It’s been my distinct privilege for the past few days to be a room host at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Indianapolis. I say privilege because, as a room host, my assignment was to greet people and see that the presenters were taken care of. In addition I was asked to watch the presentations and give them a grade. What a great opportunity to see some very gifted presenters at work. It was also a reminder that there are people who have great ideas, do great work in their fields, write awesome books but are not the best presenters.

Having some wonderful communication skills, passion and success does not always add up to being a great presenter. Having great material that is meaningful doesn’t make you a great presenter. While I saw some very gifted presenters this past weekend, I also saw some wonderful people whose presentation style didn’t do their ideas justice and didn’t communicate their point as well as they could have.

Presenting is an art form but some of those who regularly present in front of audiences are not artists. Audiences still show up and people still take notes and things still get communicated. But a true artist moves the soul and engages the senses and involves the emotions. The reason I write this blog is to encourage all you communicators out there who are invited to present your thoughts in front of an audience to strive to become artists. You have great material. It is material that deserves your best effort at presenting it. You can do better and I’m here to encourage you.