How and Why to Sell your Message
Tools discussed: fitness, video, brevity, & lists.
-WHY BOTHER WITH PRESENTATION: Though I hate the idea ‘dressing for success’ and all the dogmas so closely following it, including the flowery bubbly presentation which delivers minimal information, presentation is nevertheless important. Why? Because our message is so important, that we want everyone to hear it. Some need a little extra push out the door so they don’t miss out on the grand adventure, which they would have missed if you didn’t assist them in getting on their way. The adventure (your message) will be appreciated by many who hear it, but getting them to hear it in the first place is the challenge. “The worth of a soul is great in the eyes of God.” Even apathetic souls have great worth, so let’s step out of our comfort zone to wake them up to what they realistically could have.
-FITNESS: Most people are capable of not being obese. So, for the sake of your message, don’t be. Studies have shown that even babies know the difference between attractive and repulsive, and prefer to look at the attractive. It’s not all subjective, its mostly objective. There are a standard array of what it means to be beautiful. Love your student more than sleeping in and eating junk food (that’s why most of us are unhealthy: avoidable obesity from not exercising and eating junk food. Some have a medical problem they can’t change, but most don’t.) There’s something called the BMI (Body Mass Index), a widely used measurement for weight to height ratio. A healthy range is 18.5-24.9. The formula for calculating BMI is lbsx703 / in^2. If you’re not in that range, chances are you’re fooling yourself about your health status, and you need to partake in the necessary evil called exercise. WHY BOTHER WITH FITNESS FOR PRESENTATION? You may be able to get more studies in by skipping exercise time, but being in control of your health will, even if you don’t believe it will sharpen your thinking powers, increase the odds of your audience giving you the time of day. However shallow this may seem, they don’t want someone who looks bad to tell them what to do; they want to learn from someone whom they aspire to be like. Everyone can be handsome if they take care of themselves.
-VIDEOS: Short & lively videos are a great way to communicate a message. People are interested in faces more than in words. Hand flailing and other body language is very stimulating, and keeps the wandering student long enough for you to wake him up and get him interested. I think in this age of instant global communication; the Lord would be pleased if we used those tools to their fullest (although cat videos do play a part in human fulfillment).
-BREVITY & LISTS: “Top 10 Reasons”… etc.: using some sort of a limited number at the title fascinates the mind, and makes expectation of “I wonder what the climactic number 1 item will be at the end!” Also people like things in small sizes. I’ve not optimized this tool but have plans to. Brevity expresses hope, hope that the reader can finish something, and feel accomplished. We all want to pay minimal price for max reward, hence many are attracted to things like “Ted Talks” where the wisdom of the universe is supposedly all boiled into 5 minutes. We simply can’t deliver what’s being asked for, but we can try.
