Tips on Becoming a Better Speaker

A book by John L. Dutton offers these suggestions to help a person become a speaker that people want to listen to:

· Prepare your talk around what your class or audience wants to hear, rather than what you want to say. Choose topics and discussions they want to study.

· Remember that people “think” in stories and illustrations as much as they do by analyzing data. Make your major points with stories or illustrations, followed by shorter statements of opinion or fact. In other words, use Bible stories to make Bible points.

· When you practice your presentation, create many of the conditions you will experience when you speak. Visualize the setting and your audience. Stand up, talk aloud, and use gestures. Spend half of your preparation time on this kind of practice. Limit the research and writing to the other half.

· Be natural when you make your presentation, not perfect. Never read a presentation – there’s nothing more boring. Learn your stories and illustrations well enough that you can tell them from memory. Make notes to remind you of when to tell the stories and what points to make from them.

· End with a bang, not a whimper. Save your best, most powerful story until last. Then deliver it with punch! Leave your class or audience wishing you had continued to speak. It makes them want to come back the next you have a presentation to make or a class to teach.

THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN .....

Marriage Ministry: The Secret to the Marriage You Want - http://www.lifeway.com/e2/shop/?id=005189420

Adult Ministry: BOOMSTOCK: A Three Day Event for Babyboomers - http://www.lifeway.com/event/?id=373&intcmp=LAD2010Boomer-eupdate042010

Discipleship Ministry: Free webinar on the Growing Disciples series by Claude King (development process for disciples, from new Christian to maturity) -

https://admin.na5.acrobat.com/_a41466003/growingdisciples/growingdisciples

Discipleship Ministry: Georgia DisciplEquip Conference, Pine Forest Baptist Church, Macon, September 24 - 25 - www.gabaptist.org

Small Group Ministry: Crave: An Exploration of the Human Spirit by Erwin McManus (a study of cravings humans seek and the one that truly satisfies) - http://www.lifeway.com/e2/shop/?id=005271665

Sunday School Ministry: Great Expectations: Planting Seeds for Sunday School Growth (training for Sunday School leadership, free downloads available) - http://www.lifeway.com/article/170118/


Women's Ministry: Developing a Girls' Ministry webcourse - http://www.lifeway.com/e1/shop/?id=005120945