What do you need to do?

When reading aloud (signing publicly from a sign-language publication), put special emphasis on the principal ideas in the entire body of material being read, not on every point signed.

Why is it important?

Your message will be easier to remember if the principal ideas are emphasized.

1 AN EFFECTIVE reader looks beyond individual points signed, and even beyond each group of thoughts. When he watches the signed information, he has in mind the principal ideas in the entire body of material that he is presenting. This influences his placement of emphasis.

2 If this process is not followed, there will be no peaks in the delivery. Nothing will stand out clearly. When the presentation is concluded, it may be difficult to remember anything as being outstanding.

3 Proper attention to the emphasizing of principal ideas can often do much to enhance the reading of an account from the Bible and impart added significance. And it is especially important when giving a discourse from a manuscript, as is sometimes done for our conventions.

4 How to Do It. In the school, you may be assigned to read a portion of the Bible. What should be emphasized? If there is some central idea or important event around which the material that you will be reading has been developed, it would be appropriate to make it stand out.

5 Whether the portion you are to read is poetry or prose, proverb or narrative, your audience will benefit if you read it well. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17) To do this you must take into account both the passages that you are going to read and your audience.

6 It is not recommended that you make a practice of using a manuscript for talks given in the congregation. On occasion, however, brothers may be asked to sign manuscript talks for certain convention discourses so that the same thoughts will be presented in the same way at all the conventions. In order to emphasize the principal ideas in such a manuscript, the speaker must first analyze the material carefully. What are the main points? He should be able to recognize these. The main points are not simply ideas that he feels are interesting. They are the key thoughts around which the material itself is developed. Sometimes a concise statement of a principal idea in the manuscript introduces a narrative or a line of argument. Or a strong statement is made after the supporting evidence has been presented. It is important for the speaker to identify these key points. There usually are only a few, probably not more than four or five. Next, he needs to practice signing in such a way that the audience can readily identify them. These are the peaks of the talk. If the material is delivered with proper emphasis, these principal ideas are more likely to be remembered. That should be the speaker’s goal.

7 There are various ways in which a speaker can convey the emphasis needed to help the audience identify the main points. He might use heightened enthusiasm, a change of pace, depth of feeling, pausing, repetition of a key sign, or he might hold a sign and point to it, to mention a few.

POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND

Analyze the source material in order to identify the principal ideas around which it is developed. Make notes or a simple mind map.

When signing, use heightened enthusiasm, a slower pace, or depth of feeling, as appropriate, to make those principal ideas stand out.

EXERCISE: Select five paragraphs from a Watchtower article scheduled for study. Note the answers to the study questions for those paragraphs. This will help you understand how to emphasize principal ideas, making it easier for a listener to identify them. Then copy the signing of the paragraphs in a way that makes the principal ideas stand out.