Announcement: Group Mod Challenge
Hello Moderator Team
I’ve got a challenge for you! Are you ready?
- Take a look at the communication styles as shown in the image above. Which four of the styles fit your communication style best? Let us know that in the comments below!
- Find a mod to partner up with to go mod and foster healthy conversation in the chat rooms for half an hour at least 6 times in a two-week span.
- Observe and take notes on the communication approach of your mod partner and the mod partner will be doing the same for you. (Please note that communication styles and approaches can and will vary and that’s alright!)
- Participate in the Group Mod Zone Room and compare your notes and share with fellow mods to learn about each others’ communication styles. Also, share the vibe of the room you both were modding to share in the Mod Room. The vibe of the room here means how was the room environment at the start of joining and when you left. You could share it on a scale of 1-10 where 1 would be “Meh” and 10 as “Awesome”.
Your mod partner can be:
- Any community moderator on shift (just let them know 1-1 before you join as a partner with them on their shift).
- A fellow community-centered chat room moderator of the same community who could be present at the same time as you will be able to participate in the room.
- A global moderator who could be present at the same time as you will be able to participate in the room.
To complete the challenge of visiting and moderating the rooms at least six times in a two-week span, your mod partner can be different if the same mod partner can’t be present. If you have more than one partner, you will simply take notes of different mods' communication styles and approaches and share them with them and fellow moderators in the group mod zone.
Every time you complete one session, drop it in the comments of this thread to log your active participation.
The goal of this challenge:
- Identify your own communication approach in the group dynamics and how it changed/evolved as the situation in the room changed.
- Identify how having a partner with you changed/ helped to foster a supportive and compassionate environment in the chatroom.
- What were the challenges? What surprised you? What type of communication approach works best for you?
At the end of this two-week challenge, you will receive information for the next one! And at the end of the quarter, the top 3 chat room moderators who complete all the challenges successfully will be awarded the most prestigious award: Award-Winning Mod!
Criteria of Award-Winning Mod
- Being passionate about group support chat rooms
- Being compassionate and engaging with the community members
- Being professional and ensure the safety of the room
- Using active listening and de-escalation with all chat participants.
- Being supportive to the fellow chat room moderators and room supports
- Being an open-minded communicator
- Being yourself and having fun while being there in the rooms.
Fun fact! To this day, only 12 chat room moderators have earned this exclusive award! And for extra incentive, every chat room moderator will be awarded 100 cheers per activity they complete.
I am signing up for the challenge and I invite every moderator to accept the challenge too! May we grow together as the best moderators of the community!
Activity #88
Partner: @CommunityModAnne
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 11:00am-12:00pm
Room: Sharing Circle (Teen)
Notes: We co-hosted / co-modded Healthy Habit session. The session was surprisingly quiet, which caught me off guard as I'm used to busy sessions from adult side of the platform. Anne was really nice and friendly. But we didn't encounter any problems moderating the session. During the session, I think Anne is relator while I was a mix of thinker and relator. Thank you for letting me join your shift again!
Activity #89
Partner: @CommunityModJennie
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 1:00pm-1:30pm
Room: Support Room 24/7 (Teen)
Notes: We didn't face any challenges during this session because it was surprisingly quiet. Only one member dropped by but we have an engaging supportive conversation. 
I'm beginning to notice that teen side chatrooms are generally more chill in comparison to adult side. Thank you for letting me join you on your shift again!
Activity #89
Partner: @CommunityModJennie
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 1:00pm-1:30pm
Room: Support Room 24/7 (Teen)
Notes: We didn't face any challenges during this session because it was surprisingly quiet. Only one member dropped by but we have an engaging supportive conversation. I'm beginning to notice that teen side chatrooms are generally more chill in comparison to adult side. Thank you for letting me join you on your shift again!
Not sure why it got posted twice. Apologies.
Activity #90
Partner: @CommunityModJennie
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 1:30pm-2:00pm
Room: Support Room 24/7 (Adult)
Notes: Wow what a huge contrast to the last session. This time, the room was really active, to the point where I struggled to follow conversations from time to time because there were many going on at once. But it's nice to see members supporting each other. ^_^ Thank you for letting me join you on your shift! Looking forward to working with you again in the future.
Activity #91
Partner: @CommunityModAnne
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 3:00pm-3:30pm
Room: Member Community Room
Notes: This was an unplanned activity. I just happened to walk in on Anne de-escalating a situation in the room and decided to help out. We ended up hosting a fun caption the image event to help the room move on from what had happened. By the end, pariticpants were asking for more / extension of event which was nice as it shows everyone had fun. I think Anne's style during the session was a mix of relator and socializer. Thank you for letting me join you on your shift!
@richuyulin thank you! it was my first fun activity as a participant and I really enjoyed it
Glad you enjoyed it! It was fun hosting the session. ^_^
Activity #92
Partner: @CommunityModCharlie
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 5:25pm-6:00pm
Room: Sharing Circle (Adult)
Notes: I volunteered to help out with hosting as I noticed it was a member powered sharing circle when I walked in. It was a relatively quiet session and we didn't face any challenges in terms of moderating the chat. Glad members were supportive of each other. ^_^ Thank you for letting me join you this shift.
Activity #12
Partners: @WeedyGarden
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 9:30 a.m. ET - 10a.m. ET
Room: Disability Support
Notes: I asked our lovely Community Mentor Leader if they would be available to support me in a short Disability Support Session about Identity as some Discussions I've hosted have been quite stressful. Weedy helped to welcome people and contributed to the discussion. I think they were a relator. I guess I was a combination of a relator and a socialiser. Really grateful to the wonderful WeedyGarden for being super encouraging during my listener journey, and for believing in me.
Activity #93
Partner: @CommunityModCharlie
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 7:00pm-7:30pm
Room: Support Room 24/7 (Teen)
Notes: This session was relatively quiet but supportive. A few members stopped by and we managed to get a supportive discussion going. ^_^ It's a nice change of pace for me as someone who spends a lot of time on adult side of the platform where it's mostly really fast paced and active. It makes me wonder if teen side ever gets super active like adults side.
Activity #94
Partner: @CommunityModCharlie
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 7:30pm-8:00pm
Room: Support Room 24/7 (Adult)
Notes: So we walked into a bit of chaos and had to de-escalate, then use check-in session to get the room to move on from what happened. We were able to get a good discussion going which is rare for me considering I mostly do free style check-ins rather than topic based. (so ask open ended questions based on current conversation rather than interrupt) Thank you for letting me join your shift!
Activity #95
Partner: @CommunityModElliot
Session date: April 29th, 2021
Session time: 8:00pm-8:30pm
Room: Support Room 24/7 (Teen)
Notes: Yet another quiet session over on teens side. But this time someone told me their observation was that teen side SR was always quiet. I'm not sure if that's true, but certainly match what I've been seeing. Still learning my ways around teen side of platform. Thank you for letting me join you on this 2 hour shift! (more posts to come ^_^) Elliot was socializer as usual, no surprise there, I was a mix of thinker and relator.