Next Level Communicators Use Crockpots
If you want to get better as a communicator consider using a crockpot approach to preparation instead of a microwave. Now I know I may have lost some of you, especially if you are a young millennial or GenZ, so give me a moment. When I was a kid, my mother would get up early on Sunday, pull out the trusted crockpot, and put a whole bunch of ingredients, like chicken, mushrooms, some potatoes, and other goodness, inside. We’d then head out the door where for the next several hours while we sat in church (Yes, it was that long.), our Sunday dinner was slowly being prepared, as it simmered under a glass lid, plugged into an outlet, with the heat turned on low. Later that afternoon, somewhere between the end of the first NFL game and the start of the second, mama would pull the lid off the crockpot and the whole house would erupt in the most enticing smells. Moments later, our family would have dinner where the chicken just fell off the bone and melted in your mouth. A few Christmases into my teenage years, dad bought my mom this new thing called a microwave, where we kids had our minds blown when we discovered that in a few minutes you could have a meal prepared. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, and the loss of getting up-early-on-Sunday-morning energy, mom let the microwave replace the crockpot. And while I understand the efficiency behind this decision, microwaves just can never replicate the quality of a meal prepared in a crockpot.
Over the years I’ve asked many communicators how they go about preparing their messages? Their responses can be whittled down to either the microwave or crockpot approach. Some communicators allocate a half day to a day to get the talk done. Their thinking behind this is one of efficiency. They have other things to do, like leading, administrating and organizing. So for efficiency sake, they can’t let this one part of their job dominate all of what they do. And I completely agree. You should also hear me say, some of the best communicators I know use the microwave method of quick intense preparation in a short amount of time. I am not saying you can’t be a great communicator with this method. I am saying you will get even better if you use the crockpot method.
While the microwave method of preparation centers around efficiency allocating a shorter period of focused time, the crockpot method allots a longer period of time for the communicator to put together the message. For me, what this looks like is I spend about two hours a day over the span of a week in study.
In my years as a communicator I have found the following advantages to crockpot preparation:
Your message gets in your bones. I don’t know what it is about crockpots, but when you bite into a piece of meat it’s not just the meat that’s seasoned and tender, it seems as if the bones are tasty too. I’ve never had this experience with something that comes out of a microwave. The longer the meat has sat in the crockpot and simmered, the better it is. The same holds true for communicators who slowly, and methodically take their time to prepare. When you finally get up to speak, you’re not just talking from your head, but communicating from your bones. The message is truly in you.
Poise. When I was in college I had a communications professor who gave this simple law to giving talks: Less scared when prepared. If you are a newer communicator who crams her message into one day (and especially if it's close to the time when you have to give the talk), you will not be as poised as if you used the crockpot method. When a communicator allows themselves consistent, methodical time, well in advance of their message, they will find one of the residual benefits to be poise and confidence when they do get up to speak, because they have allowed the message to travel from their head to their heart to their bones.
Thoughtfulness. I have some friends of mine who are great communicators who use the microwave approach to preparation. They block off one day a week for intense study, and when they are done the material is really good, and for the most part at the end of that day they are done. Crockpot communicators are different. While microwaves demand we hover and do nothing else as we focus on the clock, crockpots allow us to step away. And I have found that some of my best thoughts for the message come when I’ve left the study and am driving down some street a few hours later, or am in the shower the next day. As I allow the message to simmer in my mind, thoughts begin to emerge. In fact, some of my best sermon material has come to me when I least expected it.
Christmas is around the corner. If you are looking for material to help prepare a talk on Advent, go here to read the best Advent resource I’ve ever come across.
If you have found this newsletter helpful, please share it with others by encouraging them to subscribe here.
