Sitting in my usual spot next to the piano, it has struck me that I am in an excellent location for studying what people do at the lectern. It has also struck me that it is a long time since anyone has been offered advice on how to read to the congregation effectively. As I am on the readers’ rota myself I have met many of the pitfalls! So here are my tips, gleaned from watching others, and learning from my own mistakes.

 1. Be prepared – nothing to do with the Scouts I assure you, but there is no worse feeling than arriving at the lectern and realising that you don’t know where to find what you are supposed to read. Even when you look at the reading in advance, it’s quite different reading from the big book on the lectern. Bizarrely, even the page numbers are different from the small copies of the lectionary which are kept in the hymn book trolley. It’s well worth popping up to the lectern just before the service and make sure you know where to find your reading. If yours is the first reading, it will be open at the right page for you, but if not, it may be one or more pages later or even earlier in some instances. You will feel more confident if you’ve checked this out, and a more confident reader gives a stronger message.

 2. Don’t be afraid of the microphone! – This may sound frivolous, but it’s actually a serious point. The lectern mike isn’t omnidirectional. In other words, if it’s not pointing directly at the source of sound, i.e. the reader’s mouth, then it won’t pick up the sound effectively. This is why it has a long flexible neck, so don’t be afraid to move it into the best position to pick up your voice, after all, you’re the one who’s speaking at that point, nobody else. Take a few seconds to do this, it’s worth it, as the chances that the last person who used it is the same height as you and stands with the same posture are rather slim.

 3. Project! – The downside of using a mike is the tendency to think that it means you can speak in a normal voice instead of projecting your voice like we all had to do before the days of modern technology. My greatest fault when speaking, let alone reading, is to gabble. I talk too fast. I have to force myself to speak slowly and clearly, but also loud enough for the mike to have something to amplify!

 The church’s PA system has been a great help over the years in helping everyone to hear what is being said, but we mustn’t forget that it is a tool, and tools only serve their purpose if they are used effectively.

 John Harrison