One of the most frightening episodes I witnessed at Codex was when a non-governmental organization (NGO) delegate from a group supporting breastfeeding spoke. Her request to speak was recognized by the chair. She stood up and said that her organization did not want to see bottle formula advertised in developing nations. As she recalled the deaths caused in Africa by mothers abandoning breastfeeding for the bottle the Chair quickly (and emotionally in my opinion) cut her off and accused her of bringing emotion into the meeting. He said this was an issue of labeling and not of emotion. He humiliated her and her point of view and, as common with the Delphi Technique, tried to make her appear ridiculous, and he certainly escalated the tension in me!

I could not believe much of what I heard that week in Bonn. I could not believe the total lack of respect and the blatant disregard for the human race at that meeting. I could not believe how Codex is completely controlled by the World Trade Organization to make the whole world into a shopping mall.

There are ways to diffuse the technique when you see it being used by Delphi "facilitators". Lynn Sunter gives the following three simple steps.

1. Always be charming, courteous, and pleasant. Smile. Moderate your voice so as not to come across as belligerent or aggressive.

2. Stay focused. If possible, jot down your thoughts or questions. When facilitators are asked questions they don't want to answer, they often digress from the issue that was raised and try instead to put the questioner on the defensive. Do not fall for this tactic. Courteously bring the facilitator back to your original question. If he rephrases it so that it becomes an accusatory statement (a popular tactic), simply say, "That is not what I asked. What I asked was . . ." and repeat your question.

3. Be persistent. If putting you on the defensive doesn't work, facilitators often resort to long monologues that drag on for several minutes. During that time, the group usually forgets the question that was asked, which is the intent. Let the facilitator finish. Then with polite persistence state: "But you didn't answer my question. My question was . . ." and repeat your question.

The key is to never, ever become angry. Their key to success is to make you angry, which makes the facilitator the victim and you become the bad guy. Sunter says that facilitators work to achieve group consensus by trying to make the majority of the group members like them, and to alienate anyone who might pose a threat to the realization of their agenda. People with firm, fixed beliefs, who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, are obvious threats. On the other hand, if the facilitator seems to be directly putting down a participant then the participant becomes a victim and the facilitator loses face and favor with the crowd. Sometimes you can goad a facilitator into becoming mad at you. She says, this is why in many forums now, crowds are broken up into groups of seven or eight, and objections are written on paper rather than voiced aloud where they can be open to public discussion and debate. It's a form of crowd control.

At a meeting, if you have two or three people who know the Delphi Technique dispersed through the crowd, when the facilitator digresses from a question, they can stand up and politely say: "But you didn't answer that lady/gentleman's question." The facilitator may suspect certain group members are working together but he knows better than to alienate the crowd by making accusations. Sunter says it sometimes only takes one incident of this type for the crowd to figure out what's going on.