Adrian Watkins’s path into moderation was shaped by nearly three decades at the intersection of commercial strategy and operational leadership. Having spent fourteen years in Asia and a further decade in the UK — including senior roles at News Corporation, where he served as International Commercial Director for properties such as IGN and MySpace — Adrian developed his instinct for facilitated dialogue through running internal panels, closed-group sessions, and product focus groups from his mid-twenties onwards.
His tenure as VP of Marketing for an ad tech company in Singapore, where he controlled the APAC sponsorship budget, gave him a perspective few moderators possess: a firsthand understanding of what sponsors need, and how to honour those objectives without compromising room credibility. Now serving as SVP of Commercial Operations & Governance at SQREEM Technologies — one of the world’s largest B2B AI companies — Adrian brings his combined lens of commercial strategy, AI governance, and industry mentorship to every table he moderates.
What shaped your early approach to moderation?
Adrian traces his moderation roots to interlan panels at News Corporation and the executive roundtable circuit in Singapore.
“I cut my teeth in moderation whilst working at News Corporation in London. I was running international, and we were constantly convening internal panels, closed-group sessions, and focus groups as we launched products. I got to understand the importance of these forums very early — in my mid-to-late twenties.
When I moved to Singapore, I was going into sessions as a senior leader, and we were actually using these roundtables to help companies understand what was happening in the market. There are really only about ten pain points in business, regardless of industry sector. The more you can bring like-minded people together from different disciplines — from startups to corporates — the more you can have a genuinely useful conversation and actually solve something.”
What does ‘democratising the room’ mean in practice?
For Adrian, democratising the room means ensuring the table’s collective intelligence, not just the loudest voices, drives the conversation.
“My job is not to be the smartest person in the room. It is to make sure the table’s intelligence is evenly distributed, and that everybody who wants to have a say has a say. The quietest person in the room is often the one who has the most to contribute. So whether that means asking a specific CFO to weigh in, or pulling a conversation back from someone who is dominating, everything I do is in service of that balance.
I actually have a movement I founded in Singapore — democratising.ai — which reflects how strongly I feel about ensuring everyone has access to tools and the means to better themselves. Moderation is just one expression of that same principle.”
How does your background on the commercial and sponsor side inform how you moderate?
Having controlled sponsorship budgets himself, Adrian understands the sponsor’s ROI expectations intimately and uses them to facilitate discussion without tipping into a sales pitch.
“Because I have spent money on sponsorship — controlling the APAC marketing budget and sponsoring roundtables myself — I understand exactly what sponsors need, and how to weave that in so it does not come across as a sales pitch. A lot of people at these roundtables, particularly the very senior ones, are there because they have a problem to solve. The sponsor has paid for a reason, and they will have some kind of ROI expectation.
The trick is to help the sponsor offer a credible point of view rather than a product pitch. I always spend at least half an hour with the sponsor beforehand to understand why they have chosen to sponsor this particular event, so I can direct the conversation to give them that moment — but in a way that serves the room.”
What does your preparation process look like before moderating an Ortus event?
Adrian’s preparation is layered: the pre-survey, a sponsor briefing, sector research, and arriving early enough to build rapport with the MC before the venue doors open.
“Preparation is everything. That is where the session is won and lost. Ortus’s pre-survey is absolute gold dust, because it gives me the thoughts of the table at a high level before anyone sits down. I can use it to craft questions that are not salesy, and to identify who to draw out on which topic.
Beyond the survey, I will research the sector thoroughly if it is not my core domain. I will always have questions on my phone going in, but these are not questions I am going to read aloud — they are brain prompts, almost like an AI prompt for me. And I always get there at least twenty minutes early, to connect with the MC, understand the vibe, and make sure the sponsor knows what they are doing, because sometimes they are new to it and need a little orchestration.”
What are the most challenging situations you have faced in the room, and how did you manage them?
Adrian recalls two contrasting events: a table that refused to engage, broken open with self-deprecating humour, and two participants determined to sell, redirected through careful pivoting.
“Two stand out. The first was a session where nobody wanted to speak. It was end of quarter, everyone looked exhausted, and the rain had not helped. You cannot force conversation in that situation, but you can connect on a human level. I am British — I tell bad jokes, I can be self-deprecating, and I use that to crack the ice.
The second was more difficult: two very vocal people who had come to the table with a mission to sell. The technique there is not to block them — that creates resentment and bruises egos — but to redirect. I would take something they said, acknowledge it, and then pivot: ‘That is interesting — but what does a start-up think about this?’ And then I would simply pick someone else. You are recycling the energy of the room, not suppressing it.”
How has your approach to moderation evolved over the years?
Adrian’s approach has evolved from a rigid, question-by-question approach to a fluid, read-the-room style.
“Early on, I was very structured. I would know the questions the sponsor wanted answered, and I would work through them in order. The whole point of these conversations is that they should feel unstructured and fluid — you bring it back when you need to, and throw it somewhere else when the energy calls for it.
The older I get, the more I realise that everybody in that room — regardless of seniority or title — is just a person with challenges. I am much better at reading the room now than I was fifteen years ago, and far more confident about redirecting a conversation that is going somewhere unhelpful. That kind of flexibility only comes with experience.”
What about senior leaders has surprised you?
When the environment truly feels safe, senior leaders are far more candid than expected. They share real operational frustrations, genuine scepticisms, and points of curiosity.
“If you can get them comfortable and relaxed, and keep them talking for more than five minutes, they are remarkably open about their real challenges. In the last session I moderated, there were participants talking very specifically about having to tick a box on a recruitment requisition form asking whether the role could be done by AI before they could approve a new hire. I work for an AI company, and I said, “Even I think that is a questionable idea.” The room laughed, and that moment of honesty opened everything up.”
How has moderating shaped your own professional growth?
Moderation has sharpened Adrian’s instincts as both a facilitator and participant, and reinforced his commitment to giving back through industry mentorship or judging student competitions.
“It has taught me how to interact with senior leaders in a way that they respond to, and how to ask the right questions in the right way. It has also changed how I prepare for my own meetings when I am a participant rather than a moderator — I think more carefully about what I want to contribute, and where I should hold back.
Beyond that, it has reinforced something I feel very strongly about: giving back. I mentor companies, I mentor students — I was judging first-year university students at a polytechnic in Singapore just last week. Helping shape conversation and industry, whether in a roundtable or a classroom, is something I find genuinely meaningful at this stage of my career.”
What’s one question you will never stop asking?
For Adrian, every conversation ultimately returns to a single word.
“Why. Everything comes back to why. Why am I doing what I do? Why is the business doing what they are doing? Why would a customer buy from you? Why are you at this table? Why are you moderating? If the answer to any of those questions is unclear, then the conversation — or the business — is not yet ready to move forward.”
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Across Adrian’s insights on democratising the room, the value of sponsor-side credibility, and the fundamental power of asking ‘why,’ one pattern is clear: these challenges are not solved in isolation. They require a peer-level perspective and the kind of high-trust dialogue that transcends hierarchies and sales agendas.
His vision of the moderator as a democratiser reflects a broader reality: today’s commercial and AI governance leaders cannot rely on structured scripts alone to unlock genuine executive insight. The most effective facilitators — especially those navigating the complex intersection of technology, sponsorship, and senior leadership — actively cultivate environments where every voice is heard, and the table’s collective intelligence is the product.
At The Ortus Club, we host curated executive roundtables that bring together senior leaders facing these exact challenges. Step away from the script and engage in the kind of open, high-value conversations that democratise the room and surface the insights that matter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does ‘democratising the room’ mean in executive moderation?
A: It refers to the moderator’s responsibility to distribute participation equitably — drawing out quieter voices, redirecting dominant ones, and ensuring that the collective intelligence of the group, rather than the loudest individual, drives the outcome.
Q: Why is the pre-event survey so valuable for moderators?
A: It gives the moderator advance visibility into participants’ perspectives, challenges, and priorities before the session begins. This allows for targeted, non-salesy questions that feel organic to the conversation rather than scripted.
Q: How do you handle a room where no one wants to speak?
A: Through human connection rather than formal prompting. Self-deprecating humour, acknowledging the context (a difficult quarter, bad weather, a long day), and addressing individuals by name based on pre-session networking can break the silence far more effectively than a structured icebreaker.
Q: How should a moderator manage overly vocal participants without alienating them?
A: Through redirection rather than suppression. A moderator can acknowledge a point, extract something useful from it, and immediately pivot to another participant — recycling the energy of the conversation without shutting anyone down.
Q: What is the Chatham House Rule?
A: It is a rule used at meetings to encourage openness and the sharing of information. It allows participants to use information received, but prohibits revealing the identity or affiliation of the speaker, creating a psychologically safe space for honest exchange.
Q: What is SQREEM Technologies?
A: SQREEM Technologies is one of the world’s largest B2B artificial intelligence companies. Though not widely known to consumer audiences, it operates at a global scale, delivering AI-driven commercial and governance solutions across industries.
