Communicator

Four Days That Make A Huge Difference

Cove DCW Students! Click Here to take survey

I just finished four days in Asheville, NC at the Cove with a group of Pastors (and others) from all over the country. There were Baptists and Presbyterians, non-demoninational folks and others representing a wide swath of Christianity in North America. They were young and older, experienced and inexperienced men and women with one thing in common. They came to the Dynamic Communicators Workshop to get better at communicating the greatest message on the face of the earth. It was a great time!

I went to the Dynamic Communicators Workshop as a student back in 1985 and I can honestly say it changed my ministry and my life. Not only did I become a better speaker, but I became a better writer, program planner and thinker. The SCORRE method that is taught gave me the tools I needed to communicate with crystal clear focus. Haddon Robinson teaches the importance of the "Big idea." The Dynamic Communicators Workshop gives you the tools to actually get there.

I've been a part of the DCW staff now for the last 17 years. The workshop has changed and improved in many ways over that time, but one thing has remained consistent; the remarkable improvement experienced by the students. It is simple. If you want to be the best communicator you can be, attend a Dynamic Communicators Workshop!

Find out more at www.DynamicCommunicators.com.

Uncredible vs. Incredible - How credible is your communication?

Bobby Fisher, Executive Pastor of Big Valley Grace Community Church and one of our Dynamic Communicators Workshop faculty, offers these tips for communication credibility.

Sitting in our board room for our monthly time of joy (also referred to as the Elder Board Meeting), I looked at the one page presentation and started to count. One, two, three. I rambled through thirty and stopped before I got to fifty. That was the number of spelling and grammatical errors on one page. As much as I wanted to embrace and support the presentation, my mind instead was asking, “How could you bring something like this for consideration?”

Our presentations will reflect the amount of credibility they are given by our listeners. Whether written or oral, a one-page strategy paper or full blown sermon, we must be clear and correct to be credible. If poorly presented, it’s not communication; it’s a distraction. If presented well, it can be incredible.

Here are three tips to make the un into an in:

1. Survey it. Look over your document and make sure it says what you want to say. Make sure it is the message you want your audience to hear. Sometimes our stream of consciousness takes us places we never intended to go. Prune the unnecessary. Rarely do people complain about a message (of any kind) being too short.

2. Spell it. Do not trust spell check. Make sure you have used good grammar throughout. If you are not skilled at spelling, grammar or punctuation, find someone who is and ask them to edit. I happen to be pretty good at it, and I still ask for an edit on almost everything I send or present.

3. Say it. Read everything out loud. It may look good on paper, but when you say it out loud, it may not sound right. A helpful practice is to read the document sentence by sentence, beginning with the last sentence in a paragraph and progressing to the first. If a sentence doesn’t make sense on its own, it won’t make sense in the middle of a larger presentation.

Take the time to be credible, and your listeners will take the time to consider what you have to say.  After all, uncredible isn’t even a word.

Making Your Point

Dr. James McGuire (Jimmy) a friend and colleague in Dynamic Communicators Workshops, presents this helpful template for developing - not finding - the rationale (points) of your speech.

Proclaim it. This means you introduce with clarity and precision the separate point you are going to develop that will support your major premise. This is not the whole message. It is one point of the message. For example, in a message on why we must strive to keep our hearts full of grace toward others, you might say: The first reason is because bitterness of spirit will make you withhold grace from others. This is clear, concise, and tells exactly what I must now proceed to develop: proof that bitterness causes its possessor to withhold grace from others.

Explain it. This means that the statement you just made, “Bitterness of spirit will make you withhold grace from others” will now be fully and clearly explained. Here you pull together evidence to support your statement. You may quote the Bible, or psychological studies from Universities, or some other source. But the single task is to give proof that bitterness of spirit will make you withhold grace from others.

Illustrate it. You have clearly stated your point, and explained the evidence that supports it, and now you are ready to illustrate it. You might say, “Saul heard the cries of the people as he rode through the towns with David at his side: “Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.” He became inflamed in his heart with bitterness of spirit. His nights became filled with brooding about David’s popularity, so much so that eventually he wanted only one thing: the death of David. Incredibly, here was a man selected by God to be the first King of Israel, representing God’s gracious rule over his chosen people, and through bitterness of heart he wanted only to kill David, not give him grace.” You might give other illustrations, some of them contemporary: “On the news I saw a story of a man who….” You might want to give a personal story.

Apply it. Now you make it personal to the listener. You might ask what is going on at work: is there a boss who has passed you over? Is there someone who is taking credit for your work? Maybe you talk to the students: is there someone who is mean to you at school, and you find you are starting to hate that person? You might talk to couples or those involved in divorces or lawsuits. Your point is to get them to consider that opportunities to be bitter face us every day, but if we want to be people who give grace to others, we must not seize the opportunities for bitterness.

Now you are ready to apply this grid to your next point. 

Make Your Illustrations Count

My last post was about great storytelling and the great storyteller, Bob Stromberg. The truth is, most of us will never be great story tellers, so it is important to develop our illustration skills.

My friend Randy Elrod posted this original watercolor on his blog the other day. It caught my eye and stirred something from my childhood in me. A painting that moves me emotionally is more likely to end up on my wall (if I can afford it) than one that is just skillfully done.

In the same way, illustrations work best when they make an emotional connection in the listener. That connection is what cements whatever point you are making in the listener's heart and mind.

Peter Mead has just posted a worthy set of illustration tips on his blog, Biblical Preaching. Take a look.

Storytelling is an Art

My friend Bob Stromberg is a truly funny, unique and gifted entertainer. Perhaps his greatest asset is his ability to tell a story. I had the opportunity to be with Bob several times recently, and after all the years I've known him, I'm still amazed.

Bob taught a session at our Dynamic Communicators Workshop in Colorado Springs on Story Telling for speakers. He did an excellent job of demonstrating the skill, giving options as to how a story might fit in various settings and giving practical steps that any speaker can take to become a better story teller.

One step he highlighted was to, "Give the story generous rehearsal." Sadly, many speakers don't rehearse at all - and it shows. You might get away with no rehearsal if you're just giving a basic speech, but if you're going to tell a story, you've got to rehearse it. More than once. Preferably in front of people.

Storytelling is an art and all art requires diligent rehearsal. A story is about timing and the turning of a phrase. Done correctly, it is an amazing vehicle for powerful communication. Done poorly, it is an amazing opportunity to crash and burn.

If story telling is your thing, find an opportunity to see Bob Stromberg perform, get one of his videos, read his books. Then rehearse, practice and rehearse some more!

The King Of Public Speaking Workshops

What a great week we had! Combine a 100 year old castle, 89 students from all walks of life and 11 of the best speaking coaches anywhere, and you get another fantastic Dynamic Communicators Workshop!

If you were there, we'd love to have your comments here. If you missed it, check out our upcoming workshops at www.DynamicCommunicators.com.

Six Deadly Sins

A recent blog post by David Sanborn was right on. In it, he identified the mistakes he saw a speaker make in a recent presentation. I've paraphrased them as six deadly sins for a communicator.

1. Telling them what you're going to tell them. I know this is an old speaking cliche (tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them) that many communicators live by, but it is wrong. If your audience is intelligent and you tell them what you're going to tell them, they're done. They get it. Why should they continue to listen?
2. Too much PowerPoint. Too many slides, not enough time to explain them all. See "PowerPoint Isn't The Point," for more.
3. Trapped by Technology. If you're presentation relies too heavily on technology, you're asking for trouble. Technology fails more often than not. Make your content the focus, not the bells and whistles.
4. Dressed to Kill. What you wear matters. My friend McNair Wilson says, "If your clothing is more interesting (read distracting) than your presentation, you're in trouble before you begin."
5. Repetition & Redundancy. Sanborn gets it exactly right. If you find you are repeating yourself, you're probably not prepared.
6. Kill the Clock. Taking more than your allotted time is just wrong. Don't do it. If you can't say it in 5 minutes, you can't say it in any amount of time. Enough time is not the problem. Lack of focus is. See Clear As Crystal for more on the importance of focus.

Read David Sanborn's post hear.

A Great Talk!

We held a GreaTalk! 1-day communications seminar in Denver yesterday. It was an excellent event with a great turnout of almost 100 participants from all walks of life. We had 11 students come from an area writers group, 13 members of Compassion International staff, (my friend Spence Smith gets credit for them - Thanks Spence) ministry professionals, business professionals and even a couple of folks from the Arapahoe/Douglas County court system. There was even a guy who came all the way from New Hampshire for the seminar!

Certified Master Instructor, Jeff VanKooten did an outstanding job of teaching on the importance of FOCUS in communication and I think everyone left challanged and hopefully, changed for the better in their ability to present a focused, clear, powerful message!

If you attended the seminar yesterday, thanks for coming! We'd love to hear your feedback!

Here are som more pictures from the event...

Life After Death By PowerPoint

Here is a funny video I just ran across about the pain that most PowerPoint presentations cause. Comedian, Don McMillan does a great job of pointing out many actual mistakes that presenters make in their presentations and he does it in a very entertaining way.

By the way, if you're looking for the right way to do PowerPoint, check out my post "PowerPoint Isn't The Point."

Look Your Audience In The Eye

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who wouldn't look you in the eye? It's difficult isn't it? You get that nagging feeling that something isn't quite right.

One of the most common problems we find in public speakers is the inability for the speaker to "look the audience in the eye." Many people make the mistake of trying to look at the whole audience at once and end up sweeping; a constant back and forth turning of the head. The end result is that the whole audience misses the power of good eye contact.

Another mistake many speakers make is bird watching. This is the misinformed idea that you should look over the tops of people's heads to try and include everyone. The effect is the opposite, you end up including no one.

Here's a great suggestion. Speak to individuals! Not the same person the whole time, rather focus on individuals in different sections of the audience throughout your speech. An amazing thing happens. The people sitting near the individual you are looking at think you are looking at them. And they are engaged in what you are saying! Look at someone just long enough to finish a thought. If they start shifting uncomfortably in their seat, you've looked too long. Move on to another individual in another section of the audience. You will see the difference good eye contact makes.