Sir Alan gave an amusing speech to a room packed with eager listeners on 9 October 2013 at the Academy of Experts.. He gave his own views, personal and separate from the CMC such as:
1 There are two many trainers churning out too many mediators with no further training under supervision or much chance of practical experience.
2 Few mediators have any realistic prospect of living on or supplementing their income. 5 hours and 5 observerships as has been suggested for qualification cannot be enough. Anyone can call themselves a mediator as there is no established profession.
3 It will not be recognised as a profession until one body is set up to set standards, regulate trainers and practitioners using a disciplinary procedure and code. We do need mediators to have a badge of recognition.
4 It must have a universal and trusted voice so people can click on one organization whether they are the man on the street, in business or the government.
5 More funding would be needed to do this when the funding is already a burden so additional resources need to be found.
6 Mediation needs to be able to rely on research that proves it is invaluable.
7 At the moment the field is Balkanized and worse, mediators need mediating between different organizations to being a profession together.
8 More recognition of mediation in general for example more teaching in law schools will help it to flourish.
9 The coming EU directives on ADR and ODR may revolutionise the field with electronic methods.
10 We need to get the message out of its current micro field and into the management workforce because mediation is bound to reduce the economic losses associated by disputes within businesses.