An approach to preparing talks

[askandanswer]

Yesterday, in church, I had what I think is a good idea on how to prepare talks. I’m putting it up here on lds.net partly in the hope that it might be of interest to someone else and also in the hope of getting some feedback and comments that might make it even better. I was going to present this in an attached Word document, but then I remembered that some people access this site through their phones and I wasn’t sure if everyone can access a Word document through their phone so I’ve set it out as two lists. The first list could be headed Objectives, and the second list could be called Tools. The objectives list is a list of the objectives or outcomes that the person giving a talk might want to achieve. The tools list is list of the tools or techniques that the person giving the talk might want to use to accomplish their objectives. The basic idea is, when you are assigned to give a talk, look at the objectives list and decide what you want to accomplish with your talk, and then look at the tools list and decide what tools you want to use to accomplish your objective. This process can be applied to each of the various parts of the talk – the introduction, each of the main points, and the conclusion. I suspect that this is what most of us do subconsciously, but I thought it might be helpful to make it more explicit.

Prison Chaplain, as one who frequently prepares and delivers sermons, II am particularly hopeful that you might feel inclined to provide some feedback.

 

Objectives

 

Motivate

Teach

Inspire

Call to repent

Change/influence attitudes, beliefs or actions

Comfort

Counsel

Rebuke

Call to repent

Reinforce an idea or point (for conclusion of talk)

Build interest and attract the attention of the congregation (for introduction of talk)

 

Tools

Personal anecdotes and experiences

Scriptures

Talks from conference or other sources

Expressing opinions, personal viewpoints and conclusions

Giving explanations

Asking rhetorical questions

Giving challenges and invitations to act

Reading from Bible Dictionary or Encyclopaedia of Mormonism

Tell a joke or funny story

Share/express feelings

[NeedleinA]

"Call to repent" - twice, yikes

It is interesting how different folks do things, thanks for sharing this. In my earlier years I can recall doing thought processes like this. Now in life, when assigned a topic, I think about that topic, what it means to me personally and how I've been affected by it. I wait and ponder, wait and ponder and I wait and ponder some more. Without fail, inspiration will come to me and give me the direction I should go. Once that comes, regardless of what it is, I follow it, believing it to be the direction the Spirit wants me to go in rather than the direction my intellect would have me go. I never worry about giving a talk and always have 100% confidence that if I follow that prompting it will be the "right" message versus "my" message. 

[anatess2]

My suggestion:  Take out tell a joke and funny stories.  If you like, you can change personal experiences and anecdotes to add - Anecdotes can be funny stories but need to remain reverent.  There's a big difference between trying to make people laugh and trying to maintain interest.  Trying to make people laugh is fine for Sunday School but not for Sacrament Meeting.  President Monson has this style of telling personal stories that can bring a chuckle or two, but he always maintains reverence.

 

[zil]

42 minutes ago, NeedleinA said:

"Call to repent" - twice, yikes

With some rebuking on top.

[askandanswer]

1 hour ago, zil said:

With some rebuking on top.

That was specifically for you Zil 

[NeedleinA]

Had a high councilor tell of an old war story he had from Vietnam at the beginning of one of his talks. To say the least it was pretty intense! He found himself all alone being chased / hunted by Vietnamese forces. He approached a secure facility where he knew he could find safety. As he was scaling the wall just about to make it over he felt someone pulling his leg... "Just like I'm pulling all of yours Brothers & Sisters, that story never happened, but what a way to start my talk today!" 

1/3 the congregation = silent in disbelief
1/3 the congregation = laughing at his joke
1/3 the congregation = angry for being strung along

100% = not thinking of the Savior

 

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

4 hours ago, NeedleinA said:

100% = not thinking of the Savior

So true. I don't have a problem with a joke or story at the beginning of a talk IF it's related to the subject of the talk itself. Otherwise, it's simply a distraction as you pointed out. 

 

Edited January 17, 2017 by LiterateParakeet