Listening to a sermon and was told there would be four points. I jotted “1.” in my notes and began following along. I jotted down the key elements, making personal notes as I did, but when the pastor got to point #4, I looked down and alreayd had four points. I realized he had not been numbering them as he went along. I don’t know if he advertised four and gave five or I am such a good listener that I got a bullet point he didn’t give.Regardless, the communications point is rather clear. If we as speakers go to the trouble to make points (which is a good idea :-)), and especially if we organize them for our audience (another great idea), then we should be clear enough about where we are in our message that any listener — taking notes or not — should know exactly the progress and how the points interrelate. Random points or points that do not relate are nearly impossible to remember. Which means the audience doesn’t “get it”, which means our purpose again is what, exactly?
Make points clear, and show progress as you move from one point to another.
