Giving talks

I recently did a talk on “Defining Moments”. This was done as part of our Men’s Gathering Series at Farragut Church of Christ. After the weekend, I asked the men for a critique, and what they got out of the weekend. Below, is a collection of thoughts from them.

- Obviously you are sincere about your faith and you attempt to walk it each day – that is the most important element that gives you credibility.
- I liked the props and your use of them in the “backpack” session. Many of us could identify with your points. I also liked the personal examples and self-effacing approach.
- I prefer a limited use of PowerPoint presentations and, when possible, use images on them instead of words.
- I had trouble connecting all of the sessions with the theme. It may have been obvious to others, but it would have helped me if you had consistently reminded us of the theme of the gathering and how each talk addressed the theme (you may have done this and I missed it due to my state of mind)
- I would have preferred shorter lectures and more discussion. To illustrate, I liked your golf ball lesson. It seemed to take on even greater richness when people made observations about what they saw (like the observation about how the turbulent water became calm once God’s Spirit completely filled the voids in our life – Wow). Someone else observed how the sand changed in quality (color) as God’s Spirit filled the voids.
- I don’t know if was possible in this setting to circle the seats and create a discussion “pit.” There probably was not space for that, but that is also my preference.
- You quickly engaged the audience by putting up the Twitter visuals. They were funny and entertaining.
- The hiking and camping equipment and personal story drove home the points using objects you pulled from the back pack.
- You shared a part of you that others never knew; this helped give credence to your story making it more applicable to our lives as well.
- The audio/visuals kept the audience focused up front.

- What I got out of the lesson:
a. God has a plan for me, for you, and all men at the gathering.
b. My plans are immaterial to God’s plan.
c. God’s plan will prevail no matter how much interference I run.
d. There are definitely going to be some setbacks in my life.
e. Our relationships with friends and family will get us through the rough spots.
f. I have marker stones in my life, and how I view those stones determines the future course of my life.
- What I liked:
a. You allowed the audience to speak up during the presentation.
b. You made it fun!
c. There was lots of true laughter and fellowship (not the kind of “forced” laughs that most presentations elicit).
d. You hit on some tough topics that all men in the room could relate to.
e. You were well prepared, which meant that if questions or comments came up, you could respond to them, then return right back to where you were without appearing to be lost or confused.

- Don’t read your power point slides.
- Put less on your power point slides.

My (Judah's) take away
- Remember the Holy Spirit is in charge.
- Use humor
- Provide time for comment, and talk in a way that lets the audience know they can ask questions/provide comments during the presentation.
- Use different styles of teaching. For example, the first talk was more lecture, but it had humor, power point, and props. In short, I pulled out all the stops! Also, we had a talk right after lunch on Saturday. This period is a good time for naps, so to keep everyone awake I had some guys stand up and act out a passage in the bible. This seemed to really keep people in engaged.
- Its important to continually emphasize what the series is about. This is where I dropped the ball. The discussion was around Defining Moments in a Man’s Life, and we used the concept of “memory stones” from different passages of the bible to help reinforce this thought. I did this at the beginning of the first talk, but only highlighted it afterwards. Different men mentioned the concept as well, but we didn’t do a good job of tying the two together.
- Remember the Holy Spirit is in charge.