Part 1
As ministry leaders, it is a big part of our job to communicate in front of an audience. We cast vision and train our volunteers. We lead orientations and create messages for our parents. We invest in and share with other leaders.
Here at North Point we are preparing for our annual Drive Conference. (Check out our recommended breakouts for children and preschool leaders. We would love to see you there!)
This means that we are creating outlines, honing in on our examples, and polishing up on our speaking skills. If you want to be prepared to give your best, you have to spend the time it takes to get there.
Here are a few things that help me prepare to speak:
1. Create content with a team.
I like to gather a team of people who would have insight into the topic and get their input. I usually start the meeting by telling them the general ‘big idea’ of the talk and then just listen to what they have to say. This first meeting expands and influences the direction of the talk. I also get creative presentation ideas, video ideas, or stories to share to make the talk come to life.
To Do: Take Notes!
2. Write an outline.
I do this step alone. The process of figuring out what I want to say, the way that the talk should build, and crafting the key points that I want the listeners to walk away with forces me to work through a talk in detail.
I use the notes that I took when meeting with my team. If I have a powerful story that I want to share, I work through the main teaching point of the talk and make sure that it works in my outline. This step usually takes me several hours.
I write it. Come back to it. Rewrite it.
To Do: Shut the door and write.
3. Walk through my outline with one person.
Before I nail down exactly what I’m going to say, I get a good leader in my office, shut the door, and walk through the outline. I don’t practice the actual talk at this point. I just read every point and tell them what I’m trying to communicate. I share the examples that I’m planning to use and the stories I’m planning to share. I ask them to tell me what was unclear or missing.
Choose a leader who has knowledge of your subject and who is good at giving feedback. I usually walk through this step in the process with my computer open and make necessary changes as we talk.
We go point by point. The person sitting with me interrupts, and shares stories or examples that they think would be better. They help me rewrite statements in the outline that are confusing or poorly written.
This phase of the process is where the outline really gets shaped and molded. It’s not unusual for whole sections to be dropped or rearranged or for a new main point to be created.
To Do: Finalize first draft.
Everyone has their own process for preparing to speak. This might not be the best for you, but it works for me. So what’s the big idea that I want to share? Prepare!
We’ll talk about the rest of the process in Part 2 of Preparing to Speak.
March 15, 2010
Staff Leadership