5 Keys to Clearer Announcements at Church
21 10 2011
Announcements are a necessary “evil” in the ministry. Even though e-mails are sent out, a bulletin is given, and fliers are mailed, there is still a need to present announcements from the platform in our effort to keep people informed. Take note of these 5 principles we are using to help guide our platform ministry and the way we make announcements.
1. Identify the intended audience in the very beginning of your announcment.
“MEN, you are not only wanted, but needed for the workday on Saturday…”
“TEENS, our activity for Friday night…”
2. Make sure the announcement has clear answers to the following questions:
- What is happening?
- When is it happening? (start time and end time)
- What do I do with this information? (what is the expected action?)
- Who do I go to if I have more questions?
3. Make it memorable – say them humorously, get audience feed back, or just have different people make the announcements. I keep a running list of ideas in a journal I keep of ways to make announcements fun and memorable.
4. Bring it to a conclusion quickly – you want them to still remember the opening line of your announcement. If they can’t remember that, they probably won’t remember the announcement was for them.
5. Avoid “information overload.” – if there is an abundance of details to be communicated than it probably should be written down for people to see and take with them.
