I always hated it that sisters had to write essentially a 5-minute play containing all the pertinent points and counsel points. If I had just been addressing the congregation it would have taken me a lot less time.
How long did it take you to prepare for talks or parts in the KM school?
by OneDayillBeFree 38 Replies latest jw experiences
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jw07
It's always been a day or two before. Most times it's just a matter of copying and pasting tripe from the CD, fitting it together, and finding the right tone of voice to read each segment of crap in. Funnily my shyness basically disappeared after learning TTATT, and now I'm almost at the point of laughter when I have to read some hideous indoctrinating material to the audience, knowing they will gobble it up like a large piece of chocolate. The act has been working so well that I've been given convention parts. When the time is right I would love to 'come out' about TTATT on a convention platform.
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Prefect
Not long.
I used to get my wife to write the talk for me.
She is a lot cleverer than I am.
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Mr. Falcon
How to do the job of a Ministerial Servant in 4 easy steps.
1) WT-CDROM in Kingdom Hall Library, search keyword in talk title, hit search.
2) print out relevant Watchtower article from '97. read verbatim on platform.
3) sit down. everyone commends you on a "fine job" and "looks forward to your next assignment".
4) Go home, drink.
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jw07
Mr. Falcon, you know the drill :D that describes my methodology to the letter.
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jookbeard
the longer I researched and prepared talks the worse and more nervous I'd be, but the last minute,hardly any prep and the better they'd be, so that was my way.
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Mr. Falcon
Mr. Falcon, you know the drill :D that describes my methodology to the letter.
Jw07, I used to think it might be plagerizing, but then I was like screw it, it's all gibberish anyway. I might as well be up there reading a Chinese take-out menu.
the longer I researched and prepared talks the worse and more nervous I'd be, but the last minute,hardly any prep and the better they'd be, so that was my way.
Very true, jook. I used to watch other JWs struggling and freaking out trying to write talks. They weren't stupid guys or bad writers, they were just guys that were taking it TOO seriously and actually trying to write creatively their own thoughts. This is a major no-no. The outlines/information is set up so that you basically just read what they tell you read. there is no room to add your own commentary, and if you do, you get yelled at. So when I discovered that all I had to do was read some stupid article from the 2001 Watchtower and everyone would praise it thinking I wrote it, I was on Easy Street. And by then I didn't believe any of it so I would just go up there and mechanically read the article while in the back of my head thinking about boobs or setting up my fantasy team or whatever.
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NeonMadman
I've always been a decent public speaker - certainly better than the average JW - so I rarely practiced for short talks. I would spend about 45 minutes, usually on the night before or the afternoon of the talk, preparing the information. Then I'd just stand up and give it. Because I was actually a little creative, adding a story as an illustration or something like that, I received a lot of praise from the congregation members.
One technique I used as a JW that set me apart (though some COs and DOs used it too) was to address the audience in the second person. The usual technique in the JWs is to speak in the first person (e.g., "Are we spending enough time in Bible study?"). I have found that doing so actually makes the statement less forceful. The speaker is presumably speaking because he knows something that the audience does not, or because he seeks to offer advice to the audience that they need. There's nothing wrong with addressing the audience as "you," and doing so makes the impact on the hearer more direct and personal. I don't think anyone actually noticed that I was doing that, but they certainly liked my talks.
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Ding
There's nothing wrong with addressing the audience as "you," and doing so makes the impact on the hearer more direct and personal. I don't think anyone actually noticed that I was doing that, but they certainly liked my talks.
No doubt your variance from standard WT fare was a welcome change from the same ol' same ol'.
Because JWs are afraid to say anything that isn't sanctioned, many talks are nothing more than a total rehash of articles in the Watchtower.
Why listen when you can read the same thing in a fraction of the time?
Conversely, why read the literature ahead of time if someone is basically going to read it to you from the platform?
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undercover
I usually got it up the week of. And even then, faked my way through it. I wasn't a good speaker and my nervousness usually showed.
But the best talk I ever gave was when I forgot I had a talk. Found out when I showed up at the hall and saw my name on the list. I spent the instruction talk looking some scriptures, made a few notes and faked my way through it. It was a no 5 talk, I think. I was too good. They started using me to be a substitute after that. If I could whip up a talk on a moment's notice, I was their man, er, patsy.