Moderator’s task isn’t an easy one

Now I have some idea what folks like Anderson Cooper and Lester Holt go through.
A couple of weeks back, Dean Sanders of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce asked me if I could do him a favor.
Though retired Portland Forge president Charlie Freel has moderated the last several meet the candidate events for the chamber, he wasn’t going to be available this time around.
Would I, Dean asked, fill in for Charlie as moderator?
I thought about it overnight and wasn’t really able to come up with a reason to say no. So I agreed and found myself under the lights on the stage of Arts Place last week.
It wasn’t my first go-around as a moderator for a pre-election event. I’d played that role for a school board election several years ago. But this was my first time filling in for the chamber’s event.
So what did I learn and what advice can I pass along to others who might find themselves in the same situation?
A few things:
•Be kind to the candidates. They’re nervous and a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. It’s one thing to put your name on the ballot. It’s another to stand up in front of an audience and give a short speech about yourself. Some folks dread public speaking. I made a point of greeting the candidates when they arrived at Arts Place that night, assuring them that they’d do fine and it wasn’t going to be overly stressful.
•Make people comfortable. This year’s arrangement worked especially well, with the event moved into Hall-Moser Theatre. That way, the candidates could sit in the audience and only come up on stage when their election contest was on the agenda. And when they took to the stage, Dean had arranged tables, chairs and microphones so the candidates would be more at ease. A few chose to use the podium, but others told me it was much easier to speak their piece while sitting down.
•Be prepared. The chamber’s format is a little clumsy, but it seems to work. Each candidate gets two minutes for an opening statement, then there’s a question from the audience that each candidate gets one minute to answer, then there’s a question from the moderator and another minute each to respond, and finally each gets a minute to wrap up. The problem arises when there’s no question from the audience. Dean had warned me of that in advance, so I’d had time to do some homework and come up with some questions. I needed them last week. Only a few questions came from the audience. They were good ones, but I was glad I had others prepared when I needed them.
•Know that at some point, you’re going to mess up. That two-minute, one-minute routine gets a little confusing. And if you are listening to the candidates’ answers, you can get befuddled pretty easily. In my case, it was calling for county council candidates to make their closing statements before candidate Gary Theurer had given his answer to one of the questions. Not an earth-shaking error, but an error just the same.
•Figure out a system for how the candidates take turns. I still haven’t figured this one out. You want to be fair to both parties and all candidates. But when trying to rotate things, it gets tangled at times. Maybe there needs to be a coin toss at some point.
•Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared for the hot lights on-stage. After 90 minutes plus, I was eager to loosen my tie, take off my sport jacket and put my feet up.