Speech

Don’t Disregard Distractions

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Don’t ignore the power of distractions.  I’m not referring to the things that distract you, but the things you do that distract your listeners.  Don’t just shrug and say, “that’s just me.”  It’s not.  If you know about a distraction and don’t do something about it, then really you are saying, “that’s just me being too lazy or proud to address the issue.”  If you don’t know about your distracting mannerisms and habits, perhaps it’s time to ask someone who will be honest with you?  What might they point out?

Distracting Gestures – These tend to be the first thing people will mention because their power to distract is so great.  Basically any gesture you use too frequently will distract.  Especially any gesture you use rhythmically.

Distracting Gaze – It is distracting to listen to a speaker who won’t look at you, but instead seems to be looking over your head, or at some apparition only he can see on the wall over by the clock.  Eye contact matters to people, whether they know it or not.

Distracting Words or Non-Words – Hmmm, you know, like, I mean, just really, uhhhh, and what not.  Non-words, filler words, mispronounced words and repeatedly tacked on words are all distractions.  Find out what you use and graciously assassinate it.

Distracting Attire – Do most people really appreciate that loud shirt you were given on the ministry trip to wherever-land, or only the one or two ebullient people who react with joy to anything that breaks the monotony of normal life?  Equally, do the right clothes fit wrong, or the patterns create hallucinations for people watching your image projected on the screen (most of us don’t have this problem).

Your goal in communicating is to communicate.  It makes no sense to tolerate distractions.  Funnily enough, distracted listeners are, well, distracted.  Find out if you are causing distraction in any way, the don’t disregard what you discover.

When Less is More in Delivery

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

More power does not always mean more power.  Sometimes for emphasis we need to do the opposite of the obvious:

When less is more in delivery – When we are convinced or excited, our volume tends to rise.  But it can be dynamic and powerful to drop to a whisper at the point of emphasis.  When worked up we easily rise in pitch, delivering our most significant material in the annoying shrill of an over-enthusiastic choirboy (but dropping the pitch to a lower tone will add emphasis without the discomfort for listening ears).  And of course, when we get worked up we easily drop our foot to the floor and speed through key material.  In the cold light of midweek it is easy to spot the weakness in that approach!

Variation is critical in content and delivery.  One way to add variety is to be sure to look for opportunities to apply the old principle that works so well in preaching – sometimes less is more!

Top Trumps: Genuineness

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

My post on the 12th, Do They Know That You Know?, received a helpful comment. I wrote that “The preacher must build confidence in the listeners; confidence that the preacher knows the message, knows how it will progress and knows when it will end.” The comment in response included this statement, “A good balance of the two would be great, but if I had to choose, I would be more receptive to someone who is genuine than confident.”

I heartily agree. Confidence is a matter of presentation and I would encourage a quiet confidence that relaxes the listeners. But genuineness is a matter of integrity. Integrity is not a help for preaching, it is a fundamental for preaching. All the technique and skill and training and gifting and experience in the world is undermined instantly by a loss of integrity, or even the perceived lack of genuineness.

Preaching is not like the game of top trumps. As a child I had a set of fire engine top trumps. More water tank capacity, more speed, more versatility, more crew . . . more likely to trump the card of your opponent. If preaching were top trumps then you would be a fool to sacrifice genuineness for most other “preacher’s features.” Since preaching is not top trumps, we have the privilege of seeking to develop all aspects of personal life, spiritual gifting, ministry skill and so forth.

Genuineness is one of those things that undergirds all we do. And over-confidence is not helpful. So perhaps we should be deliberately under-confident? No. When it comes to genuineness, it would be wrong to try and fake it!