What's The Idea?

Episode 44:  As You Were

Henry:     Being as how we’ve got so much spare time on our hands lately, I thought I’d deliver the required commanding officer’s monthly orientation lecture this morning rather than wait for another time, which while we have it, why not use it?  So if you guys are ready, why, we’ll start with today’s subject.

Trapper:    Which is what Henry?

Henry:      I’ll answer questions later, McIntyre.

Hawkeye:    Can you give us the subject first, just in case we can’t tell what it is from your talk?

During a lull in the war, Henry delivers his monthly orientation lecture resulting in hilarious interjections from the officers who try and lighten up an awkward topic, making the task almost impossible for their leader.

Have you ever sat in a lecture and wondered what on earth you had just spent the last hour listening to?  Or have listened to a sermon and have struggled to pull all the disjointed pieces together to nail down the main point of the message?   As a leader and a preacher I understand how important it is to ensure that I don’t bombard people with so much information that they miss the point or to complicate it so they don’t understand it.  Authors Chip and Dan Heath provide some powerful and practical strategies in their book ‘Made to Stick’ to ensure the ideas we are seeking to communicate take hold and positively impact your audience.  In summary, they share the following six principles to help make an idea stick:  keep it SIMPLE, attract interest through the UNEXPECTED, give CONCRETE examples, refer to CREDIBLE authorities, appeal to the EMOTIONAL, and use STORIES.  If an idea is worth communicating, then it is worth making the effort to effectively present it in a way that maximizes its impact.