The Value of the Master Moderator[TM] Program: Guest Post by Lori A. Walker
RIVA’s Master ModeratorTM Certificate is a prestigious honor awarded to experienced moderators who have completed the requirements and demonstrated the skills and knowledge as a qualitative market researcher. The students who earn this certificate have the distinction of being RIVA Certified Master Moderators and can put on their resume “Holds a Master Moderator Certification from the RIVA Master Moderator Certificate Program™.”
You don’t have to take our word for it. Today, we invited former student, Lori Walker, to share with you what enrolling in the Master ModeratorTM Program has meant to her and her career.
Guest post by: Lori A. Walker, Vice President at Hiner & Partners
The best thing I ever did for my career was to enroll in RIVA’s Master ModeratorTM program.
As students, we are the beneficiaries of curriculum that has been refined over 40 years. Along with the experiential teaching style, RIVA trainers create the perfect environment to excel and master the moderator’s craft.
During the course, you face your fears and work through them. They teach techniques and provide tools to face a myriad of situations. You practice, get feedback, and keep practicing. The result is Master Moderator.
I learned to be a better listener, how to dig deeper without being intrusive, and to formulate better questions. I learned the best ways to build rapport, to handle a person who is too quiet or the inevitable person who attempts to talk over the group. I even found the switch to online groups much easier with the techniques I learned.
An additional benefit is these same techniques make you a better listener in all kinds of situations with stakeholders, clients, coworkers, and even friends and family. Because of this course, I am better at diagnosing client needs and articulating solutions and recommendations as part of the research process. Much of the learning applies to numerous situations such as 1-1 interviews, ethnography, hosting a brainstorming session, moderating a speaker panel, networking, and even presenting.
However, the biggest change from participating in this program was the major boost in confidence that was uncovered after such effective training. Knowing I can masterfully handle a focus group has made me a better researcher overall and enhanced my empathy towards all humans.
Ms. Walker has been in marketing research for 30+ years. Her expertise includes measuring all aspects of the customer experience (operational strategy, performance, satisfaction), marketplace intelligence, new product development including product naming, and evaluation of marketing communications. Ms. Walker has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods, consumer and B2B research. She is a RIVA-certified Master Moderator, which she uses to conduct focus groups, 1-1 in-depth interviews including UX interviews, and ethnography.
She holds a Master of Marketing Research from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from California State University, Long Beach.