How does it work? Format description
The moderator, in cooperation with the discussion organiser, prepares 4–5 major, intriguing questions and some explanations about the questions. The entire audience is welcome to participate in thinking, answering questions and discussing from their perspective. The moderator’s role is thus to initiate a discussion between the participants and then to advance it step by step.
What do the participants in the discussion do?
Everyone can participate, raise questions, comment on other people’s thoughts, and supplement them. However, it is important to note that one can also participate as a listener, if one so wishes.
If there are invited speakers in the discussion, what do they do?
There are no invited discussants at all.
What is the role and profile of the moderator?
The moderator, in cooperation with the organiser, must find the best discussion-generating questions, but the main difficulty lies in conducting the discussion – on the one hand, allowing everyone to participate as freely as possible, and on the other hand, ensuring that the discussion still moves forward step by step and reaches common conclusions. The moderator must be a good improviser in terms of both content and format to help move the conversation forward in a wide variety of situations.
Number and profile of participants in the discussion?
There are no preconditions for participants, and there is no direct limit to the number, but moderation probably becomes more difficult from 40 participants onwards (but it is still usable if the moderator is able to group participants on the fly and use formats alternately).
Preliminary and follow-up work: what larger process is a discussion built in this way suitable for?
This format cannot be used very well as part of larger processes, as the outcome can be quite unpredictable. However, in some cases it can be used in brainstorming phases or to discuss a more fundamental question (e.g. to think through the vision/mission of an important social activity).
If you feel you need advice on choosing or applying a discussion format, please contact your discussion area coordinator.