5 tips to make your room talk more professional – according to the expert
No time right now?
The new Clubhouse app digitizes the panel discussion. Prominent speakers meet unknown guests. How is such a room talk moderated well? An expert reveals five tips.
The Hype is Real: Clubhouse is trending in Germany and also attracts local celebrities. Top politicians like Christian Lindner, top journalists like Dunja Hayali, TV presenters like Joko Winterscheidt and internet celebrities like Caro Daur discussed diligently at the weekend in forums like “Capital Whispers” and “Sunday Breakfast”. Clubhouse is somewhere between a public conference call and a live podcast. Moderators open discussion groups, interested parties can join in, listen in and even join the discussion.
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Sometimes it has quality and sometimes not. Because: Rooms in which there is poor moderation quickly become an advertising event for so-called things in their own right. Some people also like to hear themselves talking and are reluctant to give up the word. It is not uncommon for interlocutors to start arguing. Often a quick death for a constructive conversation. People get out and go to another talk room. What a shame, that’s it!
Moderation in the clubhouse is “definitely advanced”
Sarah Yvonne Elßer is a moderator. She knows that the job at Clubhouse is particularly difficult. (Photo: private)
Sarah Yvonne Elßer knows these moments. When Moderator for TV, social media and events she knows how to deal with people on the big and small stage and how to steer a conversation in a high quality. She, too, discovered Clubhouse for herself and, together with co-host Sascha Pallenberg, brought in the “Stbnhcker” discussion group. In the t3n conversation she explains how moderation beginners can bring their room talk to a better result, but also makes it clear: “Clubhouse is definitely advanced!”
Tip 1: “More food for the brain!”
How does communication work? Sarah Yvonne Elßer asks and provides the answer at the same time. “Strongly visual!” Is their understanding. The brain likes structure, she says, and advocates building up the moderation in steps and structures. Pictures in the head are also important. With bare numbers, for example, not much happens in the imagination. On the other hand, when describing a scenario. “When I talk about steaming coffee, every person has an emotion,” she says. “There’s a party in the head!” Elßer’s rising equation: “More food for the brain, so more ‘UX’, so more ‘that brings me something’, so more dwell time.” Clubhouse is audio, but the brain is Dolby Surround. “Keep it busy!”
Tip 2: “How do you fix that?”
Sarah Yvonne Elßer knows one thing from experience: “Germans are particularly good at echoing!” And of course, scandals also click. In a discussion group, however, the atmosphere in the discussion quickly becomes toxic. “It becomes too exhausting in the long run,” she says. “If people argue, it is the moderator’s job to ensure that exciting arguments continue to be provided and not just opinions,” said Elßer. This is done by asking specific questions: “How do you fix this specifically?” Could be a question. Something like “You can’t say that” is like a scolding for the guest, the expert explains. “This is usually acknowledged with a defense!”
Tip 3: “Throw disruptors off the stage!”
But what if the topic doesn’t boil down? “A problem belongs to whoever has it!” Says Sarah Yvonne Elßer. “And that belongs on the one hand to the trolls, who have nothing else in mind than to annoy you and spread a bad mood.” Basically, one must first take each and every one of them seriously with their opinion, so Elßer, if only the person is concerned therefore go into the same, annoying horn, asks directly whether the person has anything else to contribute, so their tip. If not, moderators can simply throw the person off the stage. “Yes, you can! You have to, ”said the expert. “You are responsible for the audience and that the topic does not derail.”
Tip 4: “Always pick up guests!”
The worst city guide in the world is who? The one who loses his group! “Anyone who moderates a group is like a city guide who takes you on an exciting tour of a topic,” says Sarah Yvonne Elßer. That means: moderators must arouse curiosity about what is happening, provide a framework – for example in terms of time: “The next hour is about …” – and explain the rules. At Clubhouse, this tour guide idea is particularly difficult, the expert knows: “It’s like a“ hop-on-hop-off ”sightseeing tour. People come and go. ”This dynamic means: always picking up the new guests, inviting them on the tour and often briefly explaining the framework again.
Tip 5: “Would someone google that?”
Sarah Yvonne Elßer knows that the limelight is tempting. “I don’t like to say it, but if you are not Madonna, nobody is interested in you as moderators,” said the expert. “And that’s a good thing, because you have the chance to create real added value with exciting topics and your guests.” When do people listen? Elßer asks? The answer: “If we aim at their unconscious egoism! When they recognize each other in the conversation. I like to use the Google factor as a guide: would someone google that ?, she says. Whoever uses such a compass is closer to the real star – namely the audience itself. “Better let the guests speak instead of yourself all the time.”
