The other day I was with my in-laws and my mother in law was listening to her church service on the radio.  (We were camping with them.)

The pastor gave his sermon and it was okay.

After the sermon he gave the announcements and….well….he sucked at it.  I mean, not only did I not want to attend the events he was talking about…I wanted to go to another church!  Basically he did not sound as if he believed in the events he was promoting.  I suppose it is possible he did not.  (Side note..in these announcements was one of the most blatant "sheep stealing" plea I had ever heard.  That really gets me steamed.)

When I reflect on my speaking I realize I can do the same.  (minus the sheep stealing!)  When I preach I am well prepared and know what I am going to say and how I am going to say it.  I hopefully say it well. When I am giving announcements, I often run up to the platform with a few words scribbled on an index card.  I can probably come across as mediocre…at best.  We can get away with the index card if we don’t…well…suck and come across as not believing what we are sharing.

LifeHack.org gives us a series of behaviors to avoid on the phone to sound more confident – but I think they apply to giving announcements or any other area where we are up in front of people speaking.  They are…

  • Saying ‘um’ and ‘ah’ more often than you should
  • Saying ‘like’, ’sort of’, ‘maybe’, ‘you know’ or other filler words which can make you sound unsure or immature
  • Raising the pitch of your voice at the end of a statement (as if
    you were asking a question), which sounds child-like (try saying “My
    name is [your name]” and raising the pitch at the end)
  • Speaking constantly in the same tone of voice, which can make you sound boring and tired

Source:  http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-to-instantly-sound-more-confident-the-next-time-you-make-a-phone-call.html