Terra Madre
This week I am working as a moderator at Terra Madre an international conference on food system change sponsored by Slow Food International. This gathering of over 6000 food producers, chefs, and food activists has two primary goals: to create a rich exchange of information between people who normally do not get a chance to collaborate and to build a powerful network of people and organizations to promote Slow Food.
As a moderator there are several challenges that require extra consideration:
- Working with very large groups (100 to 800 in each breakout session)
- Working across multiple languages and cultures (the event is simultaneously translated into up to 8 languages at a time)
- Supporting speakers who may have never presented before or are new to the technologies of large conferences
To prepare for these challenges the moderation team (a group of a dozen or so) are using several principles to guide our actions:
- Keep the focus on the presenters (and not the moderators)
- Find ways to encourage interaction, even in large sessions (we will use pair and three-way dialogs as a way to encourage connection)
- Be sensitive to cultural and language differences (the best way I know how to do this is to be curious about them and make no assumptions)
I’ll post an update and let you know how it went.
Filed by Joseph McIntyre under Facilitation