The difficulty of public speaking–message preparation, Part 1

Writing good message is hard work.

As I wrote in my book (with Duffy Robbins), Speaking To Teenagers, I believe that the craft of writing impactful messages is a very difficult task. There’s so many moving parts: the right word choices, the content, and the illustrations all work together to create something that people want to listen to and will move them toward life-change.

All good communicators want life-change!

But, it’s so difficult… especially to do it well week after week.

While I’m working on a message I’m always thinking about how to allow my content to “breath” a little so my audience stays with me. I try to give my audience enough space to listen so they feel like they’re in a conversation rather than a lecture. I’m constantly thinking illustrate, show rather than tell, relieve the tension, surprise them, drop a laugh-line, grab their attention, etc…

Because I take this craft very serious, I have gathered some friends along the way whom I will occasionally “run things by” so they’ll read my message (or a portion of my message) and give me feedback.

One of these guys is Brian Bird. Brian was one of my youth ministry volunteers for many years and the dad of several kids who went through our youth group. In addition to being an amazing man, he’s got a cool job. He’s a writer. He writes TV shows, movies, etc… He was the executive producer for Touched By An Angel and wrote on sitcoms for many years prior to that. He’s the real deal, and he’s on my informal “communication team.”