Re: 6, all I know is that you said people didn’t like the guided meditations you included in the 2020 Solstice, which I think is pretty weak evidence given how extremely different the online experience was to a normal Solstice. From your wording I’m assuming this isn’t the only example you have in mind; curious what the others are?
Also I agree that oratory needs work. I think this is one of our weakest areas, or at least, maybe, the weak area we pay least attention to. A lot of people have a sense that ‘anyone can give a speech’, but actually, no. Perhaps anyone can learn to give a speech, but it sure isn’t a thing everyone can just go up and do well. Nat provided some one-on-one feedback on oratory in 2018 and I think that was valuable; I did a bit of this in 2019 but didn’t give it as much time, and in 2021 we just didn’t have the time or bandwidth for it.
The Nat speech-coaching thing gives me some vague idea, like, it would be good to have really specialized people who carry over from year to year. We already have this for choir direction and (to a lesser extent) A/V; why not have it for songleading, speech-giving, and speech writing as well? This would reduce the burden on the lead organizer and probably result in a better end product.
I’m surprised to hear you say that oratory is one of our weakest areas. Although I guess I actually think we’re pretty strong in a lot of areas, so maybe ‘weakest’ isn’t that bad. I have been quite moved by a lot of speeches at various Solstices, but I guess those were the best ones; certainly there’s variance.
I think we’re doing pretty well at the “first 80%” of the work, in a lot of ways, and are finding ourselves in the “last 80%”—the detail-oriented polishing that takes a lot of effort and has diminishing returns. (Which is not to say we shouldn’t do it! There are still returns to be had.)
Re: 6, all I know is that you said people didn’t like the guided meditations you included in the 2020 Solstice, which I think is pretty weak evidence given how extremely different the online experience was to a normal Solstice. From your wording I’m assuming this isn’t the only example you have in mind; curious what the others are?
Also I agree that oratory needs work. I think this is one of our weakest areas, or at least, maybe, the weak area we pay least attention to. A lot of people have a sense that ‘anyone can give a speech’, but actually, no. Perhaps anyone can learn to give a speech, but it sure isn’t a thing everyone can just go up and do well. Nat provided some one-on-one feedback on oratory in 2018 and I think that was valuable; I did a bit of this in 2019 but didn’t give it as much time, and in 2021 we just didn’t have the time or bandwidth for it.
The Nat speech-coaching thing gives me some vague idea, like, it would be good to have really specialized people who carry over from year to year. We already have this for choir direction and (to a lesser extent) A/V; why not have it for songleading, speech-giving, and speech writing as well? This would reduce the burden on the lead organizer and probably result in a better end product.
I think most people can stand up and give a talk and do okay, but a speech that is central to an event and needs to land really well takes more skill.
I’m surprised to hear you say that oratory is one of our weakest areas. Although I guess I actually think we’re pretty strong in a lot of areas, so maybe ‘weakest’ isn’t that bad. I have been quite moved by a lot of speeches at various Solstices, but I guess those were the best ones; certainly there’s variance.
I think we’re doing pretty well at the “first 80%” of the work, in a lot of ways, and are finding ourselves in the “last 80%”—the detail-oriented polishing that takes a lot of effort and has diminishing returns. (Which is not to say we shouldn’t do it! There are still returns to be had.)