Catalyst

Archive for the ‘presentations’ Category

Speakers and writers have the responsibility to convey an idea to another in a way they can understand and evaluate.

Grammatical mistakes interrupt readers as well. When a speaker says, “Jeff and me went to the store,” the listener immediately assumes he is undereducated. Learn to use syntax correctly and you will allow even the most erudite to listen easily.

Eliminate passive voice. Rather than  “The book was bought by me,” employ active voice by writing“I bought the book. ” While you can use passive voice, use it sparingly.  Run your writing through a grammar checker in a word processor to snuff out passive voice from your writing.

Have you heard of:

• The kidneys thieves urban legend?
• Jared of Subway fame?
• The commercial of “this is your brain on drugs?”

If so, you’ve got something “stuck” in your brain. What made it stick?

Chip and Dan Heath wanted to know the reason so they studied “sticky” messages. The result is an excellent probe into communication in their book Made to Stick: Why Some Messages Survive and Some Die.

The book details six traits of “stickable”messages. Messages that are made to stick are

Simple

Unexpected

Concrete

Credible

Emotional.

The Heaths illustrate their results with actual examples of memorable and forgettable messages that compel the reader to confront his own communication style. Many use language and style that not only obscures the meaning but makes the message so forgettable that it goes in one ear and out the other. (I had college classes that left me at the speed of dull.)

One example particular caught my attention. It was about a man who ran the mess hall of a unit in Iraq. His was not just a steel spoon dishing out barely-edible meals. He dressed his staff in chef’s hats, put table clothes on tables, and took time to serve good food. He did all of this with the same exact supplies as any other Army unit. What made the difference was one sticky idea. He told those under his charge, “We don’t fix meals. We build morale.” That simple, concrete, dramatic message transformed a forgettable experience into something about which soldiers raved.

To enhance the learning experience, the Heaths include some thinking sections where the reader gets to check the “stickiness” quotient and how to improve the same message.

I found the book particularly useful. As a church leader, I deliver more than an average share of messages. Some take the shape of a sermon. Others are dimmed-light devotionals. Others are proposals about programs and problems to meetings. Since reading Made to Stick I have changed my approach to communication. I craft each one against the six-fold measure of the Made to Stick. My work found a new energy and anticipation.

If I had my way, I throw away most speech texts and using this book in their place. It would provide high polish to dull communications (whether letters, speeches, or ads).

The next time you make a presentation, when the final syllable is spoken ask, “What stuck?”

Made to Stick:  Why Some Ideas Survive and Some Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Random House, 2007. 304 pages.

PowerPoint walked into the communication room like an 800-pound gorilla demanding its own way. It has become so ubiquitous that many people cannot speak, teach, or present without leaning on the electronic crutch.

The common PowerPoint presentation is a gray blob of words thrown on a page. Bullet points click off with monotonous precision. I have worked with communicators who can do nothing more than read off the screen what their audiences can read for themselves.

It has reached a melting point in one arena that demands extreme clarity-the United States Military. One military commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier General H. R. McMaster has now banned his commanders from using PowerPoint as a result of the slide shown above.
In a recent interview, McMaster said, “It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control. Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”

Instead of throwing away PowerPoint, it is vital to use it properly. Here’s what I have learned.

Have a message before you touch the screen. If you cannot speak without the projector on, you will do worse with it on. Outline. Think. Revise. Get the message clear before clicking the PowerPoint icon.

Understand that people can listen or read–but they cannot do both at once. Too many presenters are “screen-readers.” They fill their screens with words which then get parroted back to the audience. STOP IT! If you want people to read it, print it out, pass out the pages and go home.

Use pictures and speak to the pictures. People think in pictures. They will see the picture quickly and then are ready to listen to explanation, the facts, or the opinion. See then say is the best avenue to follow.

I am thankful for PowerPoint but have grown irritated at how lazy it has made communicators. It’s not about slides, but ideas. Get clear and be clear in your presentations.

Sunday started out as a normal day–until the quiet evaporated with the ringing of the phone. At 6:45 a.m. my day shifted dramatically.

The call informed me that our preacher had fallen ill during the night and I was on tap to preach. I now had three hours to prepare and polish a message for an audience of 1000 listeners.

The sermon went well and was well-received. While that may be true, it is difficult to go from 0 to total presentation in three hours. How do stay ready so you prepare effectively when under the gun?

It doesn’t start when the call comes. Someone once asked me how long it took to prepare a sermon. My answer is simple–it took 30 years. All immediate preparation is a reflection of years of training. If you don’t put the hard hours in the cool of the day, you won’t be ready when thrown into the fire.

Yet, you need to do some things regularly to prepare for the last-minute situation. (These are also essential for the routine preparation of sermons.)

Read widely.

Reading is the river that fills the mental reservoir. Reading puts ideas into the mind and into notes. Read novels, self-help books, biographies and books on Bible topics. In addition, find some mind-stimulating blogs and read them daily. All will allow ideas to haunt the mind, reading it for the call when it comes.

Reflect daily.

Sermons take place at the intersection of text and current events. Think daily about what is happening. Analyze the news and think through reading. What do the events mean? What kind of implications are there for living? This kind of thinking is a tumbler turning rock into gemstone.

Write regularly.

One reason I write a blog post is to force me to do focused thinking. I write in a journal, put words into letters and memos, and make presentations. All are the whetstone of thinking. If the knife is not sharp, there’s no time to do it at the last minute. Too many preachers are dull because they don’t sharpen themselves regularly.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t enjoy the pressure of hurry-up preparation. I would never recommend it as a steady habit of life. However, when you take moments to prepare yourself daily, you are ready to prepare a message in a pinch.

It’s Sunday morning and when the preacher steps to the platform, he presents an “ok” sermon. But in another church, a preacher “hits the bull’s eye.” Is one a better preacher? Perhaps, but it may be that one took a better bead on the target.

It takes a small, subtle step that puts the arrow on the flight path to hitting the listener where they live.

I’ve known Robert Oglesby for over 40 years. He trained me as a preacher and I learned a lot. But perhaps one of the things he taught me about communication happened when I started working on staff with him 9 years ago at the Waterview Church of Christ.

The final step (which I omitted for several years) is a “final gleaning.” After hours of preparation, Robert has a perfectly crafted outline typed out and ready to go. But then comes the final gleaning. Robert sits down on the morning of his presentation, with legal pad and pen in hand, and quickly outlines what he will say. This resulted in taking out the chaff and leaving the presentation (sermon or class) with laser-beam focus. The final gleaning takes about 5 minutes but it makes the difference in what the audience keeps.

Recently I spoke at Waterview during Robert’s absence. The lesson just didn’t have the “zing” I wanted. So I did a final gleaning. I ended up taking 10 minutes and refashioning the conclusion. It had drama and movement and the punch it finally needed.

If you have to communicate on a regular basis, don’t ignore this last step. It solidifies your thoughts, focuses your attention, and takes your message to the next level.

One warning: don’t try it unless you really want to make your speaking better!