You can prepare a talk every week, for life—in under a minute per talk.

I started uploading these talks July 17 2022, including back talks from previous years. Click A Talk Every Week to see them all.

The Challenge (S)

In the mid 1970s, a visiting general authority of my church spoke in Newport Beach. He told us about a woman who felt hurt, because in 10 years she hadn’t been asked to speak in sacrament meeting. He empathized, then taught her that the real benefits of speaking come from the preparation. We don’t need to wait to be asked. Then he gave her a startling challenge: “Would you be willing to prepare a talk every week, for the rest of your life, whether or not you are asked to speak?”

“Would you be willing to prepare a talk every week, for the rest of your life, whether or not you are asked to speak?”

Then he surprised ALL OF US. “By raise of hands, which of you here today will also accept this assignment?”

I raised my hand with teenage enthusiasm, then looked around. Less than a third of the congregation’s hands went up. After all, that’s more than 3300 talks (!) if I live to be 80 years old. What a daunting challenge!

Or is it?

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t honor that commitment for many years. A decade later, I remembered this assignment when I spent more than 10 hours preparing an Easter talk—all night, the night before. The talk went well, but I sure didn’t feel well! That kind of effort was clearly not sustainable. A talk every week felt impossible.

Of course it’s impossible. Unless ….

As I grew and stayed willing to obey, tiny packets of help came. First, I learned that “faithfulness is a matter of finding ways to obey,” Filipino saints were quoted as saying, as near as I can recall, in an Ensign article in the 1970s. President Spencer W. Kimble had challenged all the saints to plant gardens in 1976. Living in dense high rises, these faithful members could only hang cutout milk cartons from their balconies to grow a few vegetable plants. They testified of the blessings of doing it.

Wait. A milk carton counts as a “garden??”

Slowly—because I was dense and a bit of a perfectionist (which is not a good thing I began to understand that obedience works within the time, means, and resources allotted to us, as long as we stay diligent. 

“Wisdom and Order” (S)

King Benjamin put it this way:

“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that [we] should run faster than [we] strength. And again, it is expedient that [we] should be diligent, that thereby [we] might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.”

King Benjamin’s Address, Mosiah 4:27, Book of Mormon.

I’m sure that many at that stake conference felt that declining or abandoning that commitment was “wisdom and order.”

But what would it take to do both? Could we possibly, like King Benjamin says, 1) not run too fast, but 2) still be diligent and obedient? What would it take to keep that commitment AND not exhaust myself?

Empowering Tools (E)

I discovered that when we are willing to obey and we ask for direction and help, the Lord sends aid in quiet but sometimes astonishing ways. In doing so, he expands our spiritual muscles, our faith and reliance in him, and our capabilities, beyond what we thought was possible.

Almost subconsciously, I started to watch for solutions.

In a district conference near the end of my mission to Australia, I noticed Elder Rex D. Pinegar writing on a notepad while other people spoke. Later, at a zone leader meeting he opened the floor to questions, and I asked him what he’d been writing. Was he taking notes? He pulled out that notepad. It was an outline for his talk! He had arrived without a prepared talk, he was listening for inspiration from the Spirit, and he had outlined it while on the stand!

Even more surprising was the outline itself: it was a simple diagram, five stairs steps leading up, a word or two on each step, showing each of the steps of the covenant path. No more than 10 words on the page. And when he spoke, he spoke from that outline, opening the scriptures to cover those topics and allowing the Holy Ghost to direct him to fill in the details. He tore the page out and let me keep it. I treasured that and pondered it a lot.

A general authority showing up without a prepared talk? Outlining it on the stand in under a minute? In fewer than 10 words?

A decade or so later, Pres. Greenwood—the Lindon Utah stake president—visited our ward. In a combined priesthood meeting our bishop asked if he’d like to say something about home teaching. He said he’d be happy to. Then he stood and extemporaneously gave one of the best talks on home teaching I’d ever heard. “Amazing!” I thought. “All that with no preparation.” But then I realized, “No! He’d been preparing for years” by studying and pondering the scriptures, listening to conference talks, and learning to recognize the promptings of the spirit, of whom it is promised: “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26.)

Much later, as an early morning seminary teacher in Powhatan Virginia, I read an article in BYU Magazine (what a great publication!) about a professor, Randy Bott, who did his graduate work in “how to give an effective talk.” He showed by research that any talk which followed four simple steps (“four-folding knowledge”) was more memorable and influential for the listeners. I pondered this.

I had also learned over the years that, as Elder Henry B Eyring said:

“When we put God’s purposes first, He will give us miracles. If we pray to know what He would have us do next, He will multiply the effects of what we do in such a way that time seems to be expanded.“

Education for Real Life, Elder Henry B. Eyring, 6 May 2001

I began to realize that we need to learn to magnify our callings and become perfectly obedient in the least time possible! This makes us wise stewards who have time and energy and resources to do even more good things! This also shows that we trust the promise that the Lord will multiply our effectiveness!

These tools the Lord showed me (bold items above and below) helped me do just that.

SSET for Church Talks

Inspired by these principles, I adapted Professor Bott’s research and created my own four steps for a talk: SSET—Story, Scripture, Explanation, Testimony.

The four steps of an easy but excellent Church talk:
SSET—Story, Scripture, Explanation, Testimony

At any moment when called upon, I realized I could simply share a story, read a related scripture, provide an explanation that connects those two, and end with my personal testimony of that principle.

• The STORY resonates with minds and hearts and makes something memorable. True stories are especially motivating, but parables are also good. My daughter says that stories are practically the only way she can remember things. (The next time you hear a talk that includes a story, ask yourself: what do you remember afterwards? The rest of the talk, or the story?)
• The SCRIPTURE invites the Holy Ghost to testify of the principles and doctrines. His mission is to testify of truth. I’ve found this happens most readily when we read the scriptures. The scripture also ties the story to doctrines and principles, of which the Spirit can testify.
• The EXPLANATION allows us to expound, especially as moved upon by the Spirit as far as we have been enlightened, to add depth to the talk and fully connect everything together. This is also an ideal place to invite or challenge the listeners to ACT. Just like the general authority did on Newport Beach.
• The TESTIMONY, if authentic, invites the Holy Ghost to place his seal of confirmation upon what you shared, to carry the truth of it “unto“ their hearts, and provides a capstone and end to the talk, which if they are listening by the Spirit, will inspire them to ACT on what they heard.

I began to prepare talks without being assigned. Sometimes one, sometimes four or five or six per week. Instead of a burden, it was fun! I actually looked forward to it!

I started listening more to other people’s stories. The more I collected, and the more acquainted I was with the scriptures, the easier it was to connect them for talks. Suddenly, the scriptures become helpful for me and others. SSET gave me greater purpose in listening and studying.

And inspiration began to flow! Sacrament meeting talks became richer, regardless of depth of preparation or eloquence, because as true principles were taught the Spirit would bring things to my mind and connect them, empowering me to quickly outline talks in as little as 30 seconds during the meeting.

Suddenly I could keep my commitment to “prepare a talk every week,” in less than a minute a talk! Many of these outlines are in my journals.

I also taught SSET to my seminary students, to help them in their speaking assignments.

SPEA for Business Talks

Later, in my professional leadership and management consulting practice, I adapted this for the workplace to create the business talk acronym:

The four steps of an easy but excellent business talk:
SPEA—Story, Principle, Explanation, Application

SPEA: Story, Principle, Explanation, Application.

• The STORY resonates with hearts and minds, as already explained.
• The PRINCIPLE replaces the scripture, which would not be appropriate in most business settings. “Principles“ are powerful tools in business, the gospel, and life generally. “Well taught doctrines and principles have a more powerful influence on behavior than rules.” (Henry B. Eyring, CES Symposium on the Book of Mormon, 17 August 1990.) I’ve found this to be true in business as well as the church.
• The EXPLANATION lets you connect the story and principle, then expand and clarify, as described above.
• The APPLICATION is a challenge to change something. “Therefore, what?” Elder Boyd K. Packer asked often at the end of meetings. In business settings we need things to change! Ask your listeners, what are you going to do about this? Or give them a very specific challenge and ask if they will commit to do it or try it.

One client, a leader of many hundreds of people across a division in a company spanning the globe, was responsible for a quarterly conference call. These calls were historically BORING! Worse, in my experience “boring” means “nothing changes.” So I advised her to use the SPEA format herself AND assign the other presenters to follow it in no more than four minutes each.

That quarterly call was stunningly fun and effective! At the end, she used an interactive tool to ask everyone what they 1) learned, and 2) intended to do as a result of the call. The responses were powerful, and word of the stunning effectiveness of the call made it to the CEO.

And, did you notice that my obedience and diligence in spiritual things had carried over into temporal things. I’ve found that if we’ll put the Lord’s purposes first, he will multiply our effectiveness in ALL things.

This Blog, Every Week

So, armed with these tools to write talks quickly, I intend to post my talk outlines here every week. I do this to 1) create public accountability, which increases personal motivation, but especially to 2) help others, so the Lord can 3) multiply the effectiveness of what He taught me and lift burdens YOU feel. What if you never had to be afraid to accept a speaking assignment again?

But goals should inspire and not create anxiety! So, some weeks, health or other factors may prevent me from posting. That’s OK. With this new mindset, I can easily post two or three or four talks in a few minutes the next week.

These talks will not all be polished or “complete.“ In fact, they usually won’t even be pretty! They don’t need to be. In fact, as a recovering perfectionist, they must not be perfect! I never committed to take 10 hours each week to write polished, conference-quality talks, as I tried to do in my early days. That is not “wisdom and order.” Even an ugly outline can become an inspiring talk. Elder Pinegar showed me that.

Some will be too long and contain too much information! That’s OK too. If I get excited or feel a flood of inspiration, it’s easier to record it now and remove things later.’

Some will be incomplete talks, missing a story or explanation, etc. That’s OK. I will add to them later as insights come. Elder Packer taught that preparing in small chunks of time over weeks gives better results than one huge chunk of effort all at once.

Where you see gaps, fill them in! Do it yourself, or suggest things in the comments! This can be your own talk “preparation,“ a kind of “fill in the blank talk,“ if you will.

Where you see nonsensical words, blame Siri and correct them. 🙂 I usually dictate these to my automated assistant while I do other things, to save time. SHE device misheard what I said. 😉 So think deeply and carefully about sound-alike words to try to discern what I meant. Again, you can use the comments to correct things.

Where the scriptural references are incorrect, search and find the right ones. Feel free to post corrections in the comments, and I’ll update them. These references were spoken or written quickly, usually from the top of my memory per John 14:26, and I did not have time to check my memory of the source. But by citing them as often as possible, it helps me remember them longer and better.

My Testimony From This Experience (T)

By now, you’ve probably noticed that this introductory page follow the SSET pattern. This page is itself a talk!

And so, as a Church talk, I will close with my testimony about these principles.

What Elder Eyring said is absolutely true, the Lord can and will multiply our effectiveness so time itself seems to be expanded IF we will put His purposes first, IF we will ask Him what to do next. And He will do this in ALL areas of our lives. The Scripture says:

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Matt 6:33, New Testament.

I promise you, speaking from long personal experience, that this is true. And so are the words of the ancient Book of Mormon prophet, Nephi:

“I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”

1 Ne 3:7, Book of Mormon.

However, I also attest that the path to obedience and enlightenment will usually require us to set aside false preconceived notions. The Lord‘s understanding and answers and methods and power are so much greater than our own, as he showed me with this leader-inspired challenge to prepare a talk every week.

Especially, I am a witness of the absolute dependence that all of us have upon Christ—and that we need to learn to develop that reliance. What he said is absolutely true: “For without me, you can do nothing.“

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

P.S. What about you? Are willing to accept that general authority’s challenge?