A hasty decision turned fantastic

Over the years, I have presented my research at numerous nursing conferences, but I never thought about volunteering to moderate a discussion group. Early in my career, I was busy presenting my research and absorbing senior researchers’ suggestions on future studies. Relocating to another university, however, put me in a new environment and made me seriously think of future disciplines of nursing. I realized it’s equally important to be both a presenter and moderator to exchange thoughts or ideas. Coincidently, I received an invitation asking for moderators for an upcoming Sigma event. Without any hesitation, I accepted this invitation.

I didn’t have any idea what a moderator was! First, I regretted my decision to accept the invitation. But later, the regret changed to joyful moments as I prepared according to the program officer’s instruction. This was an eye-opening moment for me to see another way to participate in the conference. Before the event, there were many requirements and materials to be completed, and these trained me on how to provide proper leadership for each group that I was assigned. Completing the step-by-step requirements made me think deeper about the qualities of a leader, such as maintaining the goal of a session and being a liaison between presenters and attendees. I started to have an idea of what to do as a moderator and how to guide a session. Simultaneously, I reduced my self-doubt, and that was a great feeling. I noticed I was more curious about the role of moderator and saw myself considering how my participation as a presenter and a moderator contributes to the conference.

The most important lesson I learned from this experience was how to effectively communicate with presenters and attendees about the studies presented. In addition, I learned how to make attendees feel comfortable asking questions or answering the questions by balancing open-ended and closed-ended questions. One requirement was reviewing presenters’ studies and developing questions to ask the group, including purpose, research questions, measurements, procedures, protocols, methods, interpretation of findings, future studies, and conclusions. Later, I found out how important this activity was. I usually work with people who have studied similar or common topics, which narrows my attention to other studies and research methods. Being a moderator truly expanded my narrow research horizons to see what researchers in other populations were studying and how they conducted it. For example, I moderated DNP capstone projects, one of which explored the application of a business model into nursing practice in chronic foot pain and another looked at developing and testing bowel management guidelines. It was a moment to see the potential collaboration of different nursing programs and industries. Overall, accepting the invitation to be a moderator was a fantastic decision! I would encourage junior researchers to participate in this role if given the opportunity. No doubt that this experience was great!

Yaewon Seo, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at The University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas, USA, and a member of Sigma’s Alpha Mu Chapter.