February 3, 2025 • 15 mins
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This week, we dive into the best of episodes from the Take the Stage podcast, focusing on the essentials of message and story development for speakers and storytellers.
We'll cover actionable steps like understanding your message's audience, creating a powerful opening, finding a connection point, and delivering a transformational journey.
Plus, I'll share pro tips on crafting a sticky statement and effective closing techniques.
00:00 Introduction to Storyspire Podcast
00:49 Join the Take the Stage Facebook Group
01:34 Elements of a Message that Moves People to Action
03:02 Understanding Your Audience and Message Purpose
04:51 Crafting the Opening of Your Message
05:58 Creating Connection: Moving from Me to We
08:39 Sharing Your Story: Timing and Readiness
12:03 Transformational Teaching Points
12:59 Effective Closings and Recap
14:41 Final Thoughts and Practice Tips
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Thanks for joining us on the StorySpire podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and review to help us reach even more speakers like you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to the Storyspirepodcast.
I'm Mary R.
Snyder.
I am your host and storytellingstrategist.
I'm here with expert advice,actionable tips, and frameworks
to create the stories that willinspire hearts and minds because
stories change the world.
Let's get into it.
(00:29):
For the next few weeks, I amrunning a best of series.
These episodes originally ran onthe take the stage podcast.
We're going to be talking a lotabout message and story
development about the nuts andbolts of being a speaker and a
storyteller.
All right.
I hope you enjoy it.
Let's do this.
(00:49):
Hello there.
I hope you're having a greatday.
Before we get into today'sepisode, and I'm excited about
today's episode, as always, Ijust wanted to remind you, I
don't want you to miss out onanything that we are doing in
the Take the Stage Facebookgroup.
It's a fun place.
We've got some things coming up.
(01:11):
They don't even know about yet.
So I don't want you to miss out.
You can join us by going to takethe stage speakers.
Literally, all you have to do isdo that search in Facebook and
find the group and click joinand you're there and I will be
thrilled to invite you in.
And as always, I want to remindyou, if you have not joined my
(01:32):
email list, please do so.
Today we are doing our episodeon the elements of a message
that Moves people to action.
Now, what does that mean?
What does it mean moves peopleto action?
There are a lot of messages outthere that maybe you've listened
(01:52):
to that you said, well, that wasinteresting I enjoyed that and
you walk away, but God has givenyou gifted you and entrusted you
with this message you have Yourunique message, and it is meant
to move someone to action.
(02:15):
What is that action?
Well, it's going to be dependenton what your message is.
When I talk about how God movedme out of place of complacency
with an aneurysm nonetheless, Iam encouraging people to step
into a deeper walk with theLord.
So my action step for them is,are you willing to trust God's
(02:38):
plan?
Are you willing to take the nextstep?
Will you take the time to builda relationship with the one who
loves you?
That's my action step.
So what is your action step?
Understanding that is going tobe key to this.
(02:59):
I want to start at thebeginning.
The beginning is Who is thismessage for?
You know, I ask that a lot.
Who is this message forspecifically and What problem do
you solve with this message?
And the reason I ask those twoquestions is you have to
(03:20):
understand who you'recommunicating with.
To and why you are communicatingto them.
What is your point?
What is the reason you want toshare this message?
Why has God given this to you?
You know when I share themessage about stepping into the
(03:41):
fullness of your calling whichis the story of me having an
aneurysm and walking throughthat season.
I want people Number one I lovethat God has given it to me
because I didn't understand whyI went through what I went
through You But on this side ofit, I am able to now use what
(04:03):
God did in my life and showpeople how God can move in their
life.
And they don't even have to getan aneurysm to do it.
So that's the blessing.
So number one is who is thismessage for?
What problem do you solve?
That's number one.
(04:23):
That's two questions in numberone.
And then there's a third one iswhy are you communicating this
message?
Why?
And it very well could bebecause God's called me to it,
and that is a perfectly good andsolid reason.
So let that be kind of what youponder on today, and you may
want to key mark this episodeand come back and listen to it
(04:46):
again, because we're going towalk through several different
elements of the message.
So the first element after weget that is the actual structure
of your message.
So opening, that is your verybeginning of your message.
It is where you're going tostart.
I say stand and start if youlistened to last week.
(05:07):
That's what I talk about.
You walk and you start in themiddle of the action.
Put people right where it'shappening.
No set up, just what's going on.
What are you experiencing?
You want people involved in thestory.
There was a knock on the door.
(05:28):
I opened the door and somethinghappens right there.
Think about the middle of yourstory.
Now everything in you is goingto want to share all the
backstory.
All the reasons why, the whatfor's, the what not's.
And I caution you, you can sharethat later, start in the middle
(05:48):
of the story, captivate youraudience so they are leaning in
and then you have to create thestory.
the connection with youraudience.
This is where the story shiftsbecause the story starts with
you.
Your story.
The me part of it.
It's the me.
And then I want you to bring inthe we.
(06:10):
This is how we move from me towe.
And how can you do that?
You know, when I tell the storyof the aneurysm, I talk about it
most all people.
I cannot connect with thatbecause it's not a common
occurrence.
But then I talk about how I wasin a very lukewarm place with my
(06:33):
faith, that I had become verycomplacent in my walk with
Jesus.
Life was super easy and so, socomfortable.
And I wake up one day.
And it's not.
I go from this truly charmedlife with doing exactly what I
(06:55):
loved in a way that I loved andjust coasting in my faith and in
my walk with Jesus to a newplace where it's, Oh my, I have
got to lean on the Lord becausesomeone just told me I could
(07:15):
die.
And it took me just a moment toto realize how complacent I was.
So when I tell that story, and Italk about moving from this fate
that was just on autopilot toclinging to the Word of God for
(07:36):
my very existence, that's whereI move from the me to the we.
And that's when I lean into theaudience and say, Anybody with
me?
Anybody ever been there?
Has your faith ever been onautopilot?
Where it's kind of coasting andyou're really not even paying
attention?
(07:57):
Where you show up for churchevery Sunday and every Sunday
night and maybe even Wednesdayand you go to maybe all the
events, but that's it?
You open your Bible every dayand you do a little short
reading and that's it?
It's just checking boxes?
When I use that, then peoplelean in.
(08:20):
That's when my connection beginsto happen.
It's in the beginning of themiddle.
So I've told my story, I'vegotten their attention, now I
want them to join me.
And that's where they join me,is in that connection point.
So where are you going to movefrom your story into the
connection point?
And I want to pause right here.
(08:42):
I want to remind you that thereare times When we're not ready
to share our story because it'stoo raw and too new, and that's
okay, it can take time.
It may take a year, or twoyears, or ten years.
But you have to heal fromwhatever you've walked through.
(09:06):
And walked through and out ofthe other side before you can
bring others along on thejourney.
Now, I've seen speakers step ona stage in a place where they
were not ready and they spenttheir entire 35 minutes talking
about themselves.
It stayed all in the me becausethey were processing what they
(09:30):
were going through they werestill processing that out The
stage is not a place for that.
That's for you and the Lord toprocess out So the middle is
where you're gonna make theconnection It's where you're
gonna move the story from me towe you're gonna bring them in So
let's say you dealt withinfertility.
Not everyone has that story, buteveryone Has had the story of
(09:54):
wanting something and it nothappening.
Have you ever wanted somethingand God was silent.
It was neither yes nor no.
It was just a pause.
People connect with that.
Find a connection point thatconnects with your person.
(10:14):
Now, I always love a good stickystatement because a sticky
statement drives home yourpoint.
In, when I do the message onyour calling, I use the sticky
statement.
My confidence is in my calling,not in me.
My confidence is in my calling.
(10:36):
And that is just the statement Irepeat over and over throughout
my message.
Whatever your sticky statementis, it just needs to be sticky.
It doesn't have to make completesense.
I know that sounds crazy.
But what I just said, myconfidence is in my calling.
Unless you hear the entiremessage and hear me talk about
(10:56):
how I had placed confidence in alot of things and I realized
that I didn't have to be perfectand the best and arrived, that
my confidence as a speaker, as atrainer, as a teacher was that
God had called me to it and hewould equip me for it.
That's where my confidence isand that resonates with people
(11:20):
because people, we all feel.
like we're not quite good enoughto stand up and be communicators
for Christ.
We never feel qualified forthat.
So creating a sticky statement,a sticky statement really is
your core idea.
And what you want it to be iswhen that comes up in someone's
(11:41):
brain, they go, Oh, I rememberthat It reminds them of the
message.
So Work on a statement that issticky, that people will
remember, and that reminds themthe core of your message.
So we've gone through the me andthe we.
Now we're going to move toanother part of the we.
(12:03):
And it's what I call thetransformational part of the we.
This is where you find theteaching points.
This is where you find the, howdo I move here?
How do I go from having alukewarm, Autopilot faith to a
faith on fire.
What are those steps?
What's the application?
What do they need to do?
(12:25):
This is where you give them thesteps.
You give them the outline.
You give them this verse andthis thing and that thing and
this is what God did in my lifeand He will do it in yours.
That's where you move themthrough.
The transformation.
How can you use yourtransformation to inspire
(12:48):
others?
challenge your audience.
Remember, your audience isthere.
They're ready.
So all you have to do is takethem on that journey.
Now, the last thing is yourclosing.
How do you close?
How do you circle back and, anddo all the things and recap?
There's a lot of ways to close.
(13:10):
I like to close with my stickystatement as I wrap up my
message.
It's actually the last thing Isay.
I circle back to the beginningand I say, you know what?
You probably didn't ever have ananeurysm.
I'm so glad you didn't.
But we've all walked through.
autopilot faith.
(13:32):
We've all been less than.
We've all felt like that wecan't do this, but God has
called us to something bigger.
And I go on through my close andthen I close with never forget
your confidence is in yourcalling.
And I step off the stage.
(13:53):
I want them to be the lastmoment, the very thing that they
will remember and hold on to.
Because when they remember that,they remember the how, the
transformational.
So, you're walking through theme, that's your story.
The we, the connection.
(14:13):
The second we is thetransformation.
And then you're going to go backto.
The me and we.
So in your closing, you're goingback to the me and we, going
back to your story, circlingback, recap your major points,
(14:34):
reiterate your scripture versethat you held on to.
And then your sticky statement.
Now, that's a lot to take in, ina podcast episode.
And I know that.
So, this is one that you maywant to listen to pause.
Listen to pause.
Listen to pause.
Because message development issomething that takes time.
(14:57):
You're going to develop thismessage.
You're going to practice it.
You're going to play with it.
But, do me a favor.
Don't just write.
Speak it out loud.
The written word and the spokenword are very different.
And what looks good on paper maynot sound as good when you say
it and what sounds good may notlook good on paper.
(15:20):
Alright, you all have a greatrest of your day.
Bye for now.
Have a good one
Welcome to the Storyspirepodcast.
I'm Mary R.
Snyder.
I am your host and storytellingstrategist.
I'm here with expert advice,actionable tips, and frameworks
to create the stories that willinspire hearts and minds because
stories change the world.
Let's get into it.
(00:29):
For the next few weeks, I amrunning a best of series.
These episodes originally ran onthe take the stage podcast.
We're going to be talking a lotabout message and story
development about the nuts andbolts of being a speaker and a
storyteller.
All right.
I hope you enjoy it.
Let's do this.
(00:49):
Hello there.
I hope you're having a greatday.
Before we get into today'sepisode, and I'm excited about
today's episode, as always, Ijust wanted to remind you, I
don't want you to miss out onanything that we are doing in
the Take the Stage Facebookgroup.
It's a fun place.
We've got some things coming up.
(01:11):
They don't even know about yet.
So I don't want you to miss out.
You can join us by going to takethe stage speakers.
Literally, all you have to do isdo that search in Facebook and
find the group and click joinand you're there and I will be
thrilled to invite you in.
And as always, I want to remindyou, if you have not joined my
(01:32):
email list, please do so.
Today we are doing our episodeon the elements of a message
that Moves people to action.
Now, what does that mean?
What does it mean moves peopleto action?
There are a lot of messages outthere that maybe you've listened
(01:52):
to that you said, well, that wasinteresting I enjoyed that and
you walk away, but God has givenyou gifted you and entrusted you
with this message you have Yourunique message, and it is meant
to move someone to action.
(02:15):
What is that action?
Well, it's going to be dependenton what your message is.
When I talk about how God movedme out of place of complacency
with an aneurysm nonetheless, Iam encouraging people to step
into a deeper walk with theLord.
So my action step for them is,are you willing to trust God's
(02:38):
plan?
Are you willing to take the nextstep?
Will you take the time to builda relationship with the one who
loves you?
That's my action step.
So what is your action step?
Understanding that is going tobe key to this.
(02:59):
I want to start at thebeginning.
The beginning is Who is thismessage for?
You know, I ask that a lot.
Who is this message forspecifically and What problem do
you solve with this message?
And the reason I ask those twoquestions is you have to
(03:20):
understand who you'recommunicating with.
To and why you are communicatingto them.
What is your point?
What is the reason you want toshare this message?
Why has God given this to you?
You know when I share themessage about stepping into the
(03:41):
fullness of your calling whichis the story of me having an
aneurysm and walking throughthat season.
I want people Number one I lovethat God has given it to me
because I didn't understand whyI went through what I went
through You But on this side ofit, I am able to now use what
(04:03):
God did in my life and showpeople how God can move in their
life.
And they don't even have to getan aneurysm to do it.
So that's the blessing.
So number one is who is thismessage for?
What problem do you solve?
That's number one.
(04:23):
That's two questions in numberone.
And then there's a third one iswhy are you communicating this
message?
Why?
And it very well could bebecause God's called me to it,
and that is a perfectly good andsolid reason.
So let that be kind of what youponder on today, and you may
want to key mark this episodeand come back and listen to it
(04:46):
again, because we're going towalk through several different
elements of the message.
So the first element after weget that is the actual structure
of your message.
So opening, that is your verybeginning of your message.
It is where you're going tostart.
I say stand and start if youlistened to last week.
(05:07):
That's what I talk about.
You walk and you start in themiddle of the action.
Put people right where it'shappening.
No set up, just what's going on.
What are you experiencing?
You want people involved in thestory.
There was a knock on the door.
(05:28):
I opened the door and somethinghappens right there.
Think about the middle of yourstory.
Now everything in you is goingto want to share all the
backstory.
All the reasons why, the whatfor's, the what not's.
And I caution you, you can sharethat later, start in the middle
(05:48):
of the story, captivate youraudience so they are leaning in
and then you have to create thestory.
the connection with youraudience.
This is where the story shiftsbecause the story starts with
you.
Your story.
The me part of it.
It's the me.
And then I want you to bring inthe we.
(06:10):
This is how we move from me towe.
And how can you do that?
You know, when I tell the storyof the aneurysm, I talk about it
most all people.
I cannot connect with thatbecause it's not a common
occurrence.
But then I talk about how I wasin a very lukewarm place with my
(06:33):
faith, that I had become verycomplacent in my walk with
Jesus.
Life was super easy and so, socomfortable.
And I wake up one day.
And it's not.
I go from this truly charmedlife with doing exactly what I
(06:55):
loved in a way that I loved andjust coasting in my faith and in
my walk with Jesus to a newplace where it's, Oh my, I have
got to lean on the Lord becausesomeone just told me I could
(07:15):
die.
And it took me just a moment toto realize how complacent I was.
So when I tell that story, and Italk about moving from this fate
that was just on autopilot toclinging to the Word of God for
(07:36):
my very existence, that's whereI move from the me to the we.
And that's when I lean into theaudience and say, Anybody with
me?
Anybody ever been there?
Has your faith ever been onautopilot?
Where it's kind of coasting andyou're really not even paying
attention?
(07:57):
Where you show up for churchevery Sunday and every Sunday
night and maybe even Wednesdayand you go to maybe all the
events, but that's it?
You open your Bible every dayand you do a little short
reading and that's it?
It's just checking boxes?
When I use that, then peoplelean in.
(08:20):
That's when my connection beginsto happen.
It's in the beginning of themiddle.
So I've told my story, I'vegotten their attention, now I
want them to join me.
And that's where they join me,is in that connection point.
So where are you going to movefrom your story into the
connection point?
And I want to pause right here.
(08:42):
I want to remind you that thereare times When we're not ready
to share our story because it'stoo raw and too new, and that's
okay, it can take time.
It may take a year, or twoyears, or ten years.
But you have to heal fromwhatever you've walked through.
(09:06):
And walked through and out ofthe other side before you can
bring others along on thejourney.
Now, I've seen speakers step ona stage in a place where they
were not ready and they spenttheir entire 35 minutes talking
about themselves.
It stayed all in the me becausethey were processing what they
(09:30):
were going through they werestill processing that out The
stage is not a place for that.
That's for you and the Lord toprocess out So the middle is
where you're gonna make theconnection It's where you're
gonna move the story from me towe you're gonna bring them in So
let's say you dealt withinfertility.
Not everyone has that story, buteveryone Has had the story of
(09:54):
wanting something and it nothappening.
Have you ever wanted somethingand God was silent.
It was neither yes nor no.
It was just a pause.
People connect with that.
Find a connection point thatconnects with your person.
(10:14):
Now, I always love a good stickystatement because a sticky
statement drives home yourpoint.
In, when I do the message onyour calling, I use the sticky
statement.
My confidence is in my calling,not in me.
My confidence is in my calling.
(10:36):
And that is just the statement Irepeat over and over throughout
my message.
Whatever your sticky statementis, it just needs to be sticky.
It doesn't have to make completesense.
I know that sounds crazy.
But what I just said, myconfidence is in my calling.
Unless you hear the entiremessage and hear me talk about
(10:56):
how I had placed confidence in alot of things and I realized
that I didn't have to be perfectand the best and arrived, that
my confidence as a speaker, as atrainer, as a teacher was that
God had called me to it and hewould equip me for it.
That's where my confidence isand that resonates with people
(11:20):
because people, we all feel.
like we're not quite good enoughto stand up and be communicators
for Christ.
We never feel qualified forthat.
So creating a sticky statement,a sticky statement really is
your core idea.
And what you want it to be iswhen that comes up in someone's
(11:41):
brain, they go, Oh, I rememberthat It reminds them of the
message.
So Work on a statement that issticky, that people will
remember, and that reminds themthe core of your message.
So we've gone through the me andthe we.
Now we're going to move toanother part of the we.
(12:03):
And it's what I call thetransformational part of the we.
This is where you find theteaching points.
This is where you find the, howdo I move here?
How do I go from having alukewarm, Autopilot faith to a
faith on fire.
What are those steps?
What's the application?
What do they need to do?
(12:25):
This is where you give them thesteps.
You give them the outline.
You give them this verse andthis thing and that thing and
this is what God did in my lifeand He will do it in yours.
That's where you move themthrough.
The transformation.
How can you use yourtransformation to inspire
(12:48):
others?
challenge your audience.
Remember, your audience isthere.
They're ready.
So all you have to do is takethem on that journey.
Now, the last thing is yourclosing.
How do you close?
How do you circle back and, anddo all the things and recap?
There's a lot of ways to close.
(13:10):
I like to close with my stickystatement as I wrap up my
message.
It's actually the last thing Isay.
I circle back to the beginningand I say, you know what?
You probably didn't ever have ananeurysm.
I'm so glad you didn't.
But we've all walked through.
autopilot faith.
(13:32):
We've all been less than.
We've all felt like that wecan't do this, but God has
called us to something bigger.
And I go on through my close andthen I close with never forget
your confidence is in yourcalling.
And I step off the stage.
(13:53):
I want them to be the lastmoment, the very thing that they
will remember and hold on to.
Because when they remember that,they remember the how, the
transformational.
So, you're walking through theme, that's your story.
The we, the connection.
(14:13):
The second we is thetransformation.
And then you're going to go backto.
The me and we.
So in your closing, you're goingback to the me and we, going
back to your story, circlingback, recap your major points,
(14:34):
reiterate your scripture versethat you held on to.
And then your sticky statement.
Now, that's a lot to take in, ina podcast episode.
And I know that.
So, this is one that you maywant to listen to pause.
Listen to pause.
Listen to pause.
Because message development issomething that takes time.
(14:57):
You're going to develop thismessage.
You're going to practice it.
You're going to play with it.
But, do me a favor.
Don't just write.
Speak it out loud.
The written word and the spokenword are very different.
And what looks good on paper maynot sound as good when you say
it and what sounds good may notlook good on paper.
(15:20):
Alright, you all have a greatrest of your day.
Bye for now.
Have a good one
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