Teegan Mannion started this excellent discussion with this opener: “Hi there. I’m noticing that in zoom workshops, as a whole, participants seem to be less eager to offer feedback. I’m struggling with how to manage a group in which some people consistently offer feedback while others are quite quiet…it feels like I might be rushing on from a piece sometimes because after I offer feedback (if no one else goes first) and perhaps one other participant offers feedback, sometimes nobody else says anything, and it’s uncomfortable! Is there some kind of rule or best practice in terms of how to approach that? How can I empower people to feel comfortable sharing their observations, and encourage them to be generous by speaking up? It can feel a bit stingy at times, and I worry that people aren’t getting satisfying, robust feedback. I try to balance it but that’s not really possible and sets up a weird dynamic that I don’t want. Thanks for your suggestions!
PS I’m looking for a document that I believe Alex Cafarelli shared at the beginning of their group in which I was a participant, which I think originally came from Sue Reynolds in some form…I can’t find it yet, but I’ll keep you posted. It’s a list of some possibilities of things to note for feedback, to give people ideas about what to listen for. Sue and I have talked about not necessarily sending this out before a first group to avoid overwhelming people, but perhaps now would be an appropriate and helpful time to introduce this. I wonder if perhaps newer participants hear the kind of feedback given consistently by more experienced/comfortable participants and think that if their own observations aren’t the same flavour or style they’re not valuable/”correct,” and hold back. Maybe showing them some variety would help empower them. Especially in a small group which may not have a wide variety of feedback voices.”
And the responses were:
 Lane Goddard |
What if you picked one prompt, and after each person read, Asked participants to each chime in with one thing they liked? Maybe that would get more voices in the room.
Also, the leaders’ resource manual has a list o things to listen for that you might share parts of. It’s available on our site now, I believe. And I think it’s ok to occasionally gently suggest that everyone make space for quiet voices. |
June 17, 2020 6:03 pm |
 Desiree Kannel |
I experienced the same issue with my Zoom sessions. For me, it seemed like people were trying not to speak over each other, so no one spoke. I found that calling on writers, (“Jane, would you like to add anything?”) helped to provide an opening for responding. Try to do this only after 1 or 2 writers have offered feedback. You also want to make sure everyone can hear what is being read. Sometimes I would ask the reader to re-read a certain part that stood out to me and then re-invite feedback. This helped a lot. Hope this helps; navigating workshops in Zoom has been a challenge, for us and the participants. | June 17, 2020 6:15 pm |
 Sue Reynolds |
I think you’re right Teegan – that it can be intimidating to hear robust feedback from people who are so good at it.
So, one way to make sure that everyone offers feedback is to announce you’re going to do something different this time. This form of feedback is called “recall” and I learned it in Natalie Goldberg’s workshops. Everyone is to note a phrase or two, an image, even just a word that arrested them as they listened and then you’re going to go around and ask them each to toss these small coins back to the writer. They don’t have to talk about the writing – just give back some small thing they loved or that called up an image or that moved them. In words as close as they can to the way the writer wrote it. And it doesn’t matter if something gets repeated – that’s just an indication that it’s strong. This kind of feedback will go quickly, even though everyone is offering something. It helps them wake up and pay attention, be better listeners. And since they don’t have to invent things, just say back literally what they heard, it’s not so intimidating. Desiree, I love your idea. I ask my participants to raise their hands to offer feedback and then call on them in the order they do it. (“Karen, then Fiona, then you Ellen.”) This stopped the “talking over each other.” |
June 17, 2020 10:57 pm |
 Beth Girard |
One way of encouraging feedback is to openly acknowledge people’s uncertainties – perhaps they’ve never done this before – and then model some possible responses. For example, Sue’s suggestions from Natalie Goldberg are direct and simple and easily followed.
You could also model how to use the senses when listening to a piece of writing: For example, “I could see everything in the room.” “The sound of that baby crying made me want to pick it up.” “I could taste the saltiness of the ocean in that piece.” “I could feel the wetness of the grass beneath the narrator’s bare feet.” “The smells of that food made me hungry!” Assure the group that each person’s feedback is valuable, even if it’s just one word, because we all need to know that we’re seen and heard. Assure them too that they’ll discover more and more of their own responses as time goes on. Hope this is helpful, Teegan. |
| Sue Reynolds |
I want to respond to Desiree’s observation here. I love your suggestion about asking them to read part again. Your observation about people speaking over each other is something I’ve observed too. A practice I’ve adopted for Zoom workshops (with apologies for any triggers back to elementary classrooms!) is to ask people to raise their hands when they have feedback and I’ll call on them. Often when people finish offering their pieces, several hands go up and I’ll acknowledge them in order. “Dawn, then Becky and Carol”. And if only one person offers feedback, I’ve learned to say “What else?” and wait. Getting comfortable with silence is harder on zoom. It’s like silence on the radio, or something. It feels like it drags out. So it’s been a deliberate practice. I’ll count to 10 before I jump in. | July 23, 2020 12:51 pm |
 Annie Fahy |
I use a popcorn method to stimulate folks on Zoom… Whoever speaks invites another participants to speak. The invitation is the key so that folks can say yes or no but its usually a yes. | August 27, 2020 2:39 pm |
 Patricia Philippe |
I’ve been struggling as well! Thanks so much for these amazing suggestions!
Patricia |