The AMAs on this sub are a wonderful opportunity to interact with experts and get answers to interesting questions. But sometimes their potential goes unfulfilled when subscribers don't have a chance to think up interesting questions before the event ends. Or in some cases the experts are able to provide answers, but simply need some time to consult a source or to think on things.
My solution would be to sticky the AMA thread a few days before the event so that commenters have a chance to think up good questions, and so the experts can have a chance to preview and prepare (if they so desire). This would also give voters a chance to sort the best questions to the top so that the experts can see which ones are of the greatest interest to the community.
Of course answers should be restricted to the experts so only top level comments containing questions should be allowed until the experts respond. This does restrict commenters from replying to posts with further questions, but maybe it's good to give the experts a chance to answer one clear question at a time. Any subsequent clarification or related questions should be posted as a reply to the experts' comment.
We've actually experimented with this a bit in the past. /u/The_Alaskan would remember which ones, as I can't recall off hand, but several of our guest AMAs we have had them post a day early (~12+ hours) and then they show up to the accumulated questions. It definitely has its pros, but there are a few cons as well.
There are always several comments of people wondering where the answerer is (even if it is spelled out clearly in the OP) and I suspect that more people who don't bother posted also are frustrated.
Because of how reddit's voting system works, if the thread is up for even a day or two, it will be well off everyone's front page, which is a major source of traffic, so by the time the panelist(s) show up to answer questions, the audience will have shrunk considerably. There is merit in putting it up early if you can time it well so that answers start coming in around when it peaks, but anything more than 12 or so hours, I would venture, will result in a low audience by the time answers start flowing in, even if it gets a good deal of initial attention.
Additionally, we have a lot of things we like to sticky! Certainly with the double stickies, it is a little easier now, but that is still prime territory!
So anyways, it is an interesting proposition, but I don't think that putting it up a few days early would be a good plan of action. But continuing to experiment with earlier post times - 5, 10, 12 hours early as opposed to 1 or 2 which is usually the CW - really can't hurt I'd say. /u/donaldfdraper might be interested in being a guinea-pig for this, posting the Great Powers Pt. II Sunday evening?
Perhaps we could gather questions in a previous post and the top few get crossposted to the AMA by a mod or bot on launch? I know modmail is always willing to help out if you know you aren't available to be online at AMA time, but it might be worthwhile, not in the least because it helps assuring an AMA kickoff with some good, substantial questions.
tagging /u/the_alaskan as he coordinates many of the AMAs