"Mediation is intervention" probably seems to be the simplest formula. Similarly short, but more significant: "mediation is facilitated negotiation" (Riskin 2001), which describes mediation as "moderated trial". Many, very different definitions of mediation can be found in the literature (Falk 2000), none of them will be the "only true". The following definition from the internationally pioneering Austrian Federal Law on "Mediation in Civil Matters" (ZivMediatG 2003), which was created after extensive discussions of various professions of the mediation scene and carries the essential elements of mediation, seems to be rather useful:

"Mediation is an activity, based on the voluntary of the parties, in which a professionally trained, neutral mediator systematically encourages the communication between the parties with approved methods and with the aim of enabling the parties themselves to find a solution to their conflict."