Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for enabling participant following in an electronic conference. An example method can involve generating a graphical interface for an electronic conference including a group of participants, the graphical interface displaying an active participant in a first display region and a panel of respective graphical participant representations in a second display region. The method can further involve receiving, via the graphical interface, an input requesting to move at least one of the respective graphical participant representations out of the panel in the second display region to a location in the first display region of the graphical interface, and based on the input, updating the graphical interface to display the at least one of the respective graphical participant representations in the first display region.