How to Preach so People will Remember

Preaching produces forgotten words. On average, verbal communication results in about 10% retained material in the audience. So for every sermon you and I preach, the audience holds on to one-tenth of the information.

If you add related images to your words, that retention jumps all the way to 65%! That's why I'm so much in favor of using PowerPoint while preaching. But, if you can't (or won't) use PowerPoint, you can still help people to remember what you have to say.

Preach like they're in Junior High. When my wife and I taught the Junior High class at church, we received a book of curriculum to teach from. Some of the lessons were good, but most of them needed some modification. What we learned in trying to wrangle twenty-some Junior High students is that you have the opportunity to make one point. In an hour we could only hope to communicate one main idea. So, we structured everything in the class around that point. We distilled the scripture passage down to the one idea. We created games that emphasized that point. We gave out candy when the kids remembered the point. We did everything we could to highlight and support that one idea.

Create visual moments with your words. If you can't project a picture, create an image in the mind of your audience. If you do it well, it's probably more effective than a PowerPoint presentation. Think of the story tellers you know - they craft a tale that's vivid and real, the pictures come alive in your mind. When that's paired with a complimentary message, you'll get your ideas to take hold. This is much more than just using a metaphor or a throw-away example. Jesus told detailed stories to get people's minds engaged, "The kingdom of heaven is like . . ." Find ways that you can engage minds with your words.

Use what they already know to add something new. In the book Made to Stick the authors, Chip and Dan Heath, bring up the idea of schema. Schema are mental structures that we use to organize information. You have a 'chair' schema that helps you figure out what a chair is, so you can identify a chair in a room, even if you've never seen that chair before in your life. So, take what they know about your topic and add to it. Or, better yet, violate their schema. That's what Jesus did when he taught the Sermon on the Mount. "You have heard it was said," he started, "but now I tell you . . ." Jesus violated schema and then replaced them with something new.

It comes down to this - if you want to communicate well, you must become an expert in how people receive, process and retain information.

How can you apply these principles in your next sermon?

Made to Stick, How to Communicate Ideas

When you speak, most of your ideas will fall bounce off of people and disappear from them forever. A very few ideas have what it takes to stick with people. In the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Authors and brothers Chip and Dan Heath explore the stickiness of some ideas over others. They start by looking at the incredibly sticky ideas that are urban legends. Urban legends connect on an emotional level with concrete details yet have a twist at the end that really draws us in. They obviously wrote an entire book about how to make ideas stick (and you should read it, it's good stuff), so I won't explain everything they've said so well.

I want to share one of the points that they make that relates to public speaking. Good communication is aware of schemata. A schema (the singular of schemata) is a psychology word used to describe a pattern of thoughts. One of the examples in the book is the schema of a chair. We hold in our thoughts the idea of what a chair ought to be and do, and that can encompass a huge variety from folding metal chairs to plush leather wing-back chairs. Connect your idea to a schema that people are already familiar with and you are letting them do most of your communication. So I can tell you about a rickety wooden chair and you have a fairly clear picture of what I'm talking about. I added two words to the chair-schema and that is sufficient to differentiate one chair from millions of others.

How can you use schemata to communicate more effectively?

(Note: The book link earns me a small commission on any sales)