by OneDayillBeFree 38 Replies latest jw experiences
I used to get very nervous about giving talks , so would spend a lot of time preparing and practicing in front of a mirror & sometimes my wife would ok it.The worst criticsm I got was from my wife after I had given a talk where I was able to work into the subject a book I had read "Commandant of Auswitch"by Rudolph Hess and I kept mis-pronouncing the word gestapo as jestapo but nobody else seemed to notice .
smiddy
I was on the TMS from a very tender age so got quite adept at doing talks, I preferred to have plenty of time to prepare so as to present something fresh, which always involved going outside WT stuff.
Public Talks I would practise in my mind whilst looking at MY outline (which varied from the WT one).
Once though the TMS conductor told me I had the No. 1 talk, 15 minutes long in those days, just as the song was about to start, I asked if he could put it at the end of the M/School but he said no, as half the students hadn't turned up yet. I prepared it during the song and after the meeting I told a sis. and she said "I didn't notice any difference between that and your other talks ", so I thought to myself "Bloody Hell, I might as well prepare all of 'em at the last minute !".
I always found that the more rehearsed and prepared my talk was, the less natural it sounded. I think some of my best talks were those I prepared the night before - at least, that's how it seemed from some of the feedback I got.
I used to love giving talks. Shame it was all just a complete waste of time.
Cedars
I would volunteer to cover 'talks'(TM) when the 'student'(TM) didn't show. Easy peasy. Get a scripture and waffle around it. Guesture. Pause. Look into the audience (all 3 of them), then guesture again.
There is no depth to anything in the watchtower(R). It's all boring crap.
I remember turning up at the KH in Bourne in Lincs UK to give a public talk. They had a different talk in mind to the one I'd been asked to give. The one they wanted was one I already gave ages ago. I just looked at my script during the song. Went up and gave the talk.
They even paid me travelling expenses which I gave to a single parent sister who was struggling financially. Now she'd shun me if she saw me in the street!!
Readings were a piece of cake. Just get on the podium and read.
The weekend before I would prepare the talk and rehearse until I knew it off by heart. This was a habit formed as a child because my mother was usually my householder and she was always going off script. She would say things like "that's nice but what I really wanted to know was..." I found by knowing the material I could easily bring us back on topic and wouldn't have lost my place in my notes.
My general rule was that my prep time was double the time alloted for the talk. A 10 minute instruction talk required 20 minuts of prep. A 45 minute public talk required 90 minutes of prep.
When I gave one of the 5 minute student talks, I spent 10 minutes preparing.
I envy you guys, it takes me hours to do a #3 (that's the research-based talk, used to be #4, and maybe even #5 before that?). I used to script everything out, which took hours but was less nerve-wracking, but a school overseer encouraged me to use outlines, so now the talks are much more arduous to prepare because I'm really bad at extemporizing from an outline. I don't know why I still work so hard on them, not being a believer. Maybe pride, maybe fear.
I prefer to take my time and think about the message I really want to get across: Stop accepting everything without questioning!
For instance, I try to add something obviously disturbing but thought by the Organization.
“When dealing with David’s sin, we need to consider that weather it was man’s justice or Jehovah’s justice, one way or another, the baby was not going to live. Yet Jehovah, in his mercy, spared the lives of David and Bath-Sheba. This is why the scriptures tell us that Jehovah struck the baby with a sickness of which he died after 7 days. Notice he did not kill him in the whom or at birth, allowing for David to come to true repentance. The same goes with us, sometimes, discipline may be harsh; beyond our understanding, yet, we must show the same humble attitude as David and repent!”
Most people don’t even known that story and will go : WHAT??? Why did the baby die? What did he do? So, they’ll research things and end up on sites such as this one.
Well, usually it would take me an hour, at most, and I could do it in 10 minutes if I just had the 3 scriptures I was going to read, but it would suck if I did that. And I didn't want my talks to be boring or to suck, so...I'd usually prepare it a week in advance, but not practice it too much. If I just didn't care, I'd wait until 2-3 days before to prepare it.
People always loved my talks. It was about the only time I ever felt an improvement of my self-esteem inside the congregation, after a talk or a WT reading. And even then, there was still a void, but...I digress. I've answered the question. Doormat out.
--sd-7
