My first experience of public speaking in front of more than 50 people was in front of my college Christian fellowship. I was to give the announcements. I will never forget the moment because I was so nervous, I could literally hear my knees knock together. My voice creaked and croaked, my palms sweat, my mouth was dry and I can't recall how the night went. I just remember that I was a nervous wreck and thankful that I would never have to do it again.
Now after 20 years of preaching, I laugh at how God moves and works. Truly He uses the weak things of the world for His glory. For those of you who dread public speaking, take heart, you have much company, including me. But don't give up. Keep trying and despite your fear, trust in God's grace, and He will empower you by His Spirit.
There are some things you can do to enhance your speaking skills. Ed Welch provides a list of hints for potential public speakers:
Now after 20 years of preaching, I laugh at how God moves and works. Truly He uses the weak things of the world for His glory. For those of you who dread public speaking, take heart, you have much company, including me. But don't give up. Keep trying and despite your fear, trust in God's grace, and He will empower you by His Spirit.
There are some things you can do to enhance your speaking skills. Ed Welch provides a list of hints for potential public speakers:
1. I do not naturally enjoy being in front of people, but I do enjoy talking about things that have helped me and could be helpful to others. The key: I must be edified by what I am saying. If I don’t enjoy and profit from it, I might as well apologize right up front, go home, do some repenting, and ask for prayer that Scripture would be fresh and powerful in my life.
2. Scripture is just plain beautiful. God has determined to use words to communicate to us, and the writers of Scripture were word designers. I too want to offer, as much as I am able, attractive and memorable words and images.
3. A student once said, “You brought energy to class today.” In other words, “You are usually drop dead boring but you seemed more lively for a change.” He reminded me that, when working with the living Word, there is no room for monotony or lack of enthusiasm.
4. Since I get marked down by students for clarity, I am always working to be more clear, more simple, more coherent.
5. I try to cover less material. What is the one point? . . . the one point?
6. I avoid long introductions. A congregant graciously suggested that I cut back on my introduction after a sermon which I was going to preach again in a half hour. The second sermon was probably ten minutes shorter and ten times easier to follow.
7. I have forgotten my notes more than once, and those times seemed to go better, so I use fewer notes or no notes at all. My colleagues and I have discussed this and fewer notes is not for everyone, but I will probably stick with it. If I can’t remember what I am saying, then no one else will either.
I have a few more...
- Be intentional with your words. Guard against fillers such as "ummm" and "you know" and "like." Every word counts.
- Connect people to your topic. Imagine being in the audience. How would you want to be engaged by the speaker.
- Transitions matter. Each section should somehow make logical sense to the next. If you are irrational, it makes it very difficult to follow.
- Illustrations matter. Jesus uses them. Every good public speaker uses them to accentuate the point. BUT they should never be so over the top that people merely remember the illustration and yet have no idea what the original point was.