Dothan Moderator Workshop

On Thursday, November 17, thirteen citizens from the Dothan area gathered to participate in a Mathews Center sponsored Coaching Community Innovation Workshop focused on moderator development.  The daylong workshop was hosted and organized by the Wiregrass Foundation and Yes We Can Dothan! at their lovely facility in Dothan. Participants ranged from retirees, to educators, to college students.

The morning began with an introduction of the Mathews Center by Chris McCauley, executive director of the Mathews Center and the facilitator of the workshop. The group then introduced themselves and shared what they were hoping to gain from the workshop.

After introductions, participants jumped into an abbreviated dropout forum, using Dropouts: What Should We Do? to guide their deliberation.  The congenial group enthusiastically discussed all three approaches, raising many of the tensions between the approaches along the way, finding common ground, and seeing first-hand the process of deliberation. Upon completing the short forum, participants reflected on the forum format.

After a short break, Chris McCauley led the group through an interactive examination of the Mathews Center’s Moderator Development Handbook. The Handbook includes sections on the role of deliberation, techniques for effective moderating, tips for recording forums, and how to deal with challenging forum participants.

Before addressing the nuts and bolts of how to moderate, the group took a break to grab boxed lunches. After covering the numerous facets of moderating, the group got into the most engaging portion of the day—a mock forum on the dropout issue led by the participants themselves!

During the mock forum, participants got to take turns moderating, recording, and providing feedback. The group had fun playing various roles to provide challenges for their colleagues. Even though the mock forum was intended to practice moderating, and not to actually come to a common ground for action, productive ideas and suggestions emerged.

The highly engaging workshop concluded after the mock forum as the group reflected on their experiences during the day. We are very thankful for all of the enthusiastic participants and look forward to hearing how they are able to use the strategies they learned at the workshop!

- Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director)