Elder Gong used a story at the beginning that connected the audience through laughter. He told a story about a young child who prayed for everything and then thanked his primary teacher for letting him. I remember this story, with the same punch line, being used before. The story told for laughter from a personal perspective was an interesting use of story to me. I watched with my family and we started whispering about my little brother who did the same thing. I think that the use of this very familiar story and the use of laughter was very engaging and personal. It brought a sense of entertainment into the sermon. The story wasn't explicitly connected to the rest of his points about God, but it also was related. He told a story about dating his wife and related it to belonging and how we should all belong in a covenant belonging.
People have already mentioned Uchtdorf's use of the Lord of the Rings. I didn't watch every session, so I probably missed other outside stories that speakers brought in, but that one was a definite standout that people were widely discussing and loving on twitter. I think it made people feel really seen. We connect through stories and this was another, unexpected story we connected with at conference.
People have already mentioned Uchtdorf's use of the Lord of the Rings. I didn't watch every session, so I probably missed other outside stories that speakers brought in, but that one was a definite standout that people were widely discussing and loving on twitter. I think it made people feel really seen. We connect through stories and this was another, unexpected story we connected with at conference.
It feels very refreshing when a congregation can laugh together in a meeting. I have not had the opportunity to listen to this talk yet but your analysis of it makes me excited to listen to it. I think a lot of speakers follow this pattern of using a story or joke at the beginning of their talk so that they can engage the audience from the very beginning.
ReplyDelete