How L-O-N-G Should You Speak AND H-O-W Can You Speak Better?

In recent years there has been a trend for Christian speakers to speak longer. It is sometimes insinuated that if someone does not speak for a lengthy time, they are not being deep in what they say.  I worked on a national collegiate program where we had to change the schedule because the speakers kept going over their allotted time and fouling up the rest of the session.

Is there a perfect time length to speak?  Maybe not perfect, but here is what some "experts" know and say.

TED Talks are 18 minutes long.  Nobody gets more than 18 minutes.  TED Talk Curator, Chris Anderson, says, 18 minutes is "short enough to hold people's attention, precise enough to be taken seriously, and long enough to say something that matters."

Biologists say the brain starts to tune out after 10 minutes.  So, it is at the 9-10 minute mark that a gear has to shift, a prop used or something done to bring the audience back again. One speaker who speaks at large events says when he sees an audience's attention beginning to wane, he holds up one finger and says, "Let me tell you a joke."  Or, he says something startling.

TIPS FOR SPEAKING WELL FOR 15-20 MINUTES:

   1.  Tell a story.  Students love a story.  Ed Seabough, who was one of the famous Christian campus communicators of the 70's was one of the best story tellers I have ever heard.  He told me that he practiced telling his stories.  They did not just come off the top of his head and consequently, he told them with maximum impact.

    2.  When their heads go down, they have quit listening.  There is something in a college student's makeup that causes their head to drop when they quit listening.  It is at that point that you do something to draw them back or give up and quit.

    3.  Start by asking for a response or telling a story.  "How many of you have ever embarrassed yourself in front of a thousand people?" or it can be as simple as, "Have any of you skipped class this week and will admit it by holding your hand up?"  When I do something like this, I usually have a $10 or $15 Gift Card to a popular student fast food place and give it to the one or one of the ones who held their hand up.

    4.  The BEST Tip: Never do a talk without having practiced it out loud at least twice....just exactly as you plan to do it.  Stand up in a room by yourself and pretend you are speaking to a crowd and do it.  You will find some things don't sound right and need to be changed.  Change them and do it again..

    5.  Know exactly what you will say to close.  Often speakers don't close, they just quit.  Plan what you will say to close..

How LONG do you speak?  Why do you speak that length?  What is one thing you could do to speak better? 

Arliss Dickerson's book, Almost Everything About College Ministry, is available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX and Reaching MORE College Students is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.