The Stool (How Position Affects Power)
People sometimes joke with me saying that they can always tell when I’m going to preach because there is a stool on the platform. Perhaps two stools, maybe even three. Let’s just say that the humble stool has become a bit of a calling card for me.
So why the stool? Do I get so tired after such expressive hand gestures that I need to sit down and recover? Perhaps. But it’s about so much more than that. The stool is a communications tool, one that is well worth understanding and embracing.
Most people would be aware that body language is the most significant factor in effective communication with some studies suggesting that its contribution to a message is up to 85%. Body language includes a number of factors, most particularly eye contact, gestures, mouth expression, and position.
Position is where the stool comes in. Position sends a message to your audience about who has the power, and how much power that person has. Position, while often interpreted subconsciously, involves a number of factors including the environment, props and posture, which all contribute to a statement of power that must be taken into consideration if your public speaking is to be effective as both authoritative and relatable.
Listen for the power dynamics at play as we break down the things worth considering as a communicator: Read More…
How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking
The fear of public speaking (aka glossophobia) is one of the most regularly identified fears among humankind with many people ranking it of higher concern to them than the fear of death!
The eyes. The eyes say everything.
For the huge proportion of people who suffer from it, whether mild or severe, we know the signs and symptoms: increased heart rate, memory loss, moisture being absorbed from the mouth to magically reappear in the form of profusely sweating armpits. For me, it was that my hands would shake as if I was holding a jackhammer. At times it felt frustratingly irrational, my brain would look down at and scream, “STOP SHAKING!!” all to no avail.
Ah, but did you notice the subtle change in tense? WAS.
Preaching Without Notes (Part 2)
As an aspiring communicator, one of the things that impressed me the most were those who were able to present an extensive amount of content with few or no notes at all. There was an air of confidence that was carried as they presented, as if the content flowed from them rather than being rehearsed concepts hurriedly penned on a slither of former tree.
Looking back, I recognize that this judgement was a little harsh, given that to write out a sermon fully may actually require more detailed work than the former! Nevertheless, my perception informed my interest and therefore the effectiveness of their message, and the same is true of the audiences that we share with today.
The assumption is often made when we witness preachers without notes is that the communicator has fully memorized their content – a highly impressive feat, which is often perceived as a skill reserved for those blessed with an eidetic memory. However, memorization of content is far more nuanced than regurgitating a formerly crafted and consumed meal, and is actually a skill highly attainable for those who choose to embrace it.
For this reason I want to tackle what I call “the myth of memorization” because preaching without notes is not classic rote memorization at all, but rather an understanding of your content and direction wrapped in a narrative.
So here are THREE KEYS to MEMORIZING your content:
1. Know what you ACTUALLY want to say. This sounds so obvious, but it is the one thing that many communicators forget to revisit. Often in preparation you begin with this question, but over the course of development it fades into the background until you have crafted a lot of great content, but have lost the core idea behind it all. Your goal should be to answer the question: “What do you actually want to say?” in one core statement, after all, when your listeners are asked by a friend what you spoke about, very few will honour you with (or remember) more than that. For example, in a recent message on the Parable of the Good Samaritan my core statement was: Love is a mission of dangerous proximity. That’s it, everything tied to this idea.
Free Radical Gav 