TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

Television evangelists, TV preachers. What can we learn from them as communicators?

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media, at work and in life. Speaking with TJ Walker.

Okay, folks, some of you may love certain TV preachers. Watch them religiously every Sunday. By the way, this program is airing originally on Sunday. That's why I decided to talk about this. Some of you may have absolute, complete contempt for TV preachers. Think of them as fraudulent flim flam men, modern day Elmer Gantrys. I don't want to deal with either one of those issues right now. I want to just focus on the communication skills, not the theology of any one TV preacher. Because by and large, any preacher you see on TV is a great communicator. Doesn't mean that you necessarily like their style, but it does mean they are speaking in a way that really resonates with a particular fan base. Now, how do I say this, especially since I haven't seen a a lot of TV preachers around the world, different countries, different languages. I'm saying this because television time is expensive. You can't be on TV week after week for months, years, decades, in the case of someone like a Pat Robertson, for half of a century. You can't do that unless you're so good as a communicator that you're able to get people to say, I like this guy. And with a few exceptions, Joyce Meyer and a few women, for the most part, it is all men. You can't stay on the air unless you get people to think you're so great that they give you money. Folks, that's a pretty tall order as a public speaker. And preachers are public speakers. If people like how you communicate and they like your message so much, they're willing to to give you money. So that's why I think it's critically important that regardless of your views on religion, spend a little time watching some TV preachers. And I don't mean block out four hours every Sunday morning, but I do think, by the way, public speaking tip. If you're making a podcast, giving a speech, make sure that your phone is off so that it doesn't make annoying sounds like that. And as I promised you in our initial episode, this program is unedited. You can't edit your speeches when you're in front of people with mistakes happen, you have to deal with it. And I want to share with you the same skills, the same tactics I think you should use and that I use when it is a live speech. Hence I make a little mistake like that. I try to turn it into a learning moment. And I did actually turn off my phone so that there wouldn't be future distractions. So I do think it's important for you to spend, you know, maybe just five minutes every three months flipping around watching TV preachers. Whether it's Sunday morning or if you can find a TV preacher channel where you can watch at any time, look at them, try to ignore what they are saying from any standpoint of theology that you don't agree with, but instead focus on how they're talking, how they're coming across, and pay a little attention to their body language.

Body language.

Now, I happen to believe the master of body language right now and the master TV preacher is Joel Osteen. Timeout, folks. I'm not endorsing his theology. I'm not asking you to give him money. I'm not asking you to accept his worldview. I'm not a follower of his. But when you look at him on TV doing his preaching, he comes across very, very relaxed and natural. Now, he has a lectern, what many people call the podium. But he actually doesn't stand behind it much. He's moving around, he's walking, his hands are moving. He's not standing behind the lectern and preaching down to people. He acts and sounds like he's talking to one friend. And that is why I believe he is, at least by monetary standards, according to most statistics, the most successful TV preacher the world today in terms of revenues, in terms of reach. So if you were going to watch just one TV preacher this Sunday or any Sunday, to learn about their communication skills, I would in fact recommend Joel Osteen now. Confession. I have been a long time. I've had a long time fascination with TV preachers. I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, just a few miles away from the very first PTL club, the Praise the Lord Club, or as the detractors called it, the Pass the Lute Club, founded by Jim Baker. Jim Baker was someone who came from the world of entertainment. He was a puppeteer and did a puppet show working for Pat Robertson way, way, way back in. I don't know if it was the late 60s or the early 70s before he went off on his own. He understood the medium of television. He didn't stand up behind a lectern and have flowing robes and shout down at people fire and brimstone when he preached. He preached on a set that was made to look just like the Tonight Show. He had a sidekick who kind of Looked like Johnny Carson. He had a band and he talked as if he were talking to one person. That was his style. And, and it worked well for him back in the 70s. Jim Baker, by the way, is back on the air, although I think he's primarily broadcasting on the Internet these days. He, of course, had a major scandal with Jessica Hahn in the late 1980s. But that's a subject for a different topic on one of our shows in the future about crisis communication. But Jim Baker had a very, very pleasant, happy, upbeat demeanor. In fact, his message was all about, send money to me. And you're mixing your money with God's money. You're essentially becoming an investment partner with God. And since he's smarter than all other men and women, you have the smartest investment partner on your side and you'll get rich. So don't give money to me out of altruism or because you think it's the right thing to do. Do it as a good investment. Send money to the Church of Jim Baker. That was his message. I'll leave it to the rest of you to figure out what you like or don't like about that message. My point is he had a very clear, focused, understandable message that resonated with an audience. Now, you have to make sure that you believe your message is filled with integrity. I am not telling you say whatever it takes to squeeze money out of people. That's not my message. But I do want you to learn from how other people succeed and how other people do things. Well, when it comes to communicating, whether they're giving speeches, whether they are on TV or anything else, they're doing. So in. In a moment, I want you to think specifically about who you like as a TV preacher. But first, I want to do this.

Your questions.

That's right, folks, it's time for your questions. This is the program for you to ask your questions. I'm here to answer your questions about anything to do with speaking. One question I often get is, T.J. do you have to be a natural? I'm not a charismatic person. I'm not naturally outgoing. No, you absolutely do not have to be a natural. In fact, I don't really believe there is any such thing as a natural. Here's an insider bit of information I want you to think about. A few years ago, I got received a call from members of the PR team for the Reverend Pat Robertson asking if I would consider media training him. Now, I never heard from them again. I found it kind of amusing. I was not a big fan. Let's Just leave it at that. I'm not a huge fan of the politics of Reverend Pat Robertson, so I didn't have to make that decision whether to accept the client or not. But to me it was fascinating. Here's a guy who is wildly successful, let's not forget he created a TV channel, the Family Channel, which he sold for a billion dollars. Numerous best selling books on TV every day for more than 50 years, and yet he was still willing to rehearse for upcoming media interviews promoting a new book. So folks, that's really the big secret here is the people who are best at this never stop learning. They never stop trying to refine themselves, to improve themselves. Another person, he's not exactly a TV preacher, although many people think he is. James Dobson, the psychologist, I believe the Dr. James Dobson Focus on the Family. He has a wildly successful radio show, has done some TV and video over the years and is known as a great speaker. Well, why is he a good speaker? I've read and he's not a client of mine, but I've certainly read numerous reviews of him and profiles of him and they all say the same thing in that when he gives a speech, he uses every single speech he gives as a mini focus group to make the next one a little bit better. That's how you get great over time. And that's part of the power of these TV preachers is they're speaking regularly, if not every Sunday, sometimes even more frequently, and many times they watch video of themselves. Important to realize that, for example, Joel Olsteen, he doesn't have a PhD in theology or divinity or any of that. He's a guy who, and I'm not passing judgment here, he's a guy who went to a few semesters of college learning video production. That's right. His background is in media, in tv, it's not in theology. So he clearly has a respect for, for the medium of tv, especially modern TV audiences who want a friend to speak conversationally, not someone giving a lecture to 21,000 people. If you've ever seen Joel Osteen's show, you'll see him in this old basketball stadium that seats more than 20,000. Most people in an arena like that, with 20,000 people looking at them would start to talk like this. Well, it's important in this modern era that we live sin free lives, something like that, where it's an elevated tone of voice, it's projection, but it sounds stilted, it sounds phony. Joel Osteen realizes that and that's why when you see him speak, whether it's on an interview with one person, whether he is preaching to 20,000 people and 50 million people watching around the world. He sounds exactly the same. And that's really the biggest key. Now here's the other sort of expert tip that I do want to share with you. It's very, very, very important. I want to strive this. I want to really drive this home. And that is the inside tip of quantifying what you do. If you're giving a PowerPoint presentation to seven investors on Thursday, find one person who has an investor mindset who's a friend of yours. Tuesday, give them your presentation. Ask them every message they remember, ask them every slide they remember and ask them if they were interested in this sort of thing, would they invest. Quantify it the beauty of these TV preachers is they can quantify it after every single show, sermon, preaching session by how much money comes in. I'm not saying that's necessarily a good thing, but I am telling you that helps refine your speaking skills. It helps you refine your message when you see what your audience relates to. So on this Sunday, I hope you enjoy doing whatever you do on Sundays. And if you want to be a great speaker, I don't care if you are a card carrying atheist, spend five minutes watching a TV preacher. It will in fact make you a stronger communicator. I'm TJ Walker. May all of your presentations in life be a huge success.

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