Street Sermons And Sales Pitches: Lessons in Effective Communication from the Ntinda Roadside Preacher.

There is a problem that is endemic in our mass communications. A problem that everyone notices, everyone except the people who have it.

We believe that our job is to speak a message to our audience. And we do that with energy and at whatever cost we have to spend. We speak and then go home, believing that we have done our job.

Except that we haven’t. And this is illustrated by two speakers in Ntinda.

One is a preacher who takes up a position on a traffic island and, facing the passing cars, proceeds to preach the gospel towards them.

A bit further up the road, there is another speaker, an electric one which plays an advert for nutmeg extract, or kukumanga in Luganda.

Cards on the table, full disclosure, the writer of this article is a Christian who believes that you should listen to what the preacher has to say. And you probably would, except for the problem mentioned above.

The problem is that we pass street preachers every day, but we never hear them. They speak with great energy and conviction, but it does not penetrate the car windows, and even the boda bodas or taxis that pass will not get the message. At most they get a minute or two of it before their vehicle is out of earshot.

Meanwhile, the kukumanga speaker up the hill is doing a far better job. Even those who have no interest in fruit-based health supplements will admit that after passing through Ntinda on a regular basis, they know what kukumanga does, what benefits it offers, and where to get it if needed.

The problem is that many of us believe our job is to speak. And speak we do. But then we go home before considering whether anyone has heard, understood or believed us.

You see it often in roadside billboards with too much text for a driver to read, or in YouTube ads where a talking head expects a viewer to pause on their way to the entertainment they seek and listen, instead of skipping. Or in social media posts that we all scroll past.

We are like the street preacher who calls the gospel out at passing cars.

A bit of time and effort could be taken by street preachers and other communicators to learn from the kukumanga guys and stop assuming that our audience will listen to us just because we are talking. Perhaps a short list of what street preachers could learn from kukumanga speakers can help apply to the rest of us, too.

Be catchy. The kukumanga guys gave their product a catchy name. Kukumanga is a word that grabs attention. Fun fact, nutmeg is actually known in Luganda as nagomola. Kukumanga is just catchier.

Be brief and to the point. Walking through earshot of the kukumanga speaker doesn’t take five minutes, but in those five minutes I have heard what they need me to hear: why I should buy kukumanga and where to get it. The sellers crafted a brief but exhaustive list of benefits into a short speech that is played on a loop. The repetition ensures that it stays in the memory of even a passive listener. Our street preachers can condense a prepared message into a short speech to play on a loop instead of attempting to give a sermon to passing cars.

The kukumanga speaker is clear and easy to understand. Street preachers, however, often struggle to maintain clarity of delivery when they have to speak over the noise of traffic and, in a short while, their voices become raspy and indistinct. The kukumanga people, on the other hand, recorded their message in what I believe must have been a proper studio and when they play it each word is clear as a bell.

Location is important. The speaker is placed in the midst of the evening market that sprouts every day in the Ntinda junction. There are always traders selling food, clothing items and the likes in that area. There are also always people walking through. That is not to mention the captive audience of passengers in taxis waiting for them to load. There are always going to be people to hear the kukumanga message. The street preacher could do untold good he settled here, and not at a road junction where hardly anyone can hear.

Communicators believe their job is merely to convey a message, without ensuring it's received and understood. This is illustrated by two contrasting speakers in Ntinda: a street preacher and a commercial loudspeaker, but effective communication requires more than just speaking. It involves ensuring the message is heard, understood, and remembered. The success of the kukumanga speaker in Ntinda serves as a model for all communicators: be catchy, clear, brief, and strategic.