For my analysis of a General Conference talk (or speech) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I decided to focus on the talk "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence" given by Elder Jorg Klebingat, a member of one of the quorums of the Seventy.
I’m also going to compare the talk "Living According to the Words of the Prophets" given by Carol F. McConkie
to Elder Klebingat’s talk.
Elder Klebingat stated after his brief introduction to his
talk that he had six suggestions for the audience to help them avoid wasting
time feeling unworthy or less in some way.
Elder Klebingat’s six suggestions made a ton of sense to me, and because
of this they helped give him plenty of credibility. Often, with a speaker who is new (especially
a Seventy as in this case), it can be difficult to pay attention. This can be for many reasons, but, whatever
the case, Elder Klebingat avoided this by building up his logos early on
and continuing to build it up throughout his talk.
After starting in these two ways, Elder Klebingat began to
speak quickly (probably because of how little time he was given to speak) and
confidently on his topic. This is the part
of Elder Klebingat’s talk that I would like to compare with Sister McConkie’s
talk.
Elder Klebingat and Sister McConkie spoke confidently,
grabbing the attention of the audience and keeping the attention throughout
their talks. Considering the calling of Elder Klebingat to be a
leader over the young men of the church, and considering the calling of Sister
McConkie to be a leader over the young women of the church, it makes sense that they would
know how to speak confidently in order to grab the attention of the
audience. Working with young men and
young women would definitely require this.
Also, neither one employed a fake voice, which can make the whole talk seem fake. They both knew what they wanted to say, and they said it confidently, letting the whole audience know that they meant it with all their hearts. This really helps grab the audience’s attention and keep it throughout the talk or speech, and often people prefer this approach because they can pay attention more and get more out of the talk or speech.
Also, neither one employed a fake voice, which can make the whole talk seem fake. They both knew what they wanted to say, and they said it confidently, letting the whole audience know that they meant it with all their hearts. This really helps grab the audience’s attention and keep it throughout the talk or speech, and often people prefer this approach because they can pay attention more and get more out of the talk or speech.
You mentioned that Elder Klebingat built up his logos early on, and then continued to do so--but how? I am just curious as to your thoughts on this... But I do agree that confidence does grab the attention of the audience members. It's interesting also, that his quick list of 6 things stuck out and were so easily applied to so many. I think he was hoping for just that as he prepared.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that in general conference speakers almost always begin their talks by stating their purpose, starting a story, or reading a scripture. Seldom do they tell where they grew up, or where they went to school, etc. It's an interesting contrast from sacrament meeting, and something I think we could learn a lot from.
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