The Joan of Arc theory: your fear of public speaking comes from how a past life ended badly

On page 126 of his book The Instruction, the psychic Ainslie MacLeod claimed that:

“For almost every person who suffers from stage fright, a fear of public speaking, or who goes to pieces when forced to sit an exam, the root cause is a life in which judgment has led to death.”

In an interview he explained it in more detail:

“.... If you get a kind of panic, that really kind of strong, phobic reaction, it’s pretty much guaranteed to come from a past life. The most common one that I come across as a phobic fear is what they call a ‘phobia of judgment’ and that is the one that results in a fear of public speaking, which is apparently the biggest fear in America. And because it is a past-life fear, you get that huge overreaction. What’s happening is that the soul is being taken back to a time when you were judged and that judgment lead to your death.”

I don’t think much of this theory, and have blogged about how this fear mostly seems to show up around adolescence in this life. What do you think?

The Competent Communication manual is just the beginning of learning about public speaking in Toastmasters International

The fun really starts after you finish the ten projects in that basic Competent Communication manual. Then you get to go in any of fifteen directions and choose which of the Advanced Communication Series manuals to try next. Each of them contains five different speech projects of increasing complexity.

Unfortunately the catalog on the Toastmasters website only says a few words describing each project. Web sites for districts and clubs provide some more details: titles, times and one-sentence descriptions. 

The Speaking to Inform manual is a good first choice, and includes these projects:

1) The Speech to Inform:  5 to 7 min.
2) Resources for Informing:  5 to 7 min.
3) The Demonstration Talk: 5 to 7 min.
4) A Fact-Finding Report: 5 to 7 min. + 2 to 3 min. Q & A.
5) The Abstract Concept: 6 to 8 min. 

Other good choices about business are Persuasive Speaking (sales), Speeches by Management, Public Relations, and Technical Presentations. 

I’ve heard that some companies only pay for their employees to finish the Competent Communication manual. That’s short-sighted, considering that by then you’ve probably only improved all the way up to mediocre.

After you complete two Advanced Communication manuals you will be recognized by the award of Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB). Then after two more manuals (and some other requirements) you will receive your Advanced Communicator Silver (ACS). Finally, after two more manuals (and even more requirements) you will receive your Advanced Communicator Gold (ACG). Details are on the Toastmasters web site here.

Larry Crowne doesn’t give public speaking the royal treatment

This new romantic comedy movie doesn’t have public speaking at its center, like The King’s Speech did. Thankfully it doesn’t try to be The King’s Speech II. I saw it over the weekend.

Larry Crowne has Julia Roberts teaching Speech 217, with Tom Hanks in the title role as her student. Both are slightly befuddled as they react to how their lives have unraveled.

Kenneth Turan’s review in the LA Times should have said it was like a frosted donut rather than grandly calling it:

“...an inside-out movie, acceptable around the edges but hollow and shockingly unconvincing at its core.”

Another review by Rene Rodriguez was closer to the mark. Also, I enjoyed seeing George Takei as an economics professor who laughs inappropriately during his lectures, as you can see at the thirty-second mark in another trailer.

Public speaking and chalk art are ephemeral

Speaking and chalk art are ephemeral, yet they have the ability both to entertain and to inspire. Once a speech is over it really is gone. A video recording just is a pale imitation of that event. A rainstorm washes chalk art down the nearest storm drain.

In the early afternoon on July 4th I walked down to Ann Morrison Park to look at the Idaho Statesman Chalk Art Festival. Some of the artists were done while others were still busy creating their drawings.

Later I looked up the topic of street painting or chalk art. Although it has a long history, artists like Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever are still redefining it. In the US there are festivals in cities like Sarasota and Santa Barbara.

Three types of questioners

In a June 27th blog post partly on ten things he’d learned about making presentations Harold described three types of people who will ask questions after a presentation, and then gave advice on how you should respond:

"A) The guy who wasn't paying attention, but should have been. You will know him by his asking you something you went over in detail five minutes earlier. Answer his question.

B) The guy who wants to look smarter than you. You will know him by his asking you a barely related, highly technical and rather esoteric question. He does not care about your presentation. Tell him that you do not know the answer to his question, but that you will look it up and get back to him about it. You will never hear from him again regarding the matter.

C) The guy who has a legitimate question. You will know him by his asking a question that can be answered quickly. It's very rare that his question will necessitate a response that will last for more than fifteen seconds."

His blog is titled Intellectual Dandyism, and it includes footnotes. (Item 9 on his list of things is the well known fictional Litany Against Fear, but that’s a story for another day).

In a previous post on June 27th, I mentioned that Stephen Boyd had advice on answering questions, The Presentation After the Presentation. You also can find more good advice from Nick Morgan and Andrew Dlugan.

The image came from here on Wikimedia Commons.

More Americans fear public speaking than getting fat, and death tied for third

Back in October 1997 American Demographics magazine published a single-page article called "Scaredy Cats" containing a brief bar chart showing twelve fears. (Point and click on it to see a larger version). Fear of public speaking was first (56%), followed by fear of getting fat (45%). Death (41%) tied for third - with both going to the dentist and going out alone at night. The article mentioned that the low level of fear they asked about just was:

“....afraid of or bothered slightly by.”

That survey was done in 1996 by Roper Reports. You can find the article text (but not the chart) here. The magazine article was published twenty years after the Book of Lists, but it is almost never mentioned. I thought it was time to bring it up. As this cartoon shows, men and women have very different notions about getting fat. So, have a great Fourth of July, but try not to eat too much pie.

The ugly side of criticism

On July 1st Joel Heffner blogged about what he termed The Ugly Side of Toastmasters. He began by praising them for being:

“...the best to help you to overcome your fear of public speaking.”

But, then he started sniping about how a speech evaluator might not know enough, and thus miss key points. Then he proclaimed that, instead:

“If you want to become a proficient speaker, find someone who knows how to speak who will help you.”

Well, Toastmasters already does that. Like the Prego sauce slogan says, it’s in there. Each new member is assigned a more experienced member as a mentor by the club’s Vice President Education (see page 16 of When You are the Vice President Education). The mentor provides evaluation feedback to help a speaker improve. Toastmaster magazine repeatedly has discussed this in articles like The Joy of Mentoring, The Magic of Mentoring, and Leadership - the ultimate mentor.

Also, you’d expect an experienced teacher to proofread his copy before posting. There still were a pair of typos (corrections in CAPS):

“After you make ten speeches, you have (ARE) given the title of Competent Communicator.”

“Too often the evaluator simple (SIMPLY) goes by the guidelines set forth by Toastmasters, in their manuals.”