March Madness Week 3: Comm Lab

Over the years working in campus ministry, I have had enough opportunities to speak in large group settings that I can't count them on one hand. It's not at all a main part of my job, but the opportunity presents itself often enough that I see a need and have the desire to grow in this area and be a better presenter. The same is true of Ben, although he is an excellent communicator, and it is in fact one of his top 5 strengths on his StrengthsFinder analysis. So even though we would be coming off of two weeks of conferences in Florida, we decided 3 days of training in the area of public speaking would serve us well. Thus we began our journey Monday morning from New Orleans to an Indianapolis suburb where Keynote was holding the conference. (Keynote is Cru's creative communication ministry).

I was a little nervous coming into the training, not looking forward to being critiqued and watching myself on video, but after hearing the emcee lay out the purpose of the training, I quickly became excited to grow and learn from the professionals around me. She said something to the effect of helping us become effective painters, and how even though we have an awesome message, we sometimes distract from it by communicating poorly. This week we would learn to get rid of those distractions. This excites me, because each time I go to speak at a weekly meeting on campus or a retreat, I wrestle with things like, "Am I handing God's word accurately?", "Am I engaging enough?","Do I sound too monotone?"

Some things I took away from the first day's sessions:
-Communicating from up front is more of a sport than a science.
-You really need to practice.
-Effectiveness in teaching is largely dependent upon how your message is delivered, rather than simply what is being taught.
-When I speak up front, it's not about me, so I need to be humble for my audience in order to best serve them.
-Doing things like holding eye contact for 5 seconds may feel awkward, but it will form a bond with individuals and help them to connect with what I'm saying.
-Keynote has some very talented staff!
-Being recorded and having to watch myself speak isn't as scary as I thought it would be!

I'm excited for what the next two days will bring and what I will learn from "the Tims" (Tim Downs & Tim Muelhoff) and my coach. Hopefully this will be the start of a strong foundation to build on for the years to come.