Do you remember giving talks? (page 2)

darth frosty

As blondie outlined they have really dumbed down the talks (as if). I am with her I can give a talk on a moments notice. My first talk was on Dan 7:2-14 got it out by myself when I was 8. should have known then that if an 8 yr old can figure out this drivel aint nothing to it. I use to get public talks out the day I was to give them.

moggy lover

Ugh!! Yep I remember it well. The last talk, [no 5? 6?, whatever]was usually from the "Aid" book [mid 70s] and the Minnistry school instructor was particuklarly hard on those brothers who gave this talk. Anything less than perfection was regarded as a fair target for criticism, despite the fact that the instruxtor was himself an inadequate speaker. It appears that his best "perk" was that he could publically council speakers from the platform.

Eventually, I rotated into the position of instructor. I found that there were those who enjoyed giving talks, and there were those that absolutely loathed it. There were the "naturals" and there were the "strugglers". So some indeed benefitted from council, but others required encouraging, not council. Sadly there was no such set up available.

To be frank, I did'nt like giving council from the platform, although I had to do it I felt it to be too intrusive. Oddly enough, though, sometime in the middle of my term, as a result of a change announced at a District Assy they removed this [wisely, I think] and council was to be administered in private, after the meeting. The problem was however trying to catch the speakers afterwards, since most darted out immediately after the closing song. For which I did'nt blame them, since with two meetings, it was always pretty late, especially in winter.

All-in-all, though, I felt that the Misistry School [do they still call it that or what?] was an excellent idea, and with a few humane adjustments could be made better. Pressure to give talks I think, should be eased. Some people are just not the speaker type. Maybe their gifts lie in other areas, like music. Why not get those who were good at this to sing, Kingdom Songs [of course. No Britney Spears thank you] rather than speak. And the ridiculous subterfuge behind the sisters giving talks to other sisters was, I though being silly. Since the target audience is the whole congregation anyway, not just the other sister, I saw no difference in having the sisters talking directly to the target audience. Again, oddly enough, many of the Elder's wives made better gifted speakers than their hubbies.

Cheers

JWdaughter

I remember one of the talks I gave-very vaguely about the actual talk, but I remember that there was something in the topic that hit me, unfortunately right as I was in the middle of the talk(!) as being nuts. And my mind wandered down a path. . . .well, eventually I looked up and realized that I was supposed to be saying something. . .and I don't remember how I finished the talk, but I remember having some serious questions about what we were 'teaching' about the earthquakes, wars. This was when I was 10 or 11, right after '75. I think I was wondering about the persecution. That subject always freaked me out anyway. I never figured on making it to my first decade before Armageddon would hit.

dedpoet

They used to give you a slip with the talk bumber and what you were working on when was in, for talks 2 - 4 anyway. I used to like doing the instruction talk (20 mins) best after I was appointed as an ms. I enjoyed doing public talks as well, but never really liked the 5 minute jobs.

Gregor

I recall when I conducted the book study there was only one baptized brother in the group and he was almost illiterate. Still, he was the one to sum up each paragraph. I remember one study where the word 'breast' or 'breasts' occured several times. He pronounced it "beast(s)". To this day, my wife and I say beast when refering to breasts. Our new grandchild is being beast fed.

PS - Anyone ever give a talk after a few drinks?

Apostate Kate

I have succesfully repressed that memory thank you..

Now why do I have a stomach ache thinking about it...

Many times I was an elder's wife's project. I confess I did not do many after suffering through the first couple in the back room. I think I made it to the stage...I really have repressed it. It was so painful to me.

I remember having notes on index cards ..having them fall off my lap..being ~~critisized~~ critiqued...

Undecided

It's kind of strange, I gave public talks very often and can remember only one subject and where I was when I presented it.

Ken P.

Nosferatu

#2 Only read scriptures, no intro or conclusion, once a month the "student" reads only WT material

Are you serious? That's so friggin' easy! I had to write the intro and the conclusion to my scripture. I'd also do it the night before the meeting because I hated doing it. It was like doing homework, except if you don't do homework for school, you fail. With theocrappic homework, I would be killed at Armageddon if I didn't do it.

Sometimes they'd give you a title for your talk. I think those were #4 talks. I didn't give too many of those before I dumped out. I think the marks were "G" for good, "I" for improved, and "W" for work. Damn, it's been so long now.

I have no friggin' clue what any of my talks were about. They were just the same crap that I heard at every meeting. I was forced to act, talk, and reason like a drone, and I hated every minute of it. To me, my talks were as insignificant as pissing in the ocean.

dobbie

Yep my first talk was in the second hall - my first and last that is - never did it again too damaging to my nerves!

The most embarrassing talk i ever heard was in the main hall, by a brother , who had to give a talk on masturbation!Boy did i hve the giggles!He just get saying the word over and over again and looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up(i think we all wanted that!)LOL!

freedom96

I always waited to the last couple of hours before the meeting to do my talks.

Do you remember giving talks?

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