Kids

Part 2

You can read Part 1 here.

As we continue to prepare to speak, there’s something important that I want to remind you of. It’s the most important ingredient to all talks. Prayer. Way before Step 1, you must seek your Heavenly Father and open your heart to His leading. What should your message be about? Ask Him.

Ask Him to fill in the gaps and far exceed your natural abilities. Ask Him to lead you as you craft your message. Ask Him to prepare the hearts of those who will fill the seats of your audience. Specifically pray for the people, the families, and churches represented in your audience. Because when God guides your message…it’s powerful.

When you serve in ministry, communicating publicly is a privilege. It’s a responsibility. The kind of messages that you share have the power to impact lives, change families, or set a team on a new course. Not something to take lightly.

Here are the last few steps in the process:

4. Write out my speaking notes.

Speaking notes are different than an outline. I usually type these in red and they are word for word what I’m planning to say. I place them in the outline exactly where I am going to say them so that I don’t lose sight of the main points of the outline as I’m talking.

I type out my introduction, my examples, my stories, my teaching points, and my conclusion. Everything that I’m going to say, I type out. This is a huge practice point for me in the actual communication side of the preparation. If you were in the room with me at this step you would hear me talking aloud, typing away, and trying to get the wording just right.

Here’s the deal…I always have these speaking notes in my outline. I use them as I practice. But I do not memorize them. I rarely look at them when the time comes to give my talk live. It’s not my goal to give a perfectly memorized speech. I want to speak in a conversational voice. I want to know my material. I want the message to be genuine and from the heart.

I am prepared but I am not memorized.

To Do: Practice your speaking notes aloud.

5. Practice in front of an audience.

Before you are speaking in front of your main audience, it’s important to practice in front of a practice audience. Gather your staff. Make your family listen. Invite your friends into your office for lunch. You will learn so much by giving the complete talk in front of a practice audience.

Even if you don’t ask them for feedback (which you should), you will work out so many kinks by practicing in front of them. You will know where you went to long, where you need to smooth out a transition, when a joke didn’t work, when you got wordy and unclear.

When you are done, ask for feedback. Listen to what they say. Take notes. Make changes.

If you want healthy feedback, then you’ve got to create a team that knows it’s safe to be honest and that you will put their feedback to good use. Depending on the size of the practice audience, you might want to consider using an anonymous feedback form.

Record your talk. Listen to yourself. You won’t like it, but you will learn from it. I promise it will be worth it. Here’s what I’ve learned by listening to my talks:

I was talking too fast.

A story I was sharing was unnecessary.

I came off a little too confident.

A story was too long.

I was too wordy.

I sounded hurried and stressed.

I was too sarcastic.

Every single time…I’m so glad that I’ve practiced on an audience and improved, corrected, and sharpened my outline.

To Do: Listen to your recording and feedback. Make changes and finalize your outline and speaking notes.

6. Practice alone.

Here’s the final step for me. It’s the process of smoothing it out, getting comfortable, and getting it in my head.

I shut the door, hold my notes in my hand, and pace back and forth in the room practicing the talk aloud. I gesture with my hands (I can’t talk without my hands!), I work on my phrasing and my voice inflection. I get loud. I talk softly. I practice my stories. I work through my transitions from one point to the next. Basically, I practice!

As you’re probably noticing, this process takes some time. There is no starting on Saturday, for a talk that you’re planning to give on Sunday. That’s why we started to talk to Drive Conference communicators in November! We want to be prepared!

There have been plenty of times where I haven’t followed this process completely. Times when I procrastinate. When I’m too busy and don’t make it a priority. But most of the time I do. And when I do, I’m so much more comfortable and confident with the end result.

I’m not one of those naturally great communicator. I have to work at it. Yes, work! Great talks don’t just come to you. But to truly be successful I have to lean heavily on my Savior. Without Him, I’m only as good as me. And even with a lot of hard work…it’s not good enough.