How to Dissect Your Message

Remember when you had to dissect a baby pig in high school biology class? From the smell of the formaldehyde to the image of the piglet carcass splayed open on the dissection tray, it is an experience you will probably never forget. Why subject high school students to, what is considered by most, such an utterly gruesome experience?

So that they can learn how biological systems work together.

When you take the time to dissect one of your youth messages, you provide yourself with the same benefit:

You will discover how your communication is put together.

Here are five steps to dissecting your message:

1. Work the message-building process in reverse.

When you un-build your message outline, it allows you to examine how well your message content was put together. What was the closing? What was the opening? What was the central theme? Answering questions like these will help you see if you held true to what your original intention was in delivering the message.

(Don't have a message development process? Try using these 10 Steps to Developing and Delivering Solid Messages)

2.  Watch the message on video.

Nothing reveals how well you have communicated better than watching your message video afterward. Better yet, watch it twice. Take note of how you non-verbally communicated with gestures, movement, and blocking.

(Here is a FREE Message Evaluation Template)

3.  Listen  to your message.

When you take the time to hear yourself speaking, you can decipher the tone in which you delivered your content. Did your voice come across as angry or aggressive? Did your tone-of-voice match the tone of the scripture you were exegeting?

Examine how your message sounded in each of these areas:

-Tone

-Rate

-Volume

-Pitch

4.  Share your message outline and video with a peer.

Allowing a peer to evaluate and critique your message will give you a different perspective as to how the message came across and how well you communicated your content. You would be surprised what other people pick up on when you speak. Offer to buy them a Starbucks' coffee and it's a done deal.

5.  Dissect other people’s messages.

Observe how other youth communicator’s piece their messages together. Not only will you learn new ways of putting a message together, but you will also pick up on great illustrations and other creative ideas.

Interested in receiving some affordable, one-on-one youth communication coaching? CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION...