While the term moderator has many definitions, to me, a moderator is a person who is part of a deliberative discussion who does not have direct input to the conversation. Instead the moderator acts as more of a guiding hand, steering the conversation and insuring the discussion maintains focus. Even though the moderator contributes little to the physical conversation, he or she wields considerable power, as a turn in conversation can be directly from their influence. As Gastil discusses in Political Communication and Deliberation, Benjamin Barber believed deliberation should be very fluid, almost as if “wondering aloud, listening, and understanding,” (19). I found as a moderator, this was the style of conversation I tried to construct.
As the moderator, I tried to let the group do most of the talking. Occasionally I would intervene with a question or prompting thought. However, I tried to make the conversation blend, so if traced, the path from one topic to the next was smooth and seamless. To do this, if the conversation began to slow, I would try to ask a question that would force the group to think about what another member had said. I might ask them how they thought their viewpoints related, what were the differences, or why was a certain fact relevant. In doing so, I was trying to facilitate both listening to others and understanding of not only everyone else’s viewpoints, but also a greater understanding of their own. The other tactic I employed was asking the group how the current subject we were on related to one previously discussed. This kept the conversation from becoming too linear, and allowed for circling back to ideas. In this sense, it was more of a “thinking aloud” type conversation. One such topic we kept circling back to was the idea of self-interest. Instead of forcing the conversation forward, seeing how different ideas tied together allowed for a much more constructive discussion. I felt my facilitation of a Barber style conversation was one of my greatest strengths as a moderator.
One of the things I struggled most with was keeping my opinions, which were sometimes quite strong, to myself. As the moderator, I was not necessarily supposed to be actively adding to the pool of ideas and vantage points. I also knew that I had to phrase my questions to the group extremely carefully as to not steer them in a direction I wanted to go; I needed to keep the conversation open and be able to drift in the direction the group was going. Because I could not voice my opinions, I needed to make sure I was not using my power as the moderator as an outlet for my own ideas. I solved this problem by choosing my words wisely, and really think through what I was going to say. However, this did take my attention away from the conversation being held. Finding the perfect balance was rather difficult, and I never fully mastered the skill. I do think it is imperative that the moderator not influence the deliberation in a negative manner. Further practice is necessary for any moderator, to truly perfect the art. In the future I think better preparation, and having questions on hand before the conversation starts would be quite helpful.