Next level communicators always internalize their content before they deliver their content.
Next level communicators always internalize their content before they deliver their content.
When I approach the preparation process for a message I always have in mind two big buckets. The first is the content bucket, and it occupies around sixty percent of my overall preparation time. Developing content has to do with what I’m reading, the passage I’m studying, exegetical work, the whole nine (we will dive deeper into this in future posts). The second bucket is focused on communication, and it takes up about forty percent of my prep time. While the first steps to assembling the talk center around what I am going to say, the second has to do with how I am going to say things, and one of the key steps in the communicating phase of my preparation is when I manuscript the talk. That’s right, every time I get up to speak I would have gone through the process of writing my message out word for word. However, and this is really important, I don’t memorize it word for word. In fact, a fun thing I have done over the years is giving some people my manuscript ahead of time and asking them to have it with them while I speak. Afterwards I will ask them what percentage of my message was actually on the page, and they always respond anywhere between fifty to seventy percent.
So what’s the purpose of my manuscript, you may ask, and why should you consider doing the same? Because manuscripts help us get the message into our hearts, and great communicators always internalize their content. Dr. Robert Smith, Jr., one of my all time favorite communicators, said that the ink of the manuscript must be turned into the blood of the sermon. Do you see what he is pushing for? Internalization. When you stand to speak you have to know your content like the back of your hand, and one of the great ways to get there is manuscripting.
I have found writing my messages out have given me these three irreplaceable benefits:
Clarity. I think the worst thing anyone could ever say to a communicator is not that they were wrong, but they were misunderstood. I really do believe I’d rather be wrong and clear, than right and nobody knows it. Clarity is the best friend of the communicator, and manuscripting the message and internalizing it helps me get there. As my friend HB Charles, Jr. says, “We need to write ourselves clear.”
Confidence. Less scared when prepared is a fact of life, and exponentially true for the communicator. Going through the process of writing out the message and getting it into my bones gives me great confidence when I stand to speak.
Freedom. The key to great communication is always knowing your next thought. When you know what’s coming up, you are even more free to veer off the page. It’s counterintuitive right? We are prone to think manuscripts confine us, when actually they unleash us.
Note: It should be said I am talking about manuscripts and not transcripts. The difference between the two is manuscripts are not necessarily taken with us (I never take mine), transcripts are.
What I’m reading:
The Familiar Stranger, Tyler Staton
Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
