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Before You Open Your Mouth

10 tips for “pre-public speaking”

As a ministry speaker and part of our church’s teaching team, I still fight nerves every time I’m preparing a presentation. So I am constantly on the lookout for public speaking tips. There’s fantastic advice for the speech itself—start with a bang, use your lower register, make eye contact, use a visual aid, end with an application—but in my own experience, the most important work of public speaking begins before even taking the stage. Here are 10 lessons I have learned about the power of “pre-public speaking.”

Preach to Yourself. Before you prepare a message, have you lived it? As my friend Jen Michel told me, “You sort of know the Holy Spirit is in it when you’re preaching to yourself and crying as you go.” Anything I speak or preach on has been born out of a conviction of sin, an emotional discovery, or a story of God’s faithfulness in my brokenness. Not that I have arrived, but at the very least, I have been laid bare before God and experienced his transformative love. This helps me authentically share it with others.

Research Your Audience. Are they Millennials? Baby-Boomers? Generationally mixed? Are you teaching new Christians? Married or single? Knowing your audience in advance allows you to shape your message to their needs. Always be you, of course. (If you’re an exegete, be an exegete. If you’re a topical speaker, be a topical speaker.) But when you know your audience, you can add socially appropriate statements like “For the moms out there, you’ll love this story about going to my son’s school covered in poop” (feel free to steal that one from me) or “Some of you may be struggling to understand who Jesus is, but…”

Minister before You Minister. Arrive early and mingle with your audience before the event begins. Learn their names. Ask their stories. Find out how their weeks are going. Your audience is there to learn, but mostly to experience God’s love. By connecting with them personally, you’ll minister to them before you even take the stage. This will also benefit your presentation—having won a few people over, you’ll find that they’ll be eager to listen. You can even reference them during your talk: “I was chatting with Nancy, and she said…” Nothing is more powerful to an audience than a personal connection with their speaker.

Pre-screen Your Venue. If you can, visit your venue or ask for pictures in advance. It can be advantageous to visualize yourself and your audience beforehand­—and this will help in case you’re speaking on a serious topic like sexual abuse while the church is constructing the Norwegian town from Frozen onstage behind you. You can at least ask that the set be covered up beforehand. (Yes, that actually happened to me.)

Rehearse (in Your Shoes). I’m not a fan of “winging it.” It’s one thing to trust the Holy Spirit, it’s another thing to come unprepared. Go through your talk in front of a mirror, a video camera, or a friend—several times. A familiarity with your material will help you edit, streamline, and get free from notes. If you don’t use notes, be familiar enough with your outline that you know where you’re going. Also, if you plan to speak while wearing your brand new Jimmy Choos, practice in them beforehand. As cute as you might look, you don’t want to sprain an ankle or get a nasty blister onstage.

Prepare Extra Stories and Questions. I’ve spoken to groups where, at the very last minute, they’ve asked me to lead a discussion or add an extra 15 minutes of material. This is not a problem for some people, but I am a terrible improviser. Come prepared with a few discussion questions and some stories in your back pocket.

Pack a Bag. If you get dry mouth or a nervous tummy, arm yourself with Pepto-Bismol, crackers, gum, mints, and water (and possibly Band-Aids for those aforementioned blisters). Throw in some ibuprofen for any surprising pain (and some female products too—worst possible surprise when you’re on stage). Also pack a little something for your listeners to take home. A friend of mine heard a guy speak about oranges during a speech class. Afterward he gave everyone an orange sticker. Twenty years later, she still remembers his speech.

Massage Your Face. I know that sounds weird. But if you are prone to TMJ or nervous tension, give your cheeks, jaw, and mouth a massage and a stretch. You might also do some vocal exercises—yelling, tongue twisters, etc. (Just maybe do this in the privacy of your home so no one sees you and thinks, Hmm. That’s our speaker? The woman in the parking lot yelling “Rubber Baby Buggy Bottoms”? Yeah, I don’t think so.)

Scope Out the Microphone Situation. You might be outfitted with a headset, ear mic, or something that needs to be attached to your body. Knowing this will help you determine what to wear. (Maybe you do need that belt around your dress, or the jacket, or the smaller earrings.) Also, see number five; if you know you’ll be using a handheld microphone, you can rehearse with a hairbrush in your hand. It sounds silly, but you’ll have more confidence during your actual presentation if you come fully prepared to juggle a mic, a Bible, and your notes.

Gather a Prayer Team. It’s easy to turn your teaching or preaching into a performance idol. Ask a team of people to pray in advance for your presentation, but more important, for your soul. Ask them to pray that Jesus will be glorified and that your audience’s hearts (and your own, see number one) will be renewed. And if you’re feeling like you don’t know everything, or aren’t “it” enough, remember that God has equipped you, and because he is enough, so are you.

Aubrey Sampson is a ministry event speaker and part of the teaching team at Renewal Church, a brand new church plant in West Chicago, IL. Aubrey’s first book, Overcomer, on overcoming shame through Christ (Zondervan, October 2015), is available for pre-order on Amazon. She is a member of the Redbud Writers Guild. Connect with Aubrey on Twitter @aubsamp and at AubreySampson.com.

May14, 2015 at 8:00 AM

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