you a chance to hear the others and watch the audience. It will also allow you to be the one to wrap up and be remembered by the audience. You can position yourself best by sitting farthest away from the moderator; they frequently begin at one end and go down the line. Or simply tell the moderator that you prefer to go last. Then listen to the others – especially to what they are not saying that needs to be said.

6 Be unique in some way. Don't repeat the content of the other panelists. Use a slightly different vocabulary than the others. A colleague was presenting on an alcoholism panel and all the other speakers used words like "dysfunction, disease and codependent." This speaker thought this was sapping the energy out of the room. Instead, she said families need a "sanctuary" with a "moat" so that they have a place of refuge and can then lower the "bridge over the moat" when they decide to "let someone in." You can imagine who was remembered! Make up your own analogies or unique terms and mostly resist being common. Common is forgotten. Different is remembered.

7 Affirm the other panelists for their specific contributions as you weave yours into their comments. If you disagree, simply say something such as, "I had a slightly different perspective than Dr. Goren ... ," and continue with your thoughts. Panels are the right place for respectful disagreements!

8 Build relationships afterward. For example, if you end up in a disagreement, when the discussion is over, be the first to smile, shake hands and say something to the others, such as, "Even though we differ, I thoroughly appreciated your comments!" Reach out to all panelists after with a handwritten thank you note (not an e-mail) with a specific and affirming comment. This begins the ongoing power of networking. How can they forget a panelist who specifically wrote to them? No one else will do it except you, and that is where its power lies.