Cara Dore

Moderating Philosophy

The moderator is an essential role in any deliberation: he or she stirs conversation,
directs it in the right direction, and helps secure understanding for everyone. However,
different people approach these tasks in different ways. In the future, if I serve as the
moderator in a deliberation, my moderating style would emerge from these three principles:
consistent clarification, active re-focusing, and neutrality.
It is so easy to stray from the topic of discussion during a deliberation because one issue
connects to another which connects to another. Although connecting various issues to others is
interesting, it also prevents the deliberation group from focusing on the topic at hand. To foster
the most productive deliberation possible, the group must pick one conversation point and
stick to it. The responsibility to ensure that happens falls to the moderator. As a moderator, I
would make it an active point to re-focus the group when they stray from the discussion. To do
this, I would directly quote what had been said before and pose the question: How does the
point you just made connect to the issue of.? This will hopefully cause the group to connect
everything back to the original deliberation topic and structure their contributions so that they
align with that point.
Another problem that arises from deliberations is ambiguity or misunderstanding of
what people have said. For example, one participant could use jargon that another participant
is not familiar with. That misunderstanding could prevent the other participant from making a
point that they otherwise could. To avoid misunderstandings, I believe the moderator should
rephrase peoples ideas and ask for clarification when needed. If I were the moderator in a
future deliberation, I would definitely work to engage in active listening, where the listener
reiterates what the subject said without adding any additional commentary.
I believe that the moderator must remain neutral throughout the deliberation. My
rationale behind this trait comes from the amount of power the moderator already holds. The
moderator controls the direction and flow of the discussion, and so if they do not remain
neutral, the moderator has the ability to steer the conversation in a skewed direction. A
deliberation serves to highlight all the options, so the moderator would be remiss if they
abused their power in that way. Although restraining from participating in the discussion might
be frustrating, neutrality is essential, so I would do my best to stay patient and unbiased.