I came across a blog that asked the question – what will presentations look like in the future? Of course, this is given in a business context.
This relates to preaching. For many, the sermon is the presentation that links a church meeting together. A sermon is just a presentation. An important presentation, but a presentation nonetheless.
Many of the comments are helpful as we consider how people will be listening in the future. The very unusual person is able to capture an audience for a long period of time. Most of us will appreciate what is said, that presentations will be shorter and fewer words.
Bui, here is the comment that I found most interesting:
Amy Veltman, Principal at On Your Feet: Improvisation for Business
"Information and facts will be so readily available that the primary measure of a great presenter will be the depth of the relationship she creates with her audience."
I am seeing this already. In fact, any good presenter has always recognized this. We tell jokes on ourselves. We use homegrown illustrations. We let people know who we are.
In the end the content must be true and compelling. But the presenter will need to spend time establishing their presence in another person’s life.
Not a bad thing – Jesus had great content – but notice that he often asked people what they wanted, or enquired about their lives, or had a God given sense of what was happening in their lives. In that way his speeches were present in people’s lives.
Yes – not a bad thing!