How to hook your audience

I’ve been reading a new book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. In this book, the Heaths talk about the elements of change.

We can try to change things from the outside in, starting with the environment, but lasting change won’t happen until we hook the heart. Once the heart is engaged, the emotional energy will catapult a person or organization through change.

Yesterday, I rediscovered one of my favorite TED talks. In this talk, Simon Senik talks about communication for change – people don’t engage when you tell them information. They engage when you engage their heart or their passion. They engage when you show them why. Or, put another way (from Simon), “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

This has a lot of implications for those of us in Church leadership. Why do you do what you do? Try starting your next sermon with the why. You will find people stay engaged longer and want to hear more.

Here is a special treat for you, straight from TED talks: