One of the things we do pretty regularly as part of the protege program is prepare and deliver 5 minute talks. (These are uniquely challenging because of how focused having just five minutes forces you to be!) The talks also give us a chance to put into practice some of the things we've been learning and give each other feedback on what we're doing well and where we need to grow in our communication (a big part of the program). This morning Hank Fortener, Mosaic campus pastor of the Mayan downtown joined us. His input and feedback is always so good and this morning was no exception. He are some of the things he shared that really stood out to me. I hope they prove as helpful to you as they were for me: 

Never share a story for the first time from
the stage. Tell it to
friends, family, and whomever else first. Find out when and if people laugh or
cry, or if they don’t connect with it at all.

Constantly refine your ideas for your
message with friends. Have
people in your life that you can continually go to and ask, “Does this make sense?” “Does this
resonate?” “Can people relate with this or is it just me?”

Anything more than 10 days is too long to be
preparing for a message. You
need to be speaking from a place of authenticity and personal journeying with
whatever you are speaking about.

Never assume that people want to hear what
you have to say. Every time
I stand up at the Mayan I assume that everyone there is busy, skeptical and
that they have somewhere else to be.” When I am starting my message, I want
everyone to lean in and think, “I’ve been
there. I know what he is talking about. I can relate with that.” Then I can
begin to take them on a journey.

Don’t be predictable or presumptuous. The last thing you want is to try to create
an “aha” moment or represent yourself as an expert and be so predictable that
everyone knows where you are going and gets there before you do. It’s like
watching a movie and quoting the main character’s line before he says it, and
you think, “This is cheesy.” You do that and every skeptic in the room is going
to think, “What a dork. I am smarter than
this guy.”

Ask yourself, “Why does this matter?”
For example, I recently had to speak on the topic of going to church and so
asked myself “Why go to church?” Well the often pat Christian answers don’t
work for someone like the gal I went to lunch with yesterday, who is an
activist and has more friends and meaningful relationships than she knows what
to do with. She has community, she has a purpose, she is serving humanity…Why
should she go to church? I approach my subject from the eyes of the most
skeptical persons I can imagine. I tear apart my belief piece by piece, strip
myself of easy answers and really wrestle with it. And if at the end I no
longer have an answer, then either I don’t have a message or I need to be
honest about it at the beginning of my message.