Speak Up! Turning Words Into a Movement

This week, we dive into the best of episodes from the Take the Stage podcast, focusing on the essentials of message and story development for speakers and storytellers. 

We'll cover actionable steps like understanding your message's audience, creating a powerful opening, finding a connection point, and delivering a transformational journey. 
Plus, I'll share pro tips on crafting a sticky statement and effective closing techniques. 

00:00 Introduction to Storyspire Podcast
00:49 Join the Take the Stage Facebook Group
01:34 Elements of a Message that Moves People to Action
03:02 Understanding Your Audience and Message Purpose
04:51 Crafting the Opening of Your Message
05:58 Creating Connection: Moving from Me to We
08:39 Sharing Your Story: Timing and Readiness
12:03 Transformational Teaching Points
12:59 Effective Closings and Recap
14:41 Final Thoughts and Practice Tips

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Transcript

0:03

Welcome to the Storyspire podcast. I'm Mary R. Snyder. I am your host and storytelling strategist. I'm here with expert advice, actionable tips, and frameworks to create the stories that will inspire hearts and minds because stories change the world. Let's get into it. For the next few weeks, I am running a best of series. These episodes originally ran on the take the stage podcast. We're going to be talking a lot about message and story development about the nuts and bolts of being a speaker and a storyteller. All right. I hope you enjoy it. Let's do this. Hello there. I hope you're having a great day. Before we get into today's episode, and I'm excited about today's episode, as always, I just wanted to remind you, I don't want you to miss out on anything that we are doing in the Take the Stage Facebook group. It's a fun place. We've got some things coming up. They don't even know about yet. So I don't want you to miss out. You can join us by going to take the stage speakers. Literally, all you have to do is do that search in Facebook and find the group and click join and you're there and I will be thrilled to invite you in. And as always, I want to remind you, if you have not joined my email list, please do so. Today we are doing our episode on the elements of a message that Moves people to action. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean moves people to action? There are a lot of messages out there that maybe you've listened to that you said, well, that was interesting I enjoyed that and you walk away, but God has given you gifted you and entrusted you with this message you have Your unique message, and it is meant to move someone to action. What is that action? Well, it's going to be dependent on what your message is. When I talk about how God moved me out of place of complacency with an aneurysm nonetheless, I am encouraging people to step into a deeper walk with the Lord. So my action step for them is, are you willing to trust God's plan? Are you willing to take the next step? Will you take the time to build a relationship with the one who loves you? That's my action step. So what is your action step? Understanding that is going to be key to this. I want to start at the beginning. The beginning is Who is this message for? You know, I ask that a lot. Who is this message for specifically and What problem do you solve with this message? And the reason I ask those two questions is you have to understand who you're communicating with. To and why you are communicating to them. What is your point? What is the reason you want to share this message? Why has God given this to you? You know when I share the message about stepping into the fullness of your calling which is the story of me having an aneurysm and walking through that season. I want people Number one I love that God has given it to me because I didn't understand why I went through what I went through You But on this side of it, I am able to now use what God did in my life and show people how God can move in their life. And they don't even have to get an aneurysm to do it. So that's the blessing. So number one is who is this message for? What problem do you solve? That's number one. That's two questions in number one. And then there's a third one is why are you communicating this message? Why? And it very well could be because God's called me to it, and that is a perfectly good and solid reason. So let that be kind of what you ponder on today, and you may want to key mark this episode and come back and listen to it again, because we're going to walk through several different elements of the message. So the first element after we get that is the actual structure of your message. So opening, that is your very beginning of your message. It is where you're going to start. I say stand and start if you listened to last week. That's what I talk about. You walk and you start in the middle of the action. Put people right where it's happening. No set up, just what's going on. What are you experiencing? You want people involved in the story. There was a knock on the door. I opened the door and something happens right there. Think about the middle of your story. Now everything in you is going to want to share all the backstory. All the reasons why, the what for's, the what not's. And I caution you, you can share that later, start in the middle of the story, captivate your audience so they are leaning in and then you have to create the story. the connection with your audience. This is where the story shifts because the story starts with you. Your story. The me part of it. It's the me. And then I want you to bring in the we. This is how we move from me to we. And how can you do that? You know, when I tell the story of the aneurysm, I talk about it most all people. I cannot connect with that because it's not a common occurrence. But then I talk about how I was in a very lukewarm place with my faith, that I had become very complacent in my walk with Jesus. Life was super easy and so, so comfortable. And I wake up one day. And it's not. I go from this truly charmed life with doing exactly what I loved in a way that I loved and just coasting in my faith and in my walk with Jesus to a new place where it's, Oh my, I have got to lean on the Lord because someone just told me I could die. And it took me just a moment to to realize how complacent I was. So when I tell that story, and I talk about moving from this fate that was just on autopilot to clinging to the Word of God for my very existence, that's where I move from the me to the we. And that's when I lean into the audience and say, Anybody with me? Anybody ever been there? Has your faith ever been on autopilot? Where it's kind of coasting and you're really not even paying attention? Where you show up for church every Sunday and every Sunday night and maybe even Wednesday and you go to maybe all the events, but that's it? You open your Bible every day and you do a little short reading and that's it? It's just checking boxes? When I use that, then people lean in. That's when my connection begins to happen. It's in the beginning of the middle. So I've told my story, I've gotten their attention, now I want them to join me. And that's where they join me, is in that connection point. So where are you going to move from your story into the connection point? And I want to pause right here. I want to remind you that there are times When we're not ready to share our story because it's too raw and too new, and that's okay, it can take time. It may take a year, or two years, or ten years. But you have to heal from whatever you've walked through. And walked through and out of the other side before you can bring others along on the journey. Now, I've seen speakers step on a stage in a place where they were not ready and they spent their entire 35 minutes talking about themselves. It stayed all in the me because they were processing what they were going through they were still processing that out The stage is not a place for that. That's for you and the Lord to process out So the middle is where you're gonna make the connection It's where you're gonna move the story from me to we you're gonna bring them in So let's say you dealt with infertility. Not everyone has that story, but everyone Has had the story of wanting something and it not happening. Have you ever wanted something and God was silent. It was neither yes nor no. It was just a pause. People connect with that. Find a connection point that connects with your person. Now, I always love a good sticky statement because a sticky statement drives home your point. In, when I do the message on your calling, I use the sticky statement. My confidence is in my calling, not in me. My confidence is in my calling. And that is just the statement I repeat over and over throughout my message. Whatever your sticky statement is, it just needs to be sticky. It doesn't have to make complete sense. I know that sounds crazy. But what I just said, my confidence is in my calling. Unless you hear the entire message and hear me talk about how I had placed confidence in a lot of things and I realized that I didn't have to be perfect and the best and arrived, that my confidence as a speaker, as a trainer, as a teacher was that God had called me to it and he would equip me for it. That's where my confidence is and that resonates with people because people, we all feel. like we're not quite good enough to stand up and be communicators for Christ. We never feel qualified for that. So creating a sticky statement, a sticky statement really is your core idea. And what you want it to be is when that comes up in someone's brain, they go, Oh, I remember that It reminds them of the message. So Work on a statement that is sticky, that people will remember, and that reminds them the core of your message. So we've gone through the me and the we. Now we're going to move to another part of the we. And it's what I call the transformational part of the we. This is where you find the teaching points. This is where you find the, how do I move here? How do I go from having a lukewarm, Autopilot faith to a faith on fire. What are those steps? What's the application? What do they need to do? This is where you give them the steps. You give them the outline. You give them this verse and this thing and that thing and this is what God did in my life and He will do it in yours. That's where you move them through. The transformation. How can you use your transformation to inspire others? challenge your audience. Remember, your audience is there. They're ready. So all you have to do is take them on that journey. Now, the last thing is your closing. How do you close? How do you circle back and, and do all the things and recap? There's a lot of ways to close. I like to close with my sticky statement as I wrap up my message. It's actually the last thing I say. I circle back to the beginning and I say, you know what? You probably didn't ever have an aneurysm. I'm so glad you didn't. But we've all walked through. autopilot faith. We've all been less than. We've all felt like that we can't do this, but God has called us to something bigger. And I go on through my close and then I close with never forget your confidence is in your calling. And I step off the stage. I want them to be the last moment, the very thing that they will remember and hold on to. Because when they remember that, they remember the how, the transformational. So, you're walking through the me, that's your story. The we, the connection. The second we is the transformation. And then you're going to go back to. The me and we. So in your closing, you're going back to the me and we, going back to your story, circling back, recap your major points, reiterate your scripture verse that you held on to. And then your sticky statement. Now, that's a lot to take in, in a podcast episode. And I know that. So, this is one that you may want to listen to pause. Listen to pause. Listen to pause. Because message development is something that takes time. You're going to develop this message. You're going to practice it. You're going to play with it. But, do me a favor. Don't just write. Speak it out loud. The written word and the spoken word are very different. And what looks good on paper may not sound as good when you say it and what sounds good may not look good on paper. Alright, you all have a great rest of your day. Bye for now. Have a good one