As speakers we can become comfortable standing in front of an audience  giving a speech because we know about the importance of public speaking.  

However, if we are asked to be the moderator of a panel everything changes.  It’s almost like we will be giving a speech, but we can’t practice this  one beforehand. Additionally, there are a lot of things that we are  going to have to do in order to get the most out of our panel members.  

We are going to have to use all of our speaking skills in order to make moderating a panel a success.