Next level communicators work with a checklist when putting any message together.

Next level communicators work with a checklist when putting any message together.

In October of 1935, on a field in Dayton, Ohio, a group of people gathered to watch one of the most skilled aviators take the Boeing Flying Air Fortress out for her maiden flight. About three hundred feet in the air tragedy struck, as the plane jerked downward and crashed killing the crew. An investigation ensued, and what Boeing discovered was that the crash was not due to mechanical error, but to pilot error. How could this be when its pilot was one of the most skilled and capable in the industry? Well, prior to the Boeing Flying Air Fortress, the controls were really simple. This plane introduced a level of complexity previously unseen. Boeing realized that when something becomes really complex they have to make it really simple. So for the first time in aviation history, Boeing came up with a pre-flight checklist for all the pilots, and it worked. The Boeing Flying Air Fortress would be used in WW2 and fly over 1.8 million miles without a single accident from pilot error. Checklists would be used in the medical field, and so many others to reduce the complex all the way down to the simple.

Any communicator will tell you that putting messages together and presenting them effectively can be a pretty overwhelming and complex process. That’s why checklists are the communicator's best friend, because they help us stay focused on what’s important, and drive us into simplicity. 

Whenever I put content together for a message (and here I’m solely focused on what I will say, and not how I will say things- the how will come in other posts), I always refer to this checklist…in order:

1. Did my introduction grab the audience’s attention, and connect to either the first point of the presentation, or the overall point of the message?

2. Did I spend significant time, after my introduction, showing the relevance of my message by connecting to the felt need of the audience?

3. Did I explain my point with clarity?

4. Did my illustration help my audience see the point I was making, and did they get the point of my illustration before I gave the point of my illustration?

5. Did I ask questions, leaving room for the audience to apply the point in specific ways to their lives?

6. Did I explain, illustrate and apply the point for every point of my talk?

7. Did I overwhelm them with law and rescue them with grace?

8. Did I point them to Someone beyond themselves as their only hope for seeing the power of the message unleashed in their lives?

9. Did my outfit distract from the message?

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What I’m Reading:

Knowing God, by J.I. Packer (reread).