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CLICK HERE to share your thoughts on our December 5th dinner event with our speaker, Dr. Richard Feinberg, discussing "Cuba with No Castro: Peaceful Landing or Bloody Cataclysm?"

12/5/2021

11 Comments

 
11 Comments
Bruce Shepard
12/5/2021 08:32:33 pm

Engaging speaker; great content; learned a lot; much enjoyed. Acoustics much improved- thank you.

Reply
Jim McFarlin
12/6/2021 06:50:31 am

Appreciate your positive comments, Bruce. And an entire season of outstanding programs lies ahead.
Best,
Jim

Reply
Martha McCool
12/5/2021 09:05:20 pm

Thank you Dr. Feinberg! You delivered articulate, and captivating responses, answering each of the questions posed with an understandable and in depth perspective.
I was thrilled that Dr. Feinberg had time to answer the question I posed on Guantanamo with an historical perspective.
It was so refreshing to enjoy a speaker who did not read his entire speech and I must also say that the acoustics had improved.

Reply
MEREDITH A BETTENCOURT
12/5/2021 09:13:41 pm

Great talk. In depth discussion of the reality of Cuban American relations. Very good review of US policy and history over the past 120 years. Very balanced an nuanced. Apolitical.

Need more speakers like this.

Reply
Christopher Hebb
12/5/2021 09:43:13 pm

Dr. Richard Feinberg gave a most informative presentation. His talk, evidencing a deep understanding of Cuba and the historic relationship of the USA and Cuba, was enlightening. We were privileged to have Dr. Feinberg as our speaker.

Reply
Priscilla Porter
12/6/2021 08:56:48 am

Thank you Dr. Fineberg for meeting in advance with the students. Your background information was extremely helpful. The pertinent comments in the main speech were most informative, as was your delivery. Your engaging remarks were greatly appreciated.

Reply
JEAN CARRUS
12/6/2021 09:29:56 am

VAST IMPROVEMENT IN SPEAKER PRESENTATION. I WAS WATCHING THE AUDIENCE I FOUND THAT THERE WAS A REACTION TO THE LENGTH OF DR. FISHMAN'S RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED , EVEN THOUGH HIS ANSWERS' WERE GREAT. OUR AGING AUDIENCE SEEMS TO NEED AN EARLIER STARTING TIME! THE SALMON WAS PERFECT, HOWEVER THE STEAK WAS NOT. OH WELL, WIN SOME LOOSE SOME! LET'S HOPE THAT THOSE WHO MISSED A GREAT SPEAKER WILL RETURN NEXT MONTH AND APPRECIATE HOW HARD THE WACD WORKS TO GIVE THEM AN ENJOYABLE EVENING.
.

Reply
Jim McFarlin
12/6/2021 09:09:19 pm

As you say, Jean, an enjoyable evening and an engaging speaker are our objectives with every program.

Reply
Allen & Marilyn Shapiro
12/6/2021 07:42:36 pm

The intent here was to provide the audience with a current “state of Cuba” without a Castro family member as head of government. On balance, Dr. Feinberg's overview proved to be informative but wanting for lack of some specific detail that would have provided us with insights into just “how” Cuba was managing a rather fragile socio-economic balance. In our view, this would have transformed a "very good" presentation into an "outstanding one".

For example, current, major exports/imports; balance of trade situation; size of foreign reserves; estimated annual volume of foreign currency remittances into the country from the Cuban “diaspora”; current life expectancies; development and composition of an alleged covid vaccine independent of Russia, China and US; nature of the “reform process” put into place by the then Castro government coincident with the US/Cuba détente period; examples of just how the Cuban education system has deteriorated; etc.

Discussion of the US Guantanamo Military Base was not fully vetted (e.g., The US has a long-term lease on the land and employs a number of Cuban nationals as “local workers” on the base – all providing a needed source of foreign capital).

The November IWCC issues were nicely mitigated. More tables and room to converse during the reception period; HVAC temp was fine; the meat and fish entree choices were fine (at least at our table); acoustics were quite good; dessert was pre-positioned on our tables; there was a coffee service. Out sincere thanks to WACD officers and IWCC management to make it right!

And a final question for our WACD officers. Why is there such an iron-clad emphasis on the 8 pm closing? Is this a contractual stipulation with the facility provider or with the speaker? Can't we be more flexible to extend these sessions by 10-20 minutes to allow for a robust Q&A session, during which time (from past experiences) many otherwise missed insights are gained. Just looking for an extra margin of "value added" to these very well planned events with world affairs topics of great interest to the membership.

Reply
Jim
12/6/2021 09:24:34 pm

Agree the Q&A many times produces the most insightful part of the program. Our emphasis on 8pm is because there are many attending who wish to head home for bed and continuing beyond 8 is an imposition. That said, I am willing to discuss this with our programs chair Ken Bouldin and his team and will advise.

Thank you, as always, for your pertinent questions and suggestions.
Jim

Reply
Ken Bouldin
12/8/2021 08:04:59 am

Allen and Marilyn,
We will take a look at extending the Q&A period. Thanks for the feedback.

Reply

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