Jessica Badia Professor Anne Kretsinger-Harries CAS 138T 1 March 2013 Moderator Philosophy Being given the opportunity

to moderate a deliberation on given subjects is an honor and should never be taken for granted. It is important to take the role seriously and do your own research on the topic in order to create an interesting discussion in which all of the deliberators would want to take part in. In order to be a successful moderator it is absolutely necessary to not only help keep the conversation going, but also to keep everyone involved in the conversation. I realize that this is one of the hardest aspects of moderating, because some subjects may not interest everyone in the group, some people may be shy by nature, and others may try to take control of the deliberation. This can be addressed in many ways. First, I believe that it is important, while introducing the subject, to lay out the rules of the deliberation and the correct way to go about deliberating. In doing that, you can nicely but forcefully say that everyone needs to respect each other and do their best to contribute to the deliberation. Next, questions such as What does everyone else think about that? will help get others involved. Lastly, questions that most people would be able to relate to might increase involvement. I believe that I am effective in doing this. For example, in the deliberation on option 3 of sustainability, everyone gave their opinions and spoke at least once. No one dominated the discussion, and though I do understand that there was one person who spoke a little bit more than the others in the group, he was also the only one with a different opinion than the group and therefore needed to talk a little bit more. As for the deliberation itself, I believe that it is important to keep everyone focused on the topic at hand. Helping explain certain misunderstandings and keeping the conversation organized and flowing well are key to making the deliberation successful. This can be difficult for me, because when I see that many people are interested in a given topic, I prefer to let them work through that instead of switch to something that would not be as engaging. I realize that it is unproductive to do this, so I am trying to work towards being able to have more broad deliberations. In order for the deliberation to be really successful it is important to help everyone arrive at a good level of understanding and a conclusion on the topic. Without a conclusion or solution that is trying to be reached, the deliberation falls short and tends to have no aim; therefore the goal should be stated in the introduction. While a moderator should have an idea of how he or she wants the deliberation to go, there is no way to predict how certain people will react to the topic, and therefore it is necessary to be wellrounded in the topic. Preparing questions beforehand is a good idea, but it is important to keep with the flow of the conversation, even if it does not follow your original idea of how it would work out. I do regret writing out a script for my moderation, because it was too much of a safety net to begin with and made me hesitant to take the conversation further. I believe that a script can be good, but shouldnt be used excessively, which I am guilty of.

Being a moderator in a deliberation may seem to be an unimportant part of the deliberation because of the lack of participation the moderator actually has, but that is not true. Moderators are extremely important in these deliberations, because they are the ones who put everyone on the same page, gets them ready to deliberate, conducts the deliberations and keeps it on task, keeps everyone in line, and helps make final conclusions. Without a moderator, a deliberation could easily become a debate or get off topic. It could also cause the deliberation to be one-sided, focused on one aspect of the topic, and unproductive. This is why I find it to be extremely honoring to be a moderator and to be able to take such a large part in these deliberations.