Page 32 - March 2021 Voices

FIELD NOTES

Feedback on Fire! – Evaluations that Emote

Sheila LaChance - ACS, CL

In the fable Alice in Wonderland, Alice encounters presentation” you most likely will have a
the grinning Cheshire Cat perched high up in a speaker that implements a “tag line.” A
tree. Alice was confused and lost. So, Alice asked tag line is a repetitive phrase that ties the
the Cat, “Would you tell me please which way speech together and creates a concise and

I ought to go from here?” The cat responded to clear message.
Alice with a statement: “That depends a good Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous speech,
deal on where you want to go.” I Have a Dream, uses several tag lines

Alice said: “I don’t much care where.” repeatedly throughout his seventeen minute and
The cat responded while retaining his big thirty-seven second presentation. For example,
wide grin: in the first four minutes he repeats the line,
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” “One hundred years later” four times, “Now is
Do you ever wonder which way to go with the time” four times, “We can never be satisfied”

your evaluation? seven times and “I have a dream” nine times
What if your speaker is so superb that you tied with the phrase “Let freedom ring” nine
are stretching your mind to come up with any times as well!
suggestions? What if you say, “I cannot think of As the evaluator, here is one “alternate way.”

any suggestions for improvement.” Or. . . nit-pick Grab the speakers tag line, any tag line. Ask
by bringing attention to the fact that you noticed the audience to temporarily unmute and say in
. . . a small part of a cat’s tail within the zoom tandem with the speaker one of the speakers tag
screen for a nano-second or an utterance of one lines. Let’s say the tag line is “Feedback on Fire!”

“um.” Somehow it does not seem to be enough. Suggest that the audience unmute. . . wait a few
You are virtually lost. moments for folks to unmute and then direct
them to say with emotion and passion together
So. . . which way on the count of three “Feedback on Fire!”

Way #1 can you go? Instead Another alternative for the “perfect speaker”
of a “suggestion is to focus on the virtual medium of Zoom land.
for improvement” Follow the Zoom path. Zoom land replaces Alice’s
per sé provide an Wonderland! Multiple factors can be considered

“ALTERNATE WAY” to zoom in on. Such as; background/color, sound
to present. and vocal energy, lighting, forward and backward
For instance, if motions, side to side, facial gestures/expressions,
you have the “perfect hand and arm movements, staying within the

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