Numerous people will be taking part in a panel discussion session that I want to promote. My question is, which is the appropriate way to use the possessive apostrophe:


Panel participants will discuss their company’s general use of the various applications.

Panel participants will discuss their companys' general use of the various applications.

Panel participants will discuss their companies' general use of the various applications.

I'm leaning toward #3

Firstly, I presume that each panel member is employed by one company only- each one employed by a different company.

We now use 'their' in place of his/her, but we still mean 'each individual panel member will discuss his/her general use of applications'.

Political Correctness propels us into the uncertainty you are facing.

Since each individual panel member is contributing his/her perspective from his/her experience within his/her company, the best rendition is (1):

Panel participants will discuss their company’s general use of the various applications.

(Note: it cannot be (2), because of where we place the apostrophe with singular versus plural nouns. Let me know - we could cover that too.)