5 Tips to Become a Great Chat Room Leader

This post is dedicated to our chat room leaders - Room Supporters, Group Moderators, Peer Supporters, Chat Supporters, and Chatroom Mentors/ Teen Stars.

Welcome to the team you chose to join! You all are special and some of the most important people in the community. You have the power to build and lead the community to win. You are the one who helps to facilitate conversations in the chatroom and foster a supportive and cooperative space. That being said, becoming a great chat room leader takes time and practice.

☆ Have an objective.

Having a clear objective helps you steer the conversations better. Because when you know how you want to show yourself in the chatroom leader's shoes, it helps you stay focused. Chat rooms are dynamic in nature. Community guidelines are there to help you categorize behaviors as black and white. But sometimes grey events also happen. And you might have a strong opinion and feelings about it. But it is better to keep your opinions and feelings out of the matter and have a clear objective in mind to handle the situation.

☆ Be considerate and helpful.

You are the face of the chat rooms. You are the one who is present in the room as a leader for the participants. So, it is important to know the room and participants. Build a connection, make them feel comfortable, and encourage those who are lurking to come out and engage with others. You are a friend as well as the enforcer of the guidelines. But, be cautious and considerate when you call participants out in the chat room. Its better to take the matter to private messages instead of getting it started in the room itself. Encourage participants that if they disagree with you on a matter, take the disagreement to the private message immediately. It will help to keep the chat room open for supportive and comfortable conversations. It is good to send reminders to the participants that chat rooms are a shared community resource and space where people connect to get support, share what they know, and learn to grow through ongoing conversations.

☆ Be a regular face.

It is important that you engage regularly with the members. Because when you do it, you connect with members. You learn about them and they learn about you. They gradually become comfortable around you. And, your mere presence at times makes them talk things comfortably.

Remember, you are the one who is setting an example of how to chat. You are the role model for them. So, be visible, positive, and uplifting and encourage them to set examples of good behavior. If a member did something helpful or nice, let them know and appreciate it. It helps you to bring more positive contributions and behavior in the room.

☆ Use your powers, as and when needed!

Community interest is more important than individual interest. It applies to each participant of the community including leaders. If a participant behaves against the community guidelines, they need to leave. We all make mistakes and we encourage learning from it. We are here to remind and guide them. But if the behavior is bad and consistent, it impacts the community interest and the chat room environment. Please do not hesitate to use your powers as per the guidelines to keep troublemakers away and have a safe and supportive community. Being nice is good. But it has limits. Eventually, you need to take decisions and actions, even though it is hard. Because community interest is important than anything else.

☆ Prioritize Self-care

It is okay to take a break. It is okay to slow down and focus only on a few days or hours as per your needs. Because we care for you. We do not want you to feel overwhelmed and burned out. Make sure you take regular breaks to fuel yourself. We appreciate your good work. And, I know how encouraging and energizing positive feedback is. But every day is not the same and at times it could drain your energy. Be conscious of yourself. You have a team to provide backup and support to you. Being a chat room leader is a wonderful learning experience. It is an opportunity to connect with the people, impact their behavior for good, inspire them to change for good, learning new skills, and honing existing ones.

Some of the recent posts you might want to check!

• Keeping Support Rooms Supportive: Chatroom Guidelines Announcement
• 5 Ways to Make a Difference in the Listener Chat Rooms
• Weekly Community Highlights! Week of June 08!