Clubhouse is an Apple-device exclusive app that lets people deliver speeches in real-time to an audience. There are three types of users in the Clubhouse app: the speakers, their followers, and the rest of the audience (other listeners).

Clubhouse Moderation Guide

One of Clubhouse’ aims is to reduce the number of trolls invading serious discussions. That’s why it’s on an invite-only basis. But sometimes these trolls may find a way to get into the Clubhouse Club rooms, so it’s important that an individual monitors the activities inside a Clubroom.

What Skills Does A Moderator Have To Possess?

Neutrality

The most important quality or skill a moderator has to possess is neutrality. As the maker of the rules of the game, they should not be involving themselves in either side of the discussion or debate. In Clubhouse, it’s mostly a listening session but there are situations that intellectual discussions can occur, sometimes concurrent with arguments being thrown by either speaker or their listeners and audience.

Distinguishing Fact From Fiction

It’s also important for moderators to be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Clubhouse was made to make sure information is shared by speakers is reliable, and the exclusive nature of the information being shared inside a ClubRoom is preceded by the fact that this information is being given by an expert.

If the speakers aren’t experts in their fields, or cannot determine if they’re saying factually correct information, it’s up to the moderator to correct them. The moderator can also correct the listeners should they be sharing information that is not accurate or verified.

Setting Aside Preferences

Moderators are humans, too. They may have certain inclinations on a topic or it would be better if they don’t have these preferences altogether. Assuming that they do have, these personal preferences should not get in the way of making decisions. It can result in biases in judgment and can only spell disaster on the credibility of the people involved or leading the discussion.

Enforcing Rules

Moderators are also tasked with enforcing the rules agreed upon by the community. They should be impartial when it comes to their judgment, and the rules they impose should not favor anyone to the point it monopolizes the flow of the discussion. In relation to rules, moderators are also required to formulate them with the least amount of loopholes or should be clear enough for anyone to understand.

Emotional Maturity

Sometimes moderators can receive flak for their judgments. These reactions may be based on the overall emotional response of the audience or even speakers. As moderators, they should possess conviction and resist being affected by personal attacks, or simply disregard these as emotional outbursts that can happen naturally to anyone passionate about the discussion or topic being presented.

Some Basic Knowledge on a Topic

There are also times that moderators may not have the expertise most speakers have on a particular topic, but as moderators, they should have a good grasp of the basics on which they can use as a baseline. Moderators don’t necessarily have to be experts on a topic of interest, but they should come equipped in a battle of information.

What Makes a Good Clubhouse Moderator And a Bad Moderator?

Possessing skills as a moderator is not enough to be effective in a fast-paced discussion environment like Clubhouse. Some of these qualities or skills may be taken to the extreme and the degree to which they’re used determines whether a moderator is a good or bad moderator.

What Good Mods Do

1. Good moderators will allow room for the discussion to evolve

This means they know when to interrupt or to start banning people from the Club room. Allowing a conversation to flow naturally is one of the best methods for listeners to learn. A moderator that is constantly interrupting to correct people, or banning people from the Clubroom will not be deemed as an effective, or good, moderator. This also means a moderator will have to possess a certain degree of restraint in enforcing rules, or at least a little room to allow flexibility.

2. Good moderators will give chances for people to present their points

Points in a discussion are still worth a listen on a speaking platform. Some individuals in the audience may ask or say something ludicrous but it’s not a basis for banning or muting them in the Club Room. It’s progressive and polite of a moderator to let people finish presenting their points, provided it’s still within the timeframe allotted for speaking.

3. Good moderators will allow changes to rules that may hinder certain aspects of a discussion

Some topics have broad coverage that specific rules imposed may not let a discussion go further. This is where good moderators will identify which rules are stopping speakers to present other facts that may be relevant. Similar to how good moderators make rules with the least amount of loopholes, the process of changing rules for a temporary period or for special cases can be beneficial to the overall result of the discussion.

What Bad Mods Do

1. Bad Moderators are Oppressive

How do moderators become oppressive? Mods become discussion tyrants when they constantly interrupt the flow of the conversation. They will most likely catch attention by correcting every possible mistake they hear.

Correcting mistakes is good in that it limits the amount of less useful information getting mixed in, but the frequency to which corrections are given has less value to the overall discussion. That’s why timing is important for a moderator and is also a sign of good manners.

2. Bad moderators favor intellectual superiority

Speakers who are experts in their respective fields have intellectual authority. And with authority comes the risk to abuse those who are far less knowledgeable. Bad moderators favor people who they think have spent considerable amounts of time to improve their craft.

This preference is justified but if the moderator subverts individuals who can’t express themselves well in the Club Room, then they’re not doing a fair job at making everybody have a chance at presenting their viewpoints.

3. Bad moderators disregard opinions

Facts are good in a discussion, but how these facts affect reality is subjective. This is where opinions become useful. Some audiences may desire to express their opinions and the simple fact of acknowledging them can validate their feelings of importance in participation.

It’s not the moderator’s job to share their views regarding a topic but moderators also have to be the ones to fill in audiences on what they should be relating their opinions too. If the moderator doesn’t do this, then they fail to direct the flow of the discussion.

How Do Moderators Win The Confidence of Clubhouse Members?

To do this, there are a few things moderators can do to make sure they’re being efficient at their job, and that they are liked and agreed with by the audience.

Being Consistent

It’s important that moderators show consistency in enforcing rules. They can’t be banning random Club members from a discussion. They should be able to make judgments based on set criteria or else lose their credibility as moderators. Since they formulated the rules, they should be able to memorize it and apply it to scenarios they can foresee.

Showing Certainty And Authority

Moderators get more credibility by being sure of what they’re saying. It shows in the way words are used or how they’re delivered. Since Clubhouse is a platform where voice is the main medium of transmitting information, people will listen intently to the variations of voice, rate of speech, and choice of words. Authority can be displayed by using words with a strong underlying theme of conviction, and an altogether avoidance of words that convey uncertainty.

Being Respectful

Winning the audience’s trust and confidence requires mutual respect. Being able to time interruptions politely to correct someone, or enforcing the rules without sounding too tyrannical are some of the ways to be respectful. Disagreements don’t also have to be nasty, and moderators can show off their social skills by their ability to refute arguments about rules with the least vindictive choice of words.

What should moderators be doing in the Clubhouse app Club Room?

Clubhouse moderators have both technical and social responsibilities. Some of the technical responsibilities they have include making a room for speakers to engage with their audience, sending invites (and selecting the right people to invite), putting speakers on the stage, muting audiences or speakers as needed, setting the time parameters for speaking, and monitoring the number of people joining the Club Room. This is preceded by their familiarity with the Clubhouse app features.

Here’s a short guide on how to use the Clubhouse Room features

Starting a Club Room

1. Scheduling

Click the calendar icon on the Club Hallway
Click new event
Fill out the information
Tap Publish

Tap Share to post the link to the Clubhouse Room to Instagram or Twitter.

2. Spontaneous Rooms

Tap “Start A Room” in the Club Hallway section
Choose “Open, Social, or Closed”
Tap “Add A Topic”

Note:

Spontaneous Rooms don’t have a shareable link
Private rooms can be made public

3. Checking How Many People are In the Room

Tap “All Rooms”
Profile Icons will show on the bottom left side of the screen, with a number indicating listeners present.

4. Add A New Moderator

Tap on one of the Speaker profiles on the Stage section
Choose “Make A Moderator”
Moderators have a green circle beside their name.

5. Checking Who Wants to Be A Speaker

Tap on the raised hand icon.
A list will appear showing the names of people in the queue or who have raised their hand.
Notifications also whenever someone wants to be a speaker.

6. Disabling Hand Raising

Tap on the raised hands icon.
Tap on the slider to turn it off.

7. Closing a Clubhouse room

Tap on the three little dots.
Choose “End room”.

Social responsibilities for a moderator include periodical checks to see if the discussions need to continue. This means an assessment of whether questions are still relevant to the speaker’s topics or if the goals of the Club Room have been met.

They also have to identify potential heated arguments and prevent them from escalating, or if any are present, they have to initiate steps to de-escalate the issue. Although bordering on technical responsibilities, correcting false information also falls under their social responsibilities as Clubhouse moderators.

What are the difficulties faced by Clubhouse moderators?

For any Clubhouse moderator, there are scenarios they will find difficult. Some of these are the following:

Opposing views with strong points
Deciding whether something presented is against or for the rules
Unique scenarios that are not foreseen
Members who are out of control and persistent
General discord among the members
Escalated and heated arguments

What do Clubhouse moderators do when confronted by Clubhouse members?

Distance themselves emotionally and approach the situation objectively
Discern whether the intent behind confrontation is a personal attack or a criticism
Identify if the confrontation has a basis and whether it’s worth the effort of addressing.

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