What's Happening [12.11.12]

Let's make a squeal

Brad Heckman- Yesterday, animal mediation specialist Debra Voda Vey Hamilton interviewed me for an upcoming telesummit she’s producing. This is one of the stories I told.

When I was fresh out of grad school, I lived in Washington, DC in a semi-dilapitated house with five other 20-somethings scrambling to make ends meet with barely-paid internships and McJobs. Imagine the early seasons of The Real World sans scandalous (or any) romantic shenanigans or Ikea furniture.

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Who comes to Cyberweek? Everyone, we know that. But why?

Noam Ebner- When the significance of having over 1500 people participate in an online conference sunk in, I needed to explore what brought them there. Of course, individual motivations differ, but by talking to people from different backgrounds, some themes emerged. The bottom line: There are more reasons for you to participate than you imagined.

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Example of Online Mediation via Skype – Landlord/Tenant Case – 24-m...

Giuseppe Leone- Many face-to-face mediators have mixed feelings about online mediation. Some of them are curious, some skeptical, and some afraid it might be “too complicated”...

Considered how many people already use computers and devices with video capabilities – e.g. Ipad, Iphone, Android tablets and smart phones – we hope that video recordings like ours (no matter how amateurish) can convince more mediators to take a closer look at online mediation. And therefore, they will be more willing to learn:

>> How online mediation works
>> How it can be integrated with mediation by phone, by email, and face-to-face
>> Which additional skills it requires
>> How online mediation can open up new market opportunities for mediators

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JUST 'CAUSE I SAID IT

Cinnie Noble- I like the tune of Adele’s song “Rumour Has It” and there are some lyrics that strike me as relevant to conflict. Consider the lyric “Just ‘cause I said it, don’t mean that I meant it”. This is a great quote relating to conflict though unrelated to Adele’s intention. For me it reflects what often happens in disputes because many of us say things we don’t mean or intend. At these times many of us speak from reactive and emotional places and say and do things that hurt and don’t help the interaction. How to overcome the tendency to blurt things out on impulse is key to conflict mastery and yet, this can be challenging.