1. What is a panel?
2. The presentation
3. Question and answer period
4. How to prepare as a panel member

A. What is a panel?
Research grant proposals submitted to government agencies (e.g. the National Science Foundation) are considered by a group of people drawn from those who submit proposals. People on these panels read a portion of the submitted proposals, write reviews of them, and then discuss the proposals in order to arrive at a prioritization of which ones should receive funding. Those submitting proposals get both the ultimate decision and the reviews. The submitters often receive them with frustration, wishing they could have been present at the deliberations so they could clear up confusion that the reviewers experienced.

Your research proposal will be considered by two separate panels. One panel will consist of three or four of your colleagues. The second will meet a week later and will consisting of two or three faculty members. There will be some significant differences from the scenario outlined above. First, there will be no thought of prioritizing the proposals, since none will be funded. Second, you will have an opportunity in two ways to supplement what you wrote in your proposal. You will give a five-minute presentation, after which the panel will have an opportunity to question you regarding matters of interest related to your proposal.

Your time before the panel will be strictly limited, so it is imperative that you make careful preparations beforehand to make as efficient use of your time as possible.

B. The presentation
The presentation gives you the opportunity to frame your proposal in the way you want it to be framed, supplementing the story on paper with a story in words and images. You'll have five minutes for your presentation -- very little time (but consider how many other people require time as well as you). At four minutes you'll be given a signal that you have only one more minute remaining. At five minutes, your presentation will be completed, one way or another.

See How to Give a Presentation Focused on an Experiment for further advice.

C. Question and answer period
Your panel will spend five minutes asking you questions aimed at fleshing out what appears to them to be weak points in your proposal. You can prepare for this by asking yourself questions before hand. With each point you make, ask yourself, How do I know this? or What would I do if I got a different result from what I am hoping for? Be tough on yourself, and that will make the toughness of others more bearable.

D. How to prepare as a panel member
You and your colleagues on the panel will have five minutes after the presentation to probe the presenter regarding the proposal. For this to be a useful exercise, you will need to prepare beforehand.

• Read the directions. Thoroughly acquaint yourself with the goals of the research proposal so that you can recognize when the proposal you're considering is meeting those goals or not.
   
• Skim the proposal. Get a general idea of where the proposer is going.
   
• Note areas and terms you don't understand. Read the proposal a second time, this time more carefully. One of the most valuable roles you can play is to point out parts of the proposal that are not comprehensible to someone -- you -- outside of the field. If the person's presentation clarifies the issue, fine, suggest that s/he makes the proposal equally clear. If the presentation doesn't help, then ask for clarification.
   
• Look for holes in the proposer's understanding of the experiment or its rationale. The absence of an explanation for some aspect of an experiment may indicate that the proposer has no explanation. Note this.
   
• Look for holes in the argument. An experiment may depend on X happening. What if X doesn't happen? How does s/he know it will?
   
• Sounds like she know what she's talking about. That doesn't matter. What's important is that YOU know what she's talking about. If you don't, the communication has failed. It doesn't matter whether the proposer is a genius or an idiot. If you don't understand what it's about, the proposal is ineffectual.
   
• Prepare a list of questions you intend to ask. Go into the panel with a list of questions. These, of course, may change in response to the presentation.
   
• Write down suggestions to the proposer concerning the proposal. You will return comments to the proposer by e-mail shortly after the time of the panel (copying me).

See How to Critique the Works of Others for further advice.

And here's an example of how a panel can work.