Why do most Q&A’s at conferences suck? Because they’re not properly run, says Lavin speaker Misha Glouberman. The Q&A is the only real factor that differentiates a live talk from a taped one, and as such, it is an extremely vital part of any talk, speech, or conference. How does Glouberman improve the Q&A sessions at his legendary speaking series? By providing the audience with guidelines for what makes a good question, encouraging curiosity, and discouraging grandstanding. “It’s not really hard to make [a Q&A] run well,” says Glouberman, “but you have to think about it.”

Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion, gave an incredible talk at TED this year (his second TED talk overall) about the concept of “self-transcendence.”