More is not better when you speak

Why more isn’t better when you speak!

More is not better when you speak

Eons ago, my late parents went to a gorgeous seaside village in Spain called Calefell for a holiday. And, as devout Catholics, they were delighted to learn there were staying right beside a church where they could get Mass on the Sunday they’d be there – even though they knew this would be said in Spanish and they wouldn’t understand a word!

And unlike in Ireland where a Mass rarely takes longer than 45 minutes, homily included, this local Padre managed to keep his congregation in church for well over 90 minutes – where he seemed to spend at least an hour of this giving out yards to his audience on a variety of topics!

My father was livid as he was absolutely of the school that believed “A ‘good Mass’ is a short one! And if a sermon was given, it should always be of the ‘3 Bs’ variety: “Be upstanding, be brief and be gone!”

And when they finally got to leave the church, my parents got to meet and chat with the Priest, who happened to speak a little English. And my father asked him, half-jokingly: “Is it normal to have such a long Mass in Spain?”

“No” answered the Priest, “But since I only get people here once a week, I want them to stay a while and learn just as much as I can share while they’re a captive audience!”

“Captive is right”, muttered my dad to my mother once out of ear-shot. “As a vicar of Christ wouldn’t you think he’d be minded to show some forgiveness and let his parishioners out early for good behaviour?”

Of the many stories I heard as a youngster, this one has stuck with me to this day because I learned something useful from it – which has even more relevance today in this era where winning and keeping attention has never been more difficult: ‘Never pack too much into any speech, it’s a surefire recipe to an audience that’ll check out and remember nothing afterwards!’

As Mark Twain once noted:

“No sinner is ever saved after the first saved after the first 20 minutes of a sermon”

True that! And the moral of this story and blog, is: Less is always more when you speak since ‘few and well’ will beat ‘many and shallow’ any day of the week!

And so endeth this sermon!

Categories

your next steps

Discover how to share stories that motivate and persuade

Arrange a business speaking consulation today!

arrange a consultation
Work with Eamonn O'Brien Today

Stop procrastinating.
Start speaking memorably.

If you’ve ever wished to be a public speaker who inspires, now is the ideal time to get started.

get started now
OR
Call +1 (269) 769 3670