Focus on connection not perfection

February 22, 2011  David Murray   0 comments

What’s the essence of a great sermon?

Whitney Johnson gives us a clue in responding to a similar question, “What’s the essence of a great presentation?”

Her answer: “Connection not perfection.”

I’m sure we’ve all sat through “perfect” sermons (or even preached them), that simply never connected. The perfect manuscript was perfectly read. The perfect hand gestures jived with perfect tone and volume. Perfect illustrations supported perfect applications.

But no connection.

The preacher was in his perfect world and we were in our imperfect world. And not once did the two bubbles meet.

How does this happen?

Johnson says it always happens when the speaker’s focus is on his performance rather than his audience’s benefit. She describes how her own presentation skills dramatically improved when she stopped thinking about impressing – How am I doing? Do I sound good? – and started thinking about helping and serving her clients.

In setting aside the script and focusing on the client’s bottom line, instead of our own, we lay the groundwork for a long-lasting rapport. Of course, it is essential that we are well prepared and know our material cold; however, knowledge alone is insufficient. Moving away from a scripted, pundit-style, one-size-fits-all message, we will certainly make mistakes. But, the only real mistake is thinking that these slip-ups equal failure. If we focus on the audience, not ourselves, whether in a one-on-one meeting or a packed auditorium, we’ll deliver a crowd-pleasing, even praiseworthy, performance every time: because success is ultimately about connection, not perfection.

So why not set aside the manuscript from time to time – or at least rely less upon it – and try to connect more, even at the expense of a few verbal slip-ups.

There are many in our pews who would gladly sacrifice some pulpit perfection for some personal connection.

Read the whole story here.

The Next Story: Video Trailer

February 22, 2011  David Murray   0 comments

Here’s a great trailer for Tim Challies’ new book, The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion. If you pre-order the book, you get the bonus of a Challies signature as well! Might be worth something in a few years time.

Breaking news: Students multi-task during lectures!

February 17, 2011  David Murray   5 comments

Colleges and Seminaries are reeling everywhere this morning from shocking new research showing (are you sitting down professors?) that students muti-task on their laptops during their lectures!

Among the academic-ego-shattering conclusions are:

  • College students used their laptops for frequent multitasking during classes, generating, on average, more than 65 new screen windows per lecture, 62% of which were unrelated to the courses they were taking,
  • Students have non course-related software applications open and active about 42% of the time.
  • Students who allocate more cognitive resources to bringing up non-course-related material on their computers show lower academic performance.
  • Instant messaging seems “especially virulent” as a distraction

And to top it all off:

  • Students understate the frequency of email and instant messaging use in the classroom when self-reporting on their laptop use.

Well, I can hardly believe it myself. The researchers obviously did not come to Puritan Reformed Seminary.

But for the sake of my now-depressed academic colleagues everywhere, can I ask if anyone has any solutions to this? Just so that I can pass them on.

The good news about stress

February 17, 2011  David Murray   1 comment

This is probably not the article that my wife wanted me to read this morning.

However, it has a fascinating take on how to how to change stress from debilitating to enhancing by changing the way we view it.

The researchers from Yale and Harvard start by demonstrating how most books and presentations on stress and the damage it does actually increases stress levels. You end up not only stressed, but stressed about how stressed you are. To stress is added distress.

There is an alternative approach which we found to be much more successful. Crum and I showed different three-minute videos to two groups of UBS managers. The first group watched a video detailing all the findings about how stress is debilitating. The second group watched a video that talked about scientific findings that stress enhances the human brain and body. The latter information is less well known, but equally true. Stress can cause the human brain to use more of its capabilities, improve memory and intelligence, increase productivity, and even speed recovery from things like knee surgery. Research indicates that stress, even at high levels, creates greater mental toughness, deeper relationships, heightened awareness, new perspectives, a sense of mastery, a greater appreciation for life, a heightened sense of meaning, and strengthened priorities.

And the result? When someone viewed stress as enhancing rather than debilitating, they were able to use it to their advantage with higher levels of physical health, productivity, and life satisfaction.

The authors are careful to point out that they are not saying that stress is fundamentally enhancing, nor that it can have seriously damaging effects, nor that should we seek it out. However, I think their insight is helpful when moderate levels of stress begin to worry us into a worse state of mind. As they say: “When stress happens, thinking of it as enhancing rather than debilitating can lessen the risk to your health and materially improve your productivity and performance.”