Those asked to speak in sacrament meeting should view their message as “living water” to those who will listen, said Celeste Elain Witt, instructor of public speaking at BYU.
“As people are coming into sacrament meeting, they’re thirsty,” said Witt, who is also a communications consultant and speech coach. “Everyone comes so thirsty. How are you going to quench it?”
Witt then guided her audience through a five-step writing process intended to create a focused, powerful message intended to accomplish this quenching.
“Those in the congregation want the message that you give to be accessible,” she said. “It has to be able to be captured by your audience.”
First, Witt said speakers should refine the usually generic topic given to them to have a greater impact.
“If you don’t narrow your topic, you will be searching for information for way too long,” she said. “If you narrow your topic properly, the other steps will naturally flow.”
Tools Witt gave to help narrow a topic included personal experiences and a specific event or challenge facing the ward audience.
Once a topic has been narrowed, Witt said speakers should develop a clear purpose or mission statement for their talk. Ideally, she said the purpose should be to inspire, motivate or explain.
“Figure out what your mission is and then actually write it out,” she said. “Put it at the top of your computer page or your yellow tablet.”
The next step is to define one’s message. Witt said since most sacrament meeting attendees will only recall one sentence from the talk, speakers should harness the power of determining what that sentence is.
“You need to actually write down the sentence you want them to take home,” she said. “How are they going to know what to take home unless you tell them?”
Witt added that the message not be overly quirky. After the process of specification is over, research for the talk can begin.
“There’s no question that in the one or two weeks you’re given to prepare, you don’t have time to become a gospel scholar,” she said, “but you owe it to your audience to actually do some research.”
Instead of going overboard to find something new on a given topic, Witt encouraged those in attendance to look at familiar sources a different way. She illustrated this by showing pictures she had taken of wildflowers, later revealing that they were located on Y Mountain.
“If you look carefully, you will notice things that no one else has ever noticed,” she said. “If you see what no one else can see, you can say what no one else can say.”
When transferring the research into the talk itself, Witt emphasized the need to use quotes effectively and avoid over-referencing sources, even scripture references, that detract from the message of the source itself.
The final step, which Witt admits is counterintuitive, is to write an introduction and conclusion to the talk.
“You can’t write your introduction and your conclusion until you know what it is that’s in the middle of your talk,” she said.
“As people are coming into sacrament meeting, they’re thirsty,” said Witt, who is also a communications consultant and speech coach. “Everyone comes so thirsty. How are you going to quench it?”
Witt then guided her audience through a five-step writing process intended to create a focused, powerful message intended to accomplish this quenching.
“Those in the congregation want the message that you give to be accessible,” she said. “It has to be able to be captured by your audience.”
First, Witt said speakers should refine the usually generic topic given to them to have a greater impact.
“If you don’t narrow your topic, you will be searching for information for way too long,” she said. “If you narrow your topic properly, the other steps will naturally flow.”
Tools Witt gave to help narrow a topic included personal experiences and a specific event or challenge facing the ward audience.
Once a topic has been narrowed, Witt said speakers should develop a clear purpose or mission statement for their talk. Ideally, she said the purpose should be to inspire, motivate or explain.
“Figure out what your mission is and then actually write it out,” she said. “Put it at the top of your computer page or your yellow tablet.”
The next step is to define one’s message. Witt said since most sacrament meeting attendees will only recall one sentence from the talk, speakers should harness the power of determining what that sentence is.
“You need to actually write down the sentence you want them to take home,” she said. “How are they going to know what to take home unless you tell them?”
Witt added that the message not be overly quirky. After the process of specification is over, research for the talk can begin.
“There’s no question that in the one or two weeks you’re given to prepare, you don’t have time to become a gospel scholar,” she said, “but you owe it to your audience to actually do some research.”
Instead of going overboard to find something new on a given topic, Witt encouraged those in attendance to look at familiar sources a different way. She illustrated this by showing pictures she had taken of wildflowers, later revealing that they were located on Y Mountain.
“If you look carefully, you will notice things that no one else has ever noticed,” she said. “If you see what no one else can see, you can say what no one else can say.”
When transferring the research into the talk itself, Witt emphasized the need to use quotes effectively and avoid over-referencing sources, even scripture references, that detract from the message of the source itself.
The final step, which Witt admits is counterintuitive, is to write an introduction and conclusion to the talk.
“You can’t write your introduction and your conclusion until you know what it is that’s in the middle of your talk,” she said.
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