Somewhere in my browsing wanderings, I came across the idea that

A mediator’s job is providing punctuation.

A metaphor that makes sense, since punctuation gives structure and clarity to a flow of words.
Which got me thinking about

!@#$ [%^&*():;<&gt] ;,.?’”~ 

There’s probably no place for it in the Handbook, so I post it here for your amusement.
 

Initial capital — signals the start of a new topic.

. A period says the parties have had their say and it’s time to move to the next thing.

, , ,  Commas when a pause is in order, or the mediator is separating out categories

— Dashes for asides and reassurances.

[Brackets for reminders, for stray ideas]

(Parentheses for extra clarification and for examples.)

;; Semi-colons to separate out each piece when conversation becomes too confusing.

‘s  ‘s  s’   Apostrophes to make sure everyone knows whose responsibility or role something is.

Hy-phens for hold-ing group me-mo-ry be-tween meet-ings.

! for some verve and excitement

* for places where the parties still need to define, to fill in the fine print

+ – for evaluating ideas

“Quotations to make sure each person’s speech and ideas are recognized”

? for raising lots of them.

Because, despite the definitive <.> period, the ellipsis reminds us we can never know anything for sure … either what happened before or what will happen next….