Getchyer sketches here
I’ve posted a number of sketch scripts. Here are a few thoughts about how to use them:
- Read them out loud. It is hard to tell if a script is any good if you are reading it silently. Act it out a bit. Bring it to life.
- These sketches are free. Take them. Use them. Share them. If one of them works for you, could you tell me?
- Chop and change. These sketches were written for specific meetings. You may need a different ending or a different type of character. So do that. Re-write to suit your needs.
- Be silly.
- Be physical. My experience is that people laugh harder when I get hit on the head with a frying pan than they do at the really clever joke with a nod to the Two Ronnies that I’ve slaved over for a week.
Hope this helps.
4 May 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
drama
We did a good thing
I say we. It was mostly Steve and Gill’s idea. I help hold them to it now and again. The idea was, when we start a church, let’s not use a bunch of terminology that only we understand. Let’s speak everyday English.
In my wandering on the web I visit quite a few church websites. Pretty much none of them get it. The big attractional churches don’t get it. The new missional churches don’t get it. (I’m using jargon here because I’m writing for Christians.) The churches in between don’t get it either.
Don’t believe me? Imagine you’ve never been to church before. Pick a church. Visit the website. Do you, the imaginary non-church you, have a clue what they are talking about?
It’s a simple idea. Missionaries to other cultures get it. Talk the same language as the people you want to reach.
Take a good, hard look at your church’s lexicon. If you are saying things in a way that only people who are already in the club can easily understand, find a new way to say it.
Probably what you will really do is go to my church’s website and look for how we are failing to be understandable. (Please do. Then comment here. We appreciate any help we can get.) After you get us sorted out, maybe have a look at you.
18 April 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
communication
In which I quote Seth Godin at length and ask all preachers to consider what they do on a Sunday morning
From this post: The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. That’s the only reason I can think of to spend the time and resources. If your goal isn’t to change minds, perhaps you should consider a different approach.
- The best presentation is no presentation at all. If you can get by with a memo, send a memo. I can read it faster than you can present it and we’ll both enjoy it more.
- The second best presentation is one on one. No slides, no microphone. You look me in the eye and change my mind.
- Third best? Live and fully interactive.
- Powerpoint or Keynote, but with no bullets, just emotional pictures and stories.
- And last best… well, if you really think you can change my mind by using tons of bullets and a droning presentation, I’m skeptical.
So, according to Seth, we preachers are putting the best hours of our week into something that is usually between the fourth and last best way of changing people’s minds.
Oh dear.
I think the thing to do is blow him off, because any alternative is a bit unthinkable.
15 April 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
communication,
quotes
Seth Godin on the difference between a show and a story
From the article: ‘Putting on a show is expensive, time-consuming and quite fun. And it rarely works.’
9 February 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
quotes
This is not the blitz. We have not been evacuated.
We just came back from a week’s holiday on a farm in the cotswolds. The cottage we booked was a converted dairy barn with a wall of big windows and three bedrooms. There was one problem. When we arrived we were shown into another end of the converted barn with almost no windows and two bedrooms. The cottage we had booked was not available. Other people were staying in it. We were not happy.
The manager was semi-aplogetic. He made a call to the owner to see what could be done. Nothing. He asked us to stay where we were for the night and speak to the owner in the morning when she was at the farm.
We went to bed thinking we would sort it out in the morning, get a fair bit of our money back and get on with enjoying our stay, even though the accomodation wasn’t as good as we wanted.
In the morning the owner did not come to see us. By the time I went looking for her she was gone. She did tell the manager that there would be no compensation for us.
Later in the afternoon, when we were somewhere with a phone signal, I called her. She explained to me that when we changed the date of our holiday – something a school schedule prompted this; she seemed very accomdating at the time – she had mentioned a cottage was available, but she didn’t say it was a different cottage because I didn’t seem interested. She corrected me when I told her that the two cottages were qualitatively different. She complained to me about how she lost a week of income because we booked from Friday to Friday instead of Saturday to Saturday – nevermind that she offered it to me. She complained more about how I took so long to confirm the date change by post – nevermind that she didn’t tell me that this was more important to her booking process than just record-keeping. She boasted to me about what a good job she was doing to make our holiday nice. She scolded me in tones of a teacher disappointed with a young student for even calling her instead of just getting on with our holiday. She finished by hoping (her voice sounded more like expecting) that when she came back to the farm later in the week that we would be enjoying ourselves instead of moping around. She pettily offered £10 back because our cottage was a bit cheaper.
Explain. Correct. Complain. Complain. Boast. Scold. Hope. Pettiness. I was glad get be off the phone!
One simple thing could have prevented this situation: One piece of information. The owner could have told me that if we changed dates we would have to change cottages.
Another simple thing could have fixed it: Mr Gill, so I’m sorry for the mix-up. What can I do to make this right?
If she had done that, she would have had fans. We would have come back. As it is she held on to a few pounds, sent our estimation of her into the cellar, and earned a letter to the local tourist board.
There are two lessons here for me and the rest of us.
1. Information is power. Power is better shared.
2. Saying, I’m sorry, and meaning it works wonders. Remember what my dad says: You don’t have to be wrong to apologise. Sometimes – a lot of the time – it is about understanding someone else’s pain.
(The rest of the holiday was lovely.)
6 December 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
failure,
humans
I like Phil Rigotti
Of course I like Phil Rigotti. He is a good friend of mine. But right now I especially like him because of The Thing He Did. Phil works for Conwy Social Services. Last week three dozen local authorities got together to talk about How They Do Social Services. In other words two days of sheer boredom.
When Phil and his boss and the rest of the team met to talk about how they would do their presentation, Phil came up with the idea of Puppets. This makes sense. Phil uses puppets in the therapeutic work he does with children. Phil’s boss was smart enough to say yes to the puppets. And so last week Phil and nine of his colleagues who had never puppets before Phil said his idea out loud went up against 35 Powerpoint presentations. No prizes for guessing the stars of the conference.
All it took was a little bravery.
Two of the other teams asked for a video of the presentation. More went home inspired to do better work.
I’m sure there were a lot of local authorities at that conference who do very good social work, but no one cared because they put some words on a slide and read them to a bored audience.
Show is better than Tell.
Live is better than On Screen.
Puppets are better than Powerpoint.
Related: here’s Seth Godin on how to (not) use Powerpoint.
23 November 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
leadership
Jeff gets a curriculum
For the past few weeks I have been using an absolutely amazing curriculum. I’m not usually a fan of curricula, but this one has transformed the way I think about and do my class for students in years 6-8 (ages 10-13).
This thing is just plain inspiring. It is built around the story of a hero and his adventures. Kids love heroes, and this one is so well-written that he grabbed my imagination from the moment I started reading. More important, he is grabbing the kids’ imagination. They are connecting with this character. They are connecting with his adventures. Watching them for the past few weeks, I am convinced that this connection with the story in the curriculum is starting to lead them to a real connection with God.
I’m using the curriculum with a pretty small group, about 15. The discussion points are great. The ideas for hands-on learning are brilliant. And it is all amazingly scalable. This curriculum would work for large groups too. And for young children. And for teens. I think even adults could get something useful out of it. I know one-size-fits-all solutions usually aren’t, but I honestly believe this is different. The content is rich, both in breadth and depth.
The only real drawback that I have come across so far it that because the curriculum is not brand new, it is only text. There is no audio or video – or even Powerpoint slides. I think that could put some people off. For me it hasn’t been a problem. I have been so inspired by the content that I have found it easy to find my own media. This is the age of Web 2.0 after all. Almost everything in the world is available in about six clicks.
There are several modules. Not all are stories, not all are heroes, but if they are anywhere near as good ad the module I’m using at the moment, this is the curriculum I’m sticking with for the foreseeable future.
You can buy new favourite curriculum in book form here. And it is available for instant download here
20 November 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: books,
children,
church,
communication
Thus saith the prophet Bono:
It`s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can`t find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.
Okay, I don’t know if he is technically a prophet, but the issues he’s raising with the world’s leaders, seem pretty close to the heart of God.
10 November 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
kingdom of god,
quotes
The importance of wearing pants
Regular readers know that Christine and I write and perform a sketch most weekends at our church. I like to write things that are subtle and witty. A couple months ago in a sketch that borrowed a lot of inspiration from the Two Ronnies racing pigeon sketch my character invited the audience to his house for a barbecue at which Argentinian Racing Pigeon was the meat on the menu. All I got from that line were a few confused looks. After the meeting no one came up to me to tell me how much they appreciated the Two Ronnies reference. No one said anything about the Two Ronnies.
On the other hand this past weekend I wore pants* over my trousers and buttoned my coat around my neck like a cape. The laughs were many and vigourous.
Being clever is fine. Communication that connects with your audience, even if it is not clever or cool is better. Wearing pants over your trousers is best.
Make your communication about your audience, not about yourself.
*That’s underwear for American readers.
28 October 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
drama
Uselessly beautiful
Yesterday, I received these two lovely pieces of mail:
Keep reading
23 October 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
design,
failure