Get It Across Loud and Clear: a Speaker's Practical Guide to Preparation and Delivery by Martin Ali;

Author:Martin, Ali;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL080000, REL080000
ISBN: 4572982
Publisher: Authentic Media
Published: 2012-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

If you can’t find an illustration, try asking God to remind you of illustrations you can use to bring your point to life. I honestly find that whenever I do this he will bring something to mind – he seems to be up for helping me with this one. God’s not just there to show us the deep theological stuff – I believe he wants to breathe his life into every part of our talks, so that the truth will be heard, remembered and received.

One way of using these kinds of illustrations is in our introduction. They work well because they serve to relax us and our audience, and help them feel connected to us. Illustrations also begin to gently paint a picture of where we are heading in the rest of our talk.

Again, as with any aspect of our talk, if we’re going to bring in an illustration, we shouldn’t just throw it in with no explanation or unpacking. Draw out its meaning. This is especially important if we have taken a while to tell the illustration in the first place. If the illustration doesn’t perfectly shed light on our point then we should tell the audience. We should show where the analogy falls down, so that at least people don’t draw out the wrong meaning. We need to make sure the illustration is needed and useful to the talk, and if not, leave it out and save it for another day.

I sincerely believe that a talk must contain illustrations because it will be these stories and examples that bring the talk to life and hold people’s attention. We can’t fool ourselves that people will listen just because we’re talking. We have to help engage them. People’s attention span is short. Stories are essential to keeping up the interest level. Illustrations communicate something in a way that simply stating it can’t do. Telling a story can often be the point when people ‘get it’ – suddenly there is clarity and understanding. I usually try to find one illustration for every main section or point of a talk.

A word of warning about illustrations (from my own experience and feedback I’ve received). It’s easy to sound passionate and relaxed when telling stories, but we need to make sure we apply that same passion and energy to our core content, and when talking directly about the Bible. Also, we should ensure our illustrations are – like any other aspect – tailored to our audience. A group of teenagers probably won’t want to hear a load of stories about DIY, marriage and babies (it took me a while to work that out).

Finally, beware of lies or exaggeration. The truth is always the best policy. I don’t think we can lie just for the sake of a good illustration. If we are using a fictional tale, then say that. If someone found out our ‘story’ was just that – a story – they may start to question the truth of the rest of our message.

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