The first course on event moderation turns European.

Absurd, huh??? With the growth of meeting design, the moderator trade has gotten finally some recognition. It was high time. A moderator sets the pace and tone, makes smooth transitions, gets audiences to feel good, laugh, and participate. Key values for any meeting…

Here comes Jan-Jaap In der Maur, who launched Masters in Moderation, the worlds´ first agency fully dedicated to moderation. Together with Kim Coppes (one of the moderators in the agency), he launched Mastering Moderation in Holland, a workshop for conference moderators/facilitators. They now take this course to the European market.

“What we found” Kim Coppes says, “is that many people actually moderate or would like to and so there is a real demand for greater competency”. Although he earns his living as a full-time moderator, Jan-Jaap In der Maur opposes the dogma that hiring a professional moderator is always the best solution: “For most meetings, the investment in a professional moderator-facilitator is worth the cost. But there is lots of talent outside the circle of well-paid MC´s.”

The workshop is very hands-on and provides extensive personal attention, with only 12 attendees for two trainers. Ms Coppes and Mr In der Maur are convinced that this is crucial to the success of Mastering Moderation. Says Jan-Jaap: “You can only acquire moderating skills by experience, and that´s exactly what we provide: between the two of us, we literally have hundreds of meetings under our belts”. And Ms Coppes and Mr in der Maur continue to be available for question after the training.

The course covers chairing, moderating, debating, interviewing, presenting and stage-presence. Mastering Moderation will take place on 18-19 September 2014 (London) and 11-12 December 2014 (Copenhagen). More information: www.masteringmoderation.com