Next level communicators use a lot of Vitamin A.
Next level communicators use a lot of Vitamin A.
If you’ve been getting my weekly posts for a while, you’ve heard me talk to you about a basic structure I use for every message. My main points will always begin with explanation, then move to illustration and finally application. If I have three points, then I will do this three times. Whether you use this or not, just know we are all wired naturally towards one of these three. Explainers are content driven communicators whose presentations are rich with information- what the Greeks called logos. Illustrators think in the language of stories and have a unique ability to make the content accessible while holding the attention of the audience. And then there are the appliers; these are people who show you how this information relates on a daily basis to our lives. As my grandmother would say, appliers put “shoe leather” on the message.
By the way, if you want to know how you are innately weighted as a communicator, all I would have to do is give you a topic to present and what are your first thoughts? If it’s, “I need to find some books and start research,” you’re probably an explainer. If your initial go to is to find a story or an analogy that relates, you’re most likely an illustrator. And if you freak out wondering how this topic is going to relate to people, then, you got it, you are an applier. The best communicators hold all three (explaining, illustrating and applying) in tension.
So today, I want to talk to you about my biggest weakness as a communicator, and give you some tips I’ve been using to grow when it comes to applying the message. Or to say it another way, I want to help us (Yes, that’s me included) learn how to use a lot of Vitamin A- application- in a way that really moves people to action.
Remember, our audience is asking questions as they nod their heads, take notes and engage our talks. One of the main questions you can always count on them asking is, “Now what am I supposed to do with this information?” I don’t care how good your content is, or how well you have explained the subject. If they don’t know what to do with your research, you’ve failed. I once had a young communicator ask me to give him some feedback on his message. He’s one of the best storytellers I know, and when I watched his talk it was filled with rounds of applause after rounds of applause. When I finished, I called him and gave some encouraging feedback and then I said, “You know, I will always leave one of your sermons feeling great, but not knowing what to do with what you just said.” I went on to explain how listening to his messages felt like going from one mountain top of a killer story to another, with no real learning or applying in between. If we can’t show how the content and story relates to the college student who just arrived on campus, or the single parent grinding it out and overwhelmed by life (along with a host of others), we have failed. As communicators we have to show how our content and stories apply to their lives.
As I’m growing in the area of application, I have found the following to be of help:
Don’t forget the “setup”. I’m talking “comedianese” here. In the world of comedy, they don’t rush to punchlines, but take their time giving what’s called the “setup”. The setup not only provides the right information, but it also builds a sense of tension making the punchline all the more effective. Applications are the punchline to our talks, and each point must have both a setup and a punchline. Now if you are naturally weighted towards application, you are going to have to really restrain yourself and do the work of providing meaningful content, along with an analogy or illustration to make your point come alive, before you get to the application or punchline of the point. And if you are a preacher, please know the power of our sermons is not in our applications, but in the Word…the content of the message. Before we as preachers draw people to themselves in application, we have to first draw them to the power source which is the Word.
Ask questions. It’s not our job to apply the point specifically to each person in the audience. All we need to do is to open the door for them to get clarity on how that point applies to their life, and the best way to do that is by asking questions. Just this past Sunday I was talking about conflict, and how everyone in the audience is either a shark or a turtle when it comes to conflict, which got a few laughs because the picture (illustration) resonated. And then I asked the question, “So which one of you is a shark? Which one is a turtle?” That question got them to see themselves in the point, and helped them to process the points I was making about navigating conflict. What opened everything up was a question.
Apply widely. Some of you speak mainly to educators, others to business people and professionals. Most of us as pastors speak to all of the above and much more. If you are a communicator who is talking to a specific audience in a specific field, application will be far easier for you, as opposed to we pastors who speak to so many different kinds of people. When I am thinking through applications as a pastor, I’m thinking of our most represented groups at the church: College students, married people, single professionals, and even different ethnicities. So, going back to my conflict message, I showed how this could apply to single adults who were roommates, or college students in the dorm and married couples.
What I’m Reading:
Truly: An Inspirational Journey through the Life of a Musical Legend, Lionel Richie.
With black history month approaching, pick up my book Grace to Overcome: 31 Devotionals on God’s Work through Black History. You’ll find it to be a source of inspiration and learning.
And as always, if this post has been encouraging please pass along to others and have them subscribe.
