Thomas Umstattd Jr.

Before I begin, I just wanted to thank all of you for your comments, prayers and emails. You have made this season a lot easier than it could have been. You have demonstrated our need for the body of Christ.

It has now been almost three weeks since my dad’s heart operation. (more…)

"Success is a poor teacher." My dad must have repeated this maxim a hundred times as I grew up. There are some lessons that only failure can teach. If you want to mature, you need to fail. Jesus failed. So should we. (more…)

If you are a writer or a speaker this will help you understand how words work and how to make you message stick. This talk comes from the books Presentation Zen by Garr Reynold and Language in Thought and Action by S. I. Hayakawa.

Here is a recording and slides for the Ladder of Abstraction talk that I gave at the Austin Rhetoric Club a few weeks ago.

• Transcript
• Download MP3

| View | Upload your own

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

(more…)

Since we are on the topic of confidence, here is another post from the archive.
The world says, “be self-confident.”
Jesus says, “put your confidence in me.”

The world says, “you can do anything you put your mind to.”
Jesus says, “you can do nothing apart from me and all things through me.”
The world says, “look out for number one.”
The Word says, “think of others as more important than yourself.”
The world says, “believe in yourself.”
Jesus says, “believe in me.”
The world says, “you deserve it.”
The Word says “you deserve hell for breaking God’s law.”
The world says, “trust your feelings.”
Jesus says, “trust in me.”

The world says, “enjoy entertainment.”
Jesus says, “enjoy me.”
The world says, “follow your heart.”
Jesus says, “follow me.”
The world says, “have fun and enjoy your best life now.”
Jesus says, “Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and come follow me.”
The world says, “you’re a good person.”
The Word says, “your heart is deceitfully wicked.”

As you can see from my last post I am not a big fan of self confidence. So often presenters struggle with fear and so they compensate for their insecurities with self confidence. The Bible has a word for self confidence. The Bible calls it pride. Confidence might make you feel better but it can turn your audience off. Our confidence should be in Jesus Christ alone.

I found these not to long ago and they were so good I wanted to share them with you.

1. Confidence is about you - enthusiasm is about your subject
   As long as you’re focused on ‘being confident’, you are the focus of attention.
2. Confidence is about you (again) - enthusiasm is about others
   when you focus on your audience - whether one person, a roomful or a whole stadium - you stop worrying about your own performance. Instead, your attention is on the audience’s experience
3. Confidence is impressive - enthusiasm is infectious
   Think of a time when you heard someone talk about a subject you had previously no interest in, but they were so enthusiastic about it, you couldn’t help being intrigued, even fascinated. There’s something contagious about the body language of enthusiasm - when you see someone talking excitedly, smiling, gesturing, full of energy and keen to share what they know, you can’t help responding
4. Confidence is certain - enthusiasm is creative
5. Confidence is serious - enthusiasm is fun
   When you start talking or thinking about being confident, you’re likely to start taking things a bit seriously. When you want to be confident about doing something, it’s because you think it’s important.

Mark McGuinness goes into greater detail on each of these points in his blog wishful thinking.

I think reason #5 is why many students debate speeches are less interesting than their persuasive speeches. They are less enthusiastic about the topic.

I am going to start reposting achieved posts from my old blog on the first of each month.

The enemy thinks he can purify pride with Disney films and encouraging posters. Motivational books tell people they need more self-esteem in order to succeed. Many say, “If we only thought higher of ourselves we could accomplish more.” Just “believe in yourself” the cartoons say.

Yet, throughout the Bible God shows the dangers of pride:

• “Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Pro. 11:2)
• “Pride leads to arguments; those who take advice are wise” (Pro. 13:10)
• “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Pro. 16:18)
• “Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor” (Pro. 29:23)

Successful people are confident, however. People, who look at the ground, talk softly and never take risks rarely change the world. The question is, “from where should our confidence come?” God actively looks for humble hearts, for He knows that nothing can stop those who place their trust in Him alone. Confidence is crucial for success, but only trust in Christ is of any use for the Kingdom.

Look at:

• Joseph – the jailbird
• Moses – the mumbler
• Gideon – the coward
• King David – the forgotten shepherd son
• Daniel – the slave
• Esther – the peasant girl
• Peter – the foot eater

These people had little confidence in themselves, but they changed the world. The enemy comes against the work of God by tricking us into believing in ourselves instead of in Jesus.

Look at the tower of Babble or the rich man who died in his sleep. These people had plenty of self-esteem. Nebuchadnezzar accomplished great acts; but when he got cocky, he ate grass like a cow.

The world needs you about as much as it needs another grain of sand at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. What it needs is Jesus. To the extent we allow Christ to shine through us is the extent in which we are able to change the world for Him. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

If Jesus said that he did nothing on his own (John 8:28), why do we think we can live differently? Jesus had no self-esteem in the way we think of it today. While Jesus was “in very nature God, [He] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” (Phil. 2:6)

Take for example Romo the self-confident quarterback. His football talent and winning streak lead him to believe that he is a great player.

But, what if Romo misses a crucial throw causing a crushing defeat in a big game? Joe’s confidence drops as his failure grows. But, if he put his confidence in something or someone bigger then he will not be so easily shaken.

When we put our confidence in Christ then we can count it all joy when we fail because we know that Jesus will be glorified despite our best efforts. He won’t have to blame others for our failures as “self esteemers” often do. We can instead take the blame and then take the failure to Christ.

The world comes against Christians, tempting us to put on the tough skin of arrogance. This hardening of our hearts is just what the Bible speaks against. Pharoh’s hardened heart caused great pain for Egypt and the hard hearts of the Israelites caused continual judgment.

He who esteems himself is his own god.
He who esteems Jesus fulfills his purpose.

We can put our confidence in Jesus because He earned it on the cross. God may not use as many posters and movies as the world, but His truth is as good now as it was for King David who said, “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

You know, the professor who reads textbook provided PowerPoints slides to the class. You’ve had him too? I think we all have. The thing I find interesting is that as much as students complain about the presentation quality of their professors when it comes time for group projects they are just as bad if not worse more often than not.

As soon as a presenter shows their first slide riddled with text we know we are in for a long boring talk. I gave a talk at a Rotary Club a few months ago and I could just see everyone cringe as I pulled out my projector. But PowerPoint does not need to be boring.

A guy named Cliff Atkinson author of the book Beyond Bullet Points opened my eyes to a radical new way to present using Power Point. I used his approach and Rotarians thanked me for not boring them. I’m not a great presenter yet but I am working at it. I have sat through hundreds of hours of bad presentations though, so I know some things to avoid. Here are some tips I hope you find helpful.

Tip #1 - Use Graphics Instead of Text

A clever graphic not only catches and keeps your audience’s attention but it can add to your credibility and their understanding. Which of the following two slides do you think is more effective?

I would say the first slide is far more convincing because the photo sells the concept. When people see the photo they can think of that drugged feeling they get from a long time on the computer.

Remember the goal for Keynote slides is not to present the information. It is to help you present the information.

Tip #2 - Don’t Let Your Underwear Show

No one in their right mind would give a presentation with their fly down. Yet often when we have zipper in a southernly position unknowingly. In this same way many people show the underwear of their talk without knowing it. Your notes are important and private, unless you are Madonna they are not for public display.

Most people when they put together their talk all they work on is the power point bullets. They wear nothing but their underwear and then go up and present with raw text. Don’t show your audience your notes. They will read them ahead of you, zone out and get bored. It keeps you from having any surprises any secrets. It takes away your ability to implement comic timing. Nowadays when people get bored they whip out their iPhone or Blackbarry and totally stop listening until you say “in conclusion.” People will respect you more if you stay modest.

Some great sites that have free photos are:

• sxc.hu (my favorite),
• EveryStockPhoto.com, 
• Flickr Creative Commons Photos
• Microsoft Office Clip Art Gallery.

If you are wiling to spend a little dough I recommend:

• iStockPhoto.com
• StockXpert.com

When searching for clip art it is important to register for the site and in order to avoid any adult only images. The best sites wont give you that trash but it’s safe to make sure.

Tip #3 Kiss Your Audience

Steve Jobs, one of the best modern communicators imo, knows how to make things simple. He has made a fortune making complex things like mp3 players iPod easy. He presents in the same way. He often will use only a simple photo or a singe word on a black background.

There is a reason that millions of people download and watch his keynotes while Bill Gates who also talks about cool gadgets often gets ignored. The blog Presentation Zen has a great comparison of these two styles as embodied by these two men. If you can ignore the Buddhist undertones the site has some great tips on keeping presentations simple.

Tip #4 - 1 Minute Max

Don’t use one slide for 3 minutes when you can break it up into three one minute slides. This is easy if you don’t cram them with concepts. Try not to ever spend more than a minute on any given slide. Keep the audience’s attention by keeping it fresh. You are talking to a crowd that used to watching commercials that show a new shot every 4 seconds. Once you pass the ten second mark the clock starts ticking and once you hit sixty seconds the cell phone start discreetly coming out of pockets.

Another way to get invited back is to finish early. Try to leave time for questions. People love asking questions and you might find the most interesting part of your presentation is the dialog at the end. If no one has any questions bait the audience by asking one of your own. Answer it and the questions will come.

Tip #5 - Keep your Bullets in Your Concealed Firearm

I’m not saying not to use bullet points just keep them out of site in your notes. PowerPoint and Keynote both have excellent notes sections that you can print or display on your laptop as you present.

Like real bullets, digital bullets are ineffective and dangerous when they are out of place. Hitting a rifle round with a hammer might make a lot of noise but you wont hit your target unless you hide your bullets in your gun. Keep yor bullets out of site and you will find that your presentation become more interesting and more effective.

To learn how to go bullet free I would recommend that you watch the following video. This video is what caused me to join the bullet free revolution.