Preparing a Sacrament Meeting Talk: (Part 1) - Things to Avoid

I know I am not the first person to do something like this and neither will I be the last, but it was my month for mutual activities and as I was thinking about what to do, I felt inspired to give the young men some pointers about writing and presenting Sacrament meeting talks.  Since many LDS members are not used to speaking to groups of people, they sometimes tumble into certain common pitfalls at the beginning of their talks that are addressed in this clip from a comedy routine.

The beginning of a talk is so important to setting the tone for what is to follow.  I felt impressed to help the young men understand why these pitfalls should be avoided and then used clips of the beginning of several recent conference talks as examples of the proper way to begin a Sacrament talk.  By no means do I think I am some know-it-all about giving a good Sacrament meeting talk, but I have observed a few things over the years that I have used to improve my own talks.  They have worked for me, so I don't see why they wouldn't work for someone else.  I offer my suggestions in two parts: 1) things to avoid and 2) things to do.

* * * * *

How to Begin Your Preparation

Pray; taking your assignment to the Lord and asking for His guidance is the best way to begin.

Ponder your topic and write down any prompting that the Holy Ghost gives to you.  You’ve asked the Lord to assist you; don’t ignore His guidance when it comes into your mind.

Looking up scriptural references relating to your topic helps you to gain a better understanding of the topic and gives you verses you can use to strengthen your points.

Look for articles relating to your topic in Church magazines (New Era, Ensign) and Conference issues.  If you find quotations from the General Authorities that may strengthen the points you are making, don’t be afraid to use them, just be sure to give proper credit.

Write out your talk fully or write an outline or use note cards to keep yourself on topic and to stay on point—this will reduce or eliminate the, “um, yeah,” moments.

Don’t wait until the last minute; otherwise you’ll have plenty of reason to feel nervous!

One of the keys to giving a good talk is how you begin.  This is the moment where you engage the members of the congregation and pull them into your topic.  Here are some things to avoid.

Common Pitfalls or Clichés: Avoid Them

1. The Reintroduction – After the sacrament has been passed, the member of the bishopric who is conducting the meeting will stand and introduce the speakers in the order they will be speaking.  There really is no reason for you to reintroduce yourself to begin your talk.  As for the small percentage of people in the congregation who may not know who you are, they can always consult the ward bulletin if they've forgotten your name.

2. “I’ve been assigned to talk about ____.” – Another common trap people fall into is to immediately introduce their subject in their first sentence.  While there are times when doing this can work (an example will be given shortly), but those times are usually few.  The problem with immediately introducing your subject is that it allows the congregation members to quickly decide whether or not they will tune you out.  If they hear, “my talk is on tithing,” they might think, “Again?  I just heard a lesson on tithing from the bishop a month ago.”  If you begin your talk in such a way that the congregation members have to pay attention to figure out what your subject is, by the time they realize, “Oh, he’s talking about tithing,” you have hopefully engaged them so they will stick with you instead of tuning you out.

3. “If you see Bro. ____ in the foyer, run the other way” (or other variations on this theme) – We have all experienced the bishopric member come up to us in the foyer or call us on the phone or show up at our doorstep and ask us to speak in sacrament meeting, but starting off a talk by mentioning his approach has been done so often to have made the “story” a cliché.  While there are times when an assignment may be given on a spur of the moment,  we may also be diminishing the proper process that has occurred prior to our being asked.  The ward council has met with the bishopric and talked about topics to be addressed in sacrament meeting.  When those topics have been discussed, then the spirit is sought for help in identifying someone in the ward that the Lord would have speak on that subject.  The bishopric member then assigns the talks to the members.  Mentioning how Brother ____ tracked you down may seem like a funny story, but it also deflects from the fact that you were assigned by the Lord through His ward servants to give the talk and it does a disservice to the process.

4. Punching the time card – In connection with #3 is punching the time card, which goes something like this: “Bishop or Brother ____ asked me to speak two days ago.”  While there may be times when the bishopric accidentally doesn’t assign you the talk until there is only a little time left to prepare, there may be other reasons why you were asked so late.  Perhaps the original speaker had an unexpected illness or personal situation that caused him or her to cancel and you were chosen as an immediate back-up.  You may not be told why you are being asked so late in the week (or perhaps you will), but by mentioning it at the beginning of your talk (even without intending to) you are potentially embarrassing the person who assigned you and alerting the congregation, “If my talk is really bad, it’s his fault.”  Or, without intending to, you could be perceived as puffing yourself up by implying, “If my talk is good, then isn’t it great that I can pull all this together on such short notice.”  Either way, the possible perception shown by this introduction isn’t meaningful or necessary.  It’s better to just stand at the podium and give it your all.

5. “This talk is more for me then for you.” – Sometimes this sentence is used in the beginning of a talk; sometimes it comes at the end.  Either way, it also isn’t necessary.  When you study a particular gospel topic (or any topic, secular or spiritual), you gain a greater knowledge and appreciation for that topic.  Saying this to the congregation, however, makes it seem as though you were given the opportunity to speak on this particular subject for your edification alone.  If you sought the Spirit to prepare and deliver your talk and if the members of the congregation seek the Spirit to listen to what you have prepared, then, as the Doctrine and Covenants, states, “he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together” (50:22, emphasis added).  In other words, your talk is for you and the congregation.  Saying you got more out of your talk then they will (or did), could possibly cause someone to either tune you out as you begin or disregard everything you just said.

6. Telling a joke for the sake of being “funny” – Humor can be used as a way of breaking the ice and appropriately focusing the congregation on your subject (more on this in the next post), but if you tell a joke for the sake of telling a joke, you may lose your audience rather than bring them to your subject.  The other trap is telling one joke and getting people to laugh and then suddenly feeling, “Wow, they liked that one, I’ll try another one!”  Before you know it, you’ve done a comedy routine that may have had the congregation laughing, but everything you’ve done has glorified you, not God.  Be very careful with humor.

7. Reading an entire Conference talk or magazine article – Sometimes when you are assigned a talk, you will be given a Conference talk (or an Ensign or New Era article) to help you with the topic you have been assigned.  If you decide to do nothing more than read the “help talk” word for word from the pulpit, then all you are doing is retelling the congregation what Elder or Sister _____ had to say.  The congregation wants to know what you learned through study and the promptings of the Holy Ghost, not listen to you reread someone else’s words.

This ends the avoid section.  In the next post, I'll offers tips on what to do while preparing your talk.