How can a public speaker command attention?
Interview with Vicki Hitzges
Hosts:
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2026 CrossTalk Global
Nathan: How can a public speaker command attention? What role does body language play in stage presence? And how can a speaker connect to his or her audience? Whether you've led a small group, shared a testimony, given a sermon, or made an announcement at church, you know public speaking is difficult. That's why we're taking a break from our normal format and sitting down with our very own Vicki Hitzges to discover how you can have stage presence. Welcome to Crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life into all of our lives. I'm Nathan Norman. Today we're talking with Vicki Hitzges, certified speaking professional, motivational keynote speaker, author, and award-winning television journalist. Vicki, welcome to the show.
Vicki: Thank you, Nathan. It's nice to be here.
Nathan: It's always great to talk with you and have you here. So normally at Crosstalk, we talk about how to find the big idea and then how to communicate that big idea. And we don't really spend a lot of time on, you know, the style and the form of it all. But you're a professional and you have done this for so long. So before we kind of jump into the basic tips, I want to know, when did you realize you had a gifting for public speaking and how did you get your start as a motivational speaker?
Vicki: Oh, that's an interesting question. When I was a child, I loved words. I would— my favorite thing to do is read the dictionary. I just loved words and I loved telling stories. And my dad, Haddon Robinson, told told great stories. So I think I just picked it up by osmosis. But all my friends wanted me to tell them stories.
Nathan: Oh, wow.
Vicki: So I was always good at that. But I wanted to be a movie star. And I got a job anchoring the news in Dallas, which is a fabulous place to start a career. And I was terrible at it. I don't mean bad. I mean terrible at it. And fortunately, my boss never fired me, probably should have. But I got good at it. And then really long story short, after television, I thought, what do I do now? And I became a publicist. And one of my clients was Zig Ziglar. He was at that time the number one motivational speaker in the world. And he asked me— he was a Christian— and he asked me to speak at their Monday morning devotions. And he was very impressed with it. And he said, you know, you should speak. And I thought, "Oh, that sounds great." I was absolutely terrified. Every time I would speak, I would lose my voice. And I had one talk and I would read it. And I mean, you wouldn't have thought, "Wow, she's really got a gift." You would think, "Why is she speaking?" But I got good at it because I'm stubborn. And I thought, "I'm going to learn how to do this." And I did.
Nathan: Yeah, that, you know, I tell you, I am so glad that I was kind of coming into my own at the cusp of the internet, right? So there's very few existent of my sermons out there when I was young or my teaching. In fact, my, my mom found a cassette tape of, I think, probably the first public speaking sermon I ever did at like a youth thing when I was a youth myself. And it was terrible. It was terrible. And I'm so glad that there's not— and then my younger brother stole it. So I don't know where it is.
Vicki: I hear you. You know what, I wrote down a list of tips to go over today. But one thing I didn't put, and I think it's maybe the most important tip, is something you just alluded to. You can learn more in 5 or 10 minutes watching old videos of yourself than taking classes from the best speaker on the planet. It's painful. Nobody wants to do it. It's
Nathan: the worst.
Vicki: But you'll see, "Oh, look how I move. Look how I fidget. Look how fast I speak. Look—" and you'll quit it and you'll do it right.
Nathan: Yeah, yeah, very painful. So hard. I think for some people who are like into sports, if you think of it as what the football team has to do after the game, they have to watch the entire game back and watch all the plays and see the mistakes that they made.
Vicki: Yeah.
Nathan: Which is very helpful. So, if you think about it in those terms, yeah, it's not as painful.
Vicki: Well, I think it is painful. Even when I think, man, that went great, I think, oh, not so much.
Nathan: Yeah. Yeah. So, well, fantastic. So, what are your tips? What wisdom can you give us?
Vicki: Well, some I learned from my dad, some I learned in the school of hard knocks, and some I learned because I took a course that Zig Ziglar Corporation back when it existed, that they taught. And one of the main things they taught when you begin is you walk up to the podium, pause, and then start speaking. A lot of people that are nervous will start speaking even on their way to the podium, and they don't have any command. And you need to be in charge. So walk up, pause, Look around and then begin. And then when you're finished, after the conclusion, pause and then sit down.
Nathan: Yeah, that's great. I think along with that, I remember a public speaking teacher that I took in community college. She had said, don't ever tell people that you're nervous, right?
Vicki: Oh, don't apologize for anything.
Nathan: Yeah, that's huge, right? Because it's the exact opposite of what you're talking about. You control the room.
Vicki: You can control the room.
Nathan: You establish yourself. I don't need to talk. You're here to listen to me. Okay, I will proceed. And versus, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people, "Oh, I'm so nervous." Don't say that, right? Because unless you're a public speaker, they're not going to see your hands are shaking. They're not going to hear the little weird quiver in your voice. They're not going to see that you're really nervous and scared and fidgeting. Most people do not pick up on that. But when you tell them you're nervous— It's amazing that they don't.
Vicki: Nope. I teach executives to speak and I will videotape them and they'll be terrified. And like, there'll be a room of them all watching each other go. And then afterwards, they'll look at their own video and they'll be amazed that they don't show how nervous they were. Usually we pick up on things, but nerves aren't— people are sitting there thinking about themselves. I hope this is gonna be good.
Nathan: Yeah.
Vicki: They're not thinking, "Oh, his hand's quivering."
Nathan: You don't even think to look for it. You don't. But it feels so big to us.
Vicki: Because we're terrified.
Nathan: And so massive that it feels like we're projecting that nervousness energy out into the world. So we assume people can pick it up because it's so intense of a feeling for us. But people really can't pick it up. I remember at one of my wife's cousin's weddings, there was somebody had done a speech And I knew it was not somebody who normally does speeches. And I could see she was a nervous ball of wreck, but I just knew what to look for. It was so good. It was one of the best wedding speeches I ever heard. And I made sure to go and tell her. And she just, she could not accept it because she was so nervous and she was so scared. And I said, "No, listen, I teach speaking. You did phenomenal." And, "Oh, everyone could see I was nervous." No one could see that you were nervous. Yeah. For me.
Vicki: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nathan: Well, good. So command the presence of the room. What else, what else can we do?
Vicki: Well, then, and now I'm talking to either people who haven't mastered speaking or they're new at it. After a while, hopefully you've learned a lot of this stuff, but when you're nervous, when you begin, and I would think I always had a new group because I went from corporation to corporation, from corporation. I would think a pastor would think of his congregation as friends, as, you know, they hear him every single week. But no matter what your group or how you feel, you've got to make eye contact. Don't look at your notes. Look at your audience. And I have told people, pastors tend to have in a bigger church, they have a screen in the back. If you are going to use notes, Put them up there so it looks like you're looking out onto the audience. And make eye contact. Pick several people throughout the room and look at them for 3 to 5 seconds and then move on to the next person. I was always really good at eye contact. I remember speaking to a group and I just stared at one guy. And then I turned and I stared at another one. And one of the guys in the back held up his fingers in the shape of a cross, like he was warding off vampires. 5 years. And I thought, "Oh, maybe that's a little
Nathan: much." So, definitely more towards the 3-second side of the 3 to 5-second, right?
Vicki: Well, don't go over 5 anyway. Yeah. Yeah.
Nathan: Oh, that's good.
Vicki: And I am really, being my father's daughter, learn your talk. Learn it. And he just had a great mind and he If you have great transitions, you know, you'll— it'll just— it'll flow for you. But I didn't have his amazing mind. So I'd go to the mall and I'd just walk around and walk around and walk around and walk around and give my talk. And I'd practice from an outline and I'd do it every single day until I got it down. Now, if you got to preach every Sunday, that's— if I had to preach every Sunday, I would write my sermon on Monday and then I would just go over it every single day until I had to give it. I feel strongly, do not read your notes or just glance down.
Nathan: Yeah, I actually have a friend who always raving about his church and for years and I've known him and I've never really looked up his church. I'm like, I've got to go check this out. Oh, so good. So good. So I go and I look, it's a fairly large church in a fairly large area. And I go look, and this guy, he's got to be like, I don't know, 6'3" minimally. He's tall.
Vicki: Wow.
Nathan: And he comes out, the worship team goes away, he comes out, he's got a little table, and he puts the table down, and he's got his notes there, and he's got a Bible there. And the table, Vicki, it doesn't even come above his waist. And okay, whatever, maybe because I, I I don't use a manuscript, I don't use notes, I just kind of, I'll put my Bible on a side table and I'll talk, and then I'll pick up my Bible and I'll talk with my Bible, and then I put my Bible down. So I thought maybe that's what he was doing. No, no, he, this 6-foot-something person had his notes below him, and it's so far down he's bent half over to read his manuscript.
Vicki: Oh no.
Nathan: 80% of the message he was reading bent over this thing, and I thought, oh, First of all, don't read the notes. And second of all, if you're going to read the notes, get a taller table for crying out loud.
Vicki: Something.
Nathan: It just so communicated—
Vicki: I'm not prepared.
Nathan: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Vicki: I think another thing that new speakers especially need to be aware of is if you're nervous, and chances are, if you're any good, you're going to always be nervous. Johnny Carson, old name there, but he never calmed down. I heard David Letterman had a heart attack, Ed McMahon said, because he was such a perfectionist. You wouldn't think so, but if you're any good, you're going to be nervous and that's going to take the joy out of your face. Smiling is a skill. Practice it. Don't have resting witch face. Look pleasant.
Nathan: Yeah, that's what it's called.
Vicki: Close enough, yeah.
Nathan: No, but it's true. You're right. Absolutely. Yeah.
Vicki: You want to like your audience and have them feel you like them. So smile. And then when you're on stage, depending on how big your church is or your auditorium or your whatever, you're the center of attention and you're on a stage or a pulpit or a platform or whatever. You need big gestures because you're speaking to a crowd, whether it's 10 or 10,000. So move your hands out. And when you do that, it'll take some of your nervousness away. Now, if you're doing a video, then your gestures have to be smaller because you're on video. And be sure if you're on video that the people see your hands because then they'll trust you. They won't so much if they can't see your hands. If you're doing both, you're speaking but it's being recorded, forget the recording, speak to your audience. People watching on video will understand that and have your gestures be large.
Nathan: Wow. See, you've just cleared something up for me because I've been preaching for a very long time and when I'm talking with people out in public, usually over a meal or coffee,
Vicki: I
Nathan: tend to hit things while I'm talking because I'm so used to flourishing. Gesturing largely. I'm talking passionately, boom, there goes the coffee. The eggs are gone. No, this is helpful. I'm going to be cognitive now to say, okay, when my audience is in person, smaller gestures.
Vicki: You can be smaller.
Nathan: I'm going to have to be conscious of that thought. Yeah, that's really good.
Vicki: Let's say that you wrote a— I'm going to call it a talk rather than a sermon, but
Nathan: it
Vicki: depends on who the audience is here. And maybe you've given the same sermon in different churches, different places. Don't let your mind wander. Focus. In fact, you wrote me this week, you'll have to tell us the story. You said you kind of got off track. And that's dangerous.
Nathan: It sure is.
Vicki: I was once speaking for a huge insurance company. And a huge national telephone company was auditioning me. The meeting planner was in the audience. And it was going great. And I was just, I was having fun with audience and they were laughing and clapping and getting into it. And I thought to myself, wouldn't it be awful if I forgot what I was talking about? Guess what happened?
Nathan: You forgot what you were going to talk about?
Vicki: I mean, I just— because my mind, I wouldn't— I wasn't communicating. I was thinking, wouldn't it be awful? And sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
Nathan: Did you get the job?
Vicki: Not that time. They eventually hired me, but it was a different meeting planner.
Nathan: Along those same lines, you've talked about nerves a few times here. So, as a professional who's done this often, do you ever get rid of the anxiety of public speaking?
Vicki: No, and I think, like I said a minute ago, if you're any good, you'll stay nervous. Zig used to say it's the difference between a racehorse and an old nag. An old nag just stands there and swats flies with his tail. The racehorse is always giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, ready to go.
Nathan: Yeah, yeah. That's been my experience. I figured that after speaking so much amount of time, I just, you know, it's just like, oh, this is just this thing you do. But there is, there's an existential terror every time I have to do any amount of public speaking, some more than others, but it's really there. And I've found anyways for me, and I don't know if this is true for you, It hasn't been a matter of how do I get rid of that anxiety? It's a matter of I've learned how to manage it.
Vicki: Yes. Get the butterflies flying in formation. Yeah.
Nathan: Exactly. Oh, good image.
Vicki: And when I first started, I told you I'd lose my voice every time. I was absolutely terrified. That doesn't happen to me anymore. It's not that kind of terror, but I'm always— I can feel the adrenaline going.
Nathan: Yes. Yeah, there's something there. And it makes sense because you're taking stock in what's happening. What's about to happen is very important.
Vicki: Yes. And if you're a pastor, you're sharing the gospel or truth, God wants that audience to hear. Satan's at work.
Nathan: Yeah.
Vicki: And Satan wants to upset you and he'll do whatever he can to do it. One tip, another tip is know your introduction. And know your conclusion cold. You want to take off and land your talk with gusto. And it'll help if you know exactly how to get into it, because then your nerves will start to subside.
Nathan: Yeah, that's actually good too for if you're trying to not have to read your material. If you know your intro and conclusion very well. Yeah, the audience in the congregation is forgiving if you have a mushy middle. But if you have a powerful intro and conclusion, that will rescue.
Vicki: You got to grab them up front. And then if you land it hard where they're like, oh, wow, then it's a good talk.
Nathan: Yeah, good. Excellent.
Vicki: I'm not a big fan of slides. I want to look at my audience and communicate one-on-one. But if you do use slides, and there's some talks, if you're explaining something or trying to demonstrate something, it's helpful. Try not to use many words. Use as few as possible on each slide. And if you can use photos or pictures instead of words, do that because slides are visual aids. So make sure they're visual. That may not come up much in churches.
Nathan: No, it actually does because people will want to kind of rely on the slides. And actually, this actually reminds me of a story. I remember I was in a church years and years ago, and the, uh, the pastor, he would often find like either a movie clip or an image, and he would base his sermon around there, which is anathema in Crosstalk Global. Base your sermon on the, the text and then go find metaphors. But he would do it in reverse. But there, there was one time, I mean, his whole message hinged on this like video clip that he was using in the slideshow. And the tech team couldn't get it to work. Oh, it just would not work. And so he—
Vicki: oh, what'd he do?
Nathan: He lashed out in the service at the tech team and said, well, it's really hard to find good help these days, and, you know, not knowing how to do their job and all this stuff. And he just kind of moved on, but there was no point. And like, he didn't even bother to explain what this clip was. And so it's just kind of like he muddled and then it ended, and it was horrible. And the whole team was in tears back there because they were just excoriated by the pastor of the church.
Vicki: And he looks bad.
Nathan: And he looks bad because he was out of control. And, you know, I took two lessons from that, actually. I took one is things are going to go wrong and don't mistreat people when they do. I mean, there's, there's a huge difference between, you know, the technology just isn't working or if, if they're messing around. Like I'd had years ago, like some people doing our slides and, and but they were simultaneously playing video games on their phone, you know. And, and so I'm like, hey, can we go to the next slide? Can we go to the next slide? Can we go to the next slide? Hey, Bob. It wasn't Bob. Bob, Bob, Bob. Right. That's a different, you know. But even then, I didn't, you know, criticize them from, from the pulpit. It was just, you know, like, hey, eyes up here. Come on.
Vicki: Yeah, we need to get moving here. Yeah.
Nathan: But I learned, you know, like when technology just doesn't work, like just like be gracious. It's just not going to work. There's times where it just doesn't work.
Vicki: And so don't lose the problem, not the person. Yeah.
Nathan: Oh, that's a good way of putting it. I like that. And then, but then the other thing was don't ever do a talk, a sermon that is reliant on a graphic, you know, or a video clip or anything because those things will go down. And I don't know, I've been doing this 20 years or so. And I'll tell you, multiple times a year, something doesn't come through. And so it's like, okay, well, we're not going to show that, or we're not going to do that, or we're not going to look at that, and we'll move on. Right? My message is not dependent on that.
Vicki: That's good advice. When people start to speak because they're nervous, pros and otherwise, they tend to speak really, really fast. Calm down. Practice speaking slowly. Concentrate on slowing down. And talking about voice, use variety. Emphasize keywords. Pause if you're telling a story. And pause after you've made an important point to let the point sink in. People are terrified of pauses, but they're powerful. Use them. Your goal should be to communicate, not to finish and flee. So pause and don't fidget. It's again, a lot of these I'm thinking are nervous points, but people think, what am I going to do with my hands? What am I going to do with my hands? Use your hands to illustrate your points. Like you were saying, you do it with coffee and eggs at breakfast and whack things off the table accidentally. That's what you do with your hands. And if you don't know how to gesture, and I find that hard, practice in front of a mirror. Get the right gestures until they become second nature.
Nathan: Yeah. And don't put your hands in your pockets. I know, I know it's so hard. Try and resist that as much as possible
Vicki: because you'll want to play with your keys or your coins or— yeah, don't do that. Don't do that. If nothing else, put them, fold them and put them in front of your belt. Just if nothing else, do that. But better that you use them to communicate, just like if you're talking to a friend. And breathe. If you're nervous, your breathing is going to be shallow. Inhale deeply before you start. It'll lower your heart rate and it'll help reduce your stress. So before you even go up to the pulpit or the platform, practice breathing.
Nathan: Now, I find the anxiety, the nerves pretty much go away, or I'm not conscious of them I don't know, 2 minutes into the talk.
Vicki: After you get started.
Nathan: Right. Once I'm into the flow of it, it's like, "Okay, here we are." Unless it's like a really, really, really hard topic, and then it never leaves. But generally, I find I'm not as nervous.
Vicki: And you've been at it a while.
Nathan: As if I've started it. Yeah, that's true.
Vicki: Years ago, I spoke with Zig at the Morton Meyerson Auditorium in downtown Dallas, a huge place. The stage is enormous and it's big enough for the Dallas Symphony to have all their instruments there. So anyway, I was going to be on there all by myself and I had never spoken to thousands of people at that point. And so my father said, go down there and walk out on the stage with, you know, with nobody in the audience and speak. Hear your voice on that stage. And so I did that. And man, it helped. I think if I had just walked out there cold, oh man, I don't— it was scary anyway. But I was— it's like being in an ice skating rink in a mall. It's just everybody looking down on me. And I was so glad I'd gone there the day before and spoken out loud.
Nathan: It really is helpful if you can talk in that space.
Vicki: It really is.
Nathan: I remember years ago, we were in Vietnam, one of the pastors had said, hey, we want you to come talk to our church. So I went to go talk to the church and they put me in essentially a green room. So they're giving me tea and we're having conversation and I'm like, shouldn't we get up there? And they're like, oh no, no, no, no, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Okay. And I've never been in this church before. I don't know where it is. And we're having conversations and they're translating for me and I'm telling anecdotes. Like, I don't even know anymore. I assume we're going to go up and we'll join the worship service and then I'll talk and then a little bit more music can be done. No, they—
Vicki: I can guess this. They say, you're on and you walk out there and
Nathan: then all of a sudden they're like, go, go, go. Like, I'm sitting back, I've got tea and a saucer. I'm all cozy and they're like, go, go, go, go. I'm like, what? You know, like, grab my Bible. They usher me up these steps. 3 floors to where they have their worship center. You're on, right? And they just like, what? And I am in this space. I've never seen this room before. I've never seen these people before. The room was very echoey. I have everything. I don't even know who my translator, who's translating for me, but they just pushed me out there and, and it really did take me a good, I don't know, I'd say 5 to 10 minutes to kind of recover from that shock.
Vicki: I bet it did. Whenever I go speak to whatever size group, usually it's about 500, but I will, and usually it's in a hotel, I will go the night before while they're setting the room up and I'll stand on the platform just to get comfortable because you want to feel as comfortable as you can when you first walk up. So to have them just throw you in there, it's like learning how to swim in the Hudson. It's too much. It's too much.
Nathan: Good New York reference. Thank you.
Vicki: Yes. People love to laugh. So if you're funny, and you can make them laugh, do that. People love endorphins, they'll happily settle for a dopamine squirt. So give it to them if you can. And if you're— but be aware, there are people, I believe this, who come to be offended. It is easy to offend people with humor when you have no intention of doing it. So Be careful what you joke about. If you're not funny or you're not sure about a joke, don't use it. You can always be friendly. Maybe funny, always friendly. And on another note, if you tell a story and do tell stories as often as you can, don't make yourself the hero. And then I— no, no, no.
Nathan: Go and do likewise.
Vicki: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Nathan: But, you know, if there's ever a case where I have to tell a story where I am like the hero, I always just take myself out of the story.
Vicki: How so? And let it be about somebody else.
Nathan: I will say, oh, you know, I will either frame it as if it was like a fictional story. Can you imagine if there was a guy and he did this?
Vicki: Right? Yeah.
Nathan: Or I'll say, you know, I knew a guy, right? But I'll usually just kind of fictionalize it and then it's not an issue. Oh, imagine if you were in this scenario and this happened and then this happened. What would you do? What's the right thing? Oh, this is the right thing to do. Yeah,
Vicki: because you can't say, and I handled that superbly.
Nathan: Right. Yes.
Vicki: You have to—
Nathan: That is why you peasants have come to hear me.
Vicki: Exactly. Exactly. I'm working with an executive right now, and she wants to be good. She doesn't just have natural talent, but she wants to be good. And she's friendly. And she'll go out and she'll say, "Oh, I'm so glad to be here. I was pleased that you invited me to speak today." Yeah, don't do that. That's trite. And like you said, don't apologize and don't say, "I'm nervous." Better just walk out there, pause, and instead of saying, "I'm glad to be here, blah, blah, blah," look at the crowd, smile, pause, and then say something like, If you had told me what I heard yesterday on the radio 10 years ago, I would have never believed it. Because you just suck the crowd into a story. And audiences make their minds up fast. So grab them right up front. Don't— that is valuable real estate. Don't waste it. I was showing a friend of mine who I admire a lot, who's a fabulous speaker, a video that I did. And I had done a good job. I got a standing ovation. The meeting planner was pleased. And he said, "Are you wearing slippers?" And I said, "No, those are Skechers." I said, "I spoke all day, so I didn't want to wear heels." And he said, "Vicki, bite the bullet, wear the heels." He said, "When I see a speaker I want to admire that person and sound like them and look like them. And he said, "No offense, I don't want to look like you."
Nathan: Oh my word.
Vicki: That was early on. It was a good word. Dress appropriately. Know the occasion and know the crowd. If you're going to speak to a bunch of CEOs, dress up, wear a suit. I had a friend that's a really good speaker and he went to speak to CEOs and it happened to be at a bowling center, but he knew they were CEOs and it was a really room in the back. So he walked in. Well, they dress to go bowl, and he's wearing this amazing suit and polished shoes. And so what he did is he took off his jacket, he took off his tie, he rolled his sleeves up, and then he fit right in.
Nathan: Yeah,
Vicki: it's
Nathan: okay. It's easier to dress down. You can't dress—
Vicki: yes, you can't all of a sudden gussy up, but it's easy to be a little overdressed. It's not so okay to be underdressed.
Nathan: Yeah, good word.
Vicki: One thing I found very effective is you can do this with a church or you can do this with an organization. If you can use illustrations of the people in the crowd, do that. Especially, well, period, do that. But especially if you're a guest speaker, because it shows a couple of things about you. It shows that you care. It shows that you did your homework. And then whatever you say has buy-in. Like, I spoke to a huge oil company. And I had called Texaco and Shell and all these different places. And I talked to their top executives. And I got their names and numbers from the meeting planners. The talk I was giving was about soft skills. And most of the audience were men. And normally, they would sit there with their arms crossed like, "Oh, tell me something I care about." But because I was able to say, Joe Blow with Mobile does this, let me tell you his story. Then they all sit forward and listen and they've got immediate buy-in and stories about them, that audience, are gold. When you're telling stories, have energy. You don't want to be fake. You don't want to over-emote, but you want to have energy. Speaking is a performance of sorts, so be willing to put on a show. I'm not saying be fake. But if you are monotone and stiff, you'll bore the crowd and you won't be effective. So don't do that. There's a big difference between Robin Williams kind of energy and Garrison Keillor kind of energy, but both of them use energy to keep the crowd interested. Be true to yourself, but plug yourself in. Don't unplug.
Nathan: That's huge because I know at Crosstalk we'll talk about that with some people and they're just like, oh, I'm just not. I, you know, I just don't have that kind of presence. I— this is how I am. And, and I think making that distinction is great. Yeah. No one's asking you to bounce off the walls like Robin Williams, right?
Vicki: No.
Nathan: But, but you do need to have some sort of personality as you're bringing it into this. And there's— there are a few, but there's very few people who are just monotone the whole time.
Vicki: Oh, just even hearing you do that little bit.
Nathan: Just ever. I've run into a few people like that, but not many. Most of the people who say, well, no, I can't. And they're very monotone in their preaching. But if I get them talking about, you know, I don't know, the Blue Jays or their favorite hockey team or something they're really into, they perk up, they start talking, you know, tell me about the latest engine that you worked on, on a car. And they're, oh, well, let me tell you about this, right? Like, oh, okay, there it is. That's it. Bring that person onto the stage.
Vicki: My dad told me a story once. He said that he had a preaching student and he was just very monotone and boring and dull. And he was talking about his wife and saying that he loved her. And my dad interrupted him and he said, "You don't love your wife." And he just picked him and he said, "You don't. I know that you don't. I can tell." And he made him really angry. And he said, "Okay, now go up there and preach it." And the guy was full of adrenaline and he was mad. And he was, "I love my wife. I love my wife." And he taught all about it. And the crowd burst into applause, all the other students. He had it in him. He just wasn't willing to do it. So, whatever it takes, get that. And you don't have to be ridiculous with it. I mean, don't be ridiculous. Be yourself, but be your animated self.
Nathan: Yeah.
Vicki: Here's another good point. If you're introducing a speaker, a missionary, a guest speaker, or even the person making announcements, whoever you're introducing, don't just give a glowing introduction and then go sit down. Wait for the missionary, the guest speaker, or the announcement maker to get up to the podium and then shake their hand and then walk off. Don't ever leave the podium empty. It's like listening to the radio or the television and all of a sudden it just goes dead.
Nathan: Right.
Vicki: People expect the show to continue. So, wait for the next speaker and then leave.
Nathan: It's kind of like when I'm listening to a podcast and it's not a very professional one and it goes really quiet for really long. I'm always pulling my phone out like, "Oh, did I hit something? Is it off now?
Vicki: Oh, no." Is that me or them?
Nathan: They just stopped talking for 5 minutes or whatever it is, like 30 seconds. It's not even 5 minutes. It's usually like 10 seconds and I'm already, "Oh, I must have hit something. Oh, wait, no. They're just paused awkwardly."
Vicki: We're big at crosstalk of emphasizing the one big idea per talk. You can have a number of supporting ideas to clarify and explain your one big idea. But if you will decide, what am I talking about? And what am I saying about what I'm talking about? And then put that one idea into a catchy sentence and drive that thought home, your audience will remember your talk. I have had the experience of saying, I go to a big church and I'll walk out and I'll go, oh, that was a great sermon. And somebody walking in will go, what was it about? And then I'll say, Oh, I don't know. But when you have a strong idea—
Nathan: Jesus, it was Jesus. It was Jesus.
Vicki: If you have a strong idea, like, if the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit, and you drive that home, people remember it. Or for a nutritionist, if God didn't make it, don't put it in your mouth. Or don't doubt God's goodness. And then you explain that and you make sure they understand it and buy into it. Don't doubt God's goodness. Then people can remember your talk, and if they remember it, then you have a chance for them to act on it.
Nathan: Yeah, this past Sunday I, I used an illustration from the old comic— not even a comic strip, the comic page, The Far Side.
Vicki: Oh yeah.
Nathan: And it was so obscure I had to explain it. There's a picture of a pirate ship and a plank, and a guy has already walked the plank. He's fallen into the water. And then there's this one guy, he's tied up, but he's whistling and like jumping and skipping his way down the plank. And the pirate's like, "Oh no, buddy, you're going to walk the plank like everybody else." And the point I was making, I said, you know, as we choose to trust God in the midst of trials and tribulations and storms, it's going to seem a little crazy. Our trust, our hope is going to build and we're going to look like a bit bonkers. Hey, you're about to walk the plank. What are you so joyful about? Why are you still trusting God? But God has changed you. Your choice to trust him over and over and over again has fundamentally changed your outlook on everything. And, and I concluded the sermon. So that was like way early in the sermon. I'm going, going, going, going. At the end of the sermon, the last thing I said was, don't walk the plank like everybody else.
Vicki: Oh, good, good.
Nathan: And my goodness, remember
Vicki: that,
Nathan: that really resounded with people because I have to say it.
Vicki: They can picture it.
Nathan: Yeah. At least 5 or 6 people were just like, "I'm walking the plank with a smile on my face." Yeah. Going through trials and tribulations and difficulties. So it was something that landed for once. And now I've just violated one of the stories you and I were talking, or one of the rules you and I were talking about, 'cause I made myself the hero of the story.
Vicki: No, no, no, no. The story was the hero, the cartoon. Yeah. No, that's good. You want one idea that people will remember. And they can remember, if you do a good job, they can remember it for years, for decades. Don't walk the plank like everybody else.
Nathan: Yeah, we're all going to walk the plank. The storms are all going to come.
Vicki: Yeah.
Nathan: You know, but Christ is in the midst of it and it has purpose if you're a Christian.
Vicki: How you go through it is what counts. That's right. So those are my tips. There may be other ones out there, but that'll sure get you started and going strong.
Nathan: Yeah, and it's helpful because especially if you haven't been doing this for a long time or you've just kind of been doing it not knowing why you're doing it or how you're doing it, this is really helpful, encouraging information. I wish when I started out I could have listened to a podcast like this. It would have saved me years of trial and error and just kind of gleaning what I could from what sources I could. But I mean, you do what you know, right? So I grew up in a church which was very kind of dry, verse by verse. Heavily manuscript, heavy exegesis kind of conversation. So I thought that's what I would do, but that didn't fit my personality. And I saw energy from other people, so I tried to emulate it. And it really wasn't until I took Kent's class where I go, oh, oh, oh, okay, this is how I can take biblical truth and communicate it effectively, winsomely, with my own personality still in place.
Vicki: Which is what you want.
Nathan: Absolutely.
Vicki: Excellent. Excellent.
Nathan: Well, thank you, Vicki. I appreciate you being here today and as you are every week.
Vicki: I always enjoy being with you. It's fun. And I hope that helps the audience. Zig used to say, "Professionals like to learn and they like to be reminded." So,
Nathan: as we just heard, professionals like to learn and they like to be reminded. They like to be reminded. To find out more about Vicki's public speaking, please visit www.keynotespeaker.com. The Crosstalk Podcast is a production of Crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational nonprofit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. You can also support this show by rating it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you Be sure to listen in next Friday and discover how you can go deeper in your relationship with God. You won't want to miss it.