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 deal on where you want to go.”
Martin Luther King, Jr’s famous speech, 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, in the first four minutes he repeats the line,
wide grin: “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” seven times and “I have a dream” nine times
your evaluation? What if your speaker is so superb that you are stretching your mind to come up with any
tied with the phrase “Let freedom ring” nine 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
Way #1
32
ONE COMMUNITY
on the count of three “Feedback on Fire!”
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
