Wildfire: Small Header, Large Body Lists

The most essential thing about list management is ensuring that the caller feels in control of the list. One way to do this is to let callers hear some information about the first item, and then let them decide if they want to go on to the "Next item," "Previous item," or get more details about the current item. This works particularly well when the information can be presented in a brief "snapshot," as in the following example.

SYSTEM:	Message from "Tim Lawlor."
CALLER:	Next item.
SYSTEM:	Message from "Mike Ahnemann."
CALLER:	What's it say?
SYSTEM:	Hey Blade, can you give me a call back about the paper? I'll be in the office until 6:00 today. Thanks, bud.

This is what I call a "small header, large body" list item. Although the preview doesn't reveal the actual contents of the message, it does inform the caller of its source, which may provide an important clue about its importance or priority.