My new book on Public Speaking made easier

Updated: 12/21/11 Updated

I'm getting there. After many years, I'm finally publishing a book on public speaking. It's not out yet, but hopefully in a month or so, it will be. I've spent almost 50 years in public speaking (49 to be exact) and studied it in a number of universities and colleges. I credit my MA in Speech Communication at California State University, Fullerton with providing me a good solid theoretical foundation in public speaking.

My book explains how to make speaking in public easier. At a funeral, famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld quipped that the average person would rather be in the casket than give the eulogy. I know that when one begins to speak, he or she can freeze up. But there's hope.

By new book on the subject deals with the natural fear that accompanies speaking in public for the first time or for a few times thereafter. The book is less than 100 pages and has 7 chapters and an epilogue. It should be available on Amazon (hopefully).

I'll place it on my web site as soon as it's out.

Have a great weekend and please be safe.~jwa

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Communication is second only to the Bible; it IS the Bible.

Updated: 8/9/11 Updated

The Bible is the greatest education of all time, bar none. It shows us how our Creator wants us to live this life, so we can enjoy eternal life with Him forever! The Bible is filled with laws and principles of love, Christian living instructions, and prophecy, to mention only a few very important values of life. These all require communication, clear communication, yes, even inspired communication, the kind that comes only from God. Remember that thought.

God encodes perfectly but we often decode what He communicates incorrectly or inaccurately. That's the rub among human beings. To decode what God encodes for us, through His Word, takes God's enlightening Holy Spirit. That may not mean much to you but it means everything to God, for you. If you can't accept that today, you will down the line (read carefully Hebrews 8:8-11).

Let me explain what I just said in the previous paragraph...through Scripture. Here is what God, your Creator, says about why we don't decode His truth accurately and as He intended it to be understood: "But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:9-14).

Next to the Bible is communication...verbal, written, visual, and other pertinent forms. Without communication, you cannot come to understand God and His love, His laws which show His love (1 John 5:3), and you could not be saved! For unless you come to understand God and how to honor Him, life cannot work. That's where communication comes in, not just the mechanics of good communication but good communication, yes, even spiritual communication, aided by the gift of God's Spirit (which God says is foolishness to most people...to their harm).

Communication shares ideas, reasons, analyses, activities, and actions. We can read and meditate all day long (helpful to our growth), but if we can't share what we learn and receive what others share with us, we stunt our growth and don't grow as God wants us to.

We are a social lot. God put us on His earth in order to learn from one another, through one another, and even by our mutual mistakes. It's all about attitude, perspective, outlook, worldview. If we have a healthy outlook on life, we're going to learn from one another and we will grow.

Be grateful for the communication discipline and for the privilege to bounce ideas off one another. That's how we learn, and God is in it all. Communication is something you cannot live without.

Communication is second only to the Bible; it IS the Bible (John 1:1-3).

Have a great communicative weekend.~jwa

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Good communication is not just talking, without engaging the brain

Updated: 4/6/11 Updated

Have you talked with someone who seems to just flow with ideas and seldom takes a breath between sentences? You'll notice these kind of communicators don't ask many questions; they have many opinions on just about any subject.

I thought that when I got my master's in rhetorical theory, I knew about as much as I could ever know about communication. Not half right. The chair of my thesis committee was right: you really won't know how much you know about communication until a few years down the road. I'm still learning from that good foundation which other professors help lay for me.

One of the the biggest things I've learned is that the many classes of formal training in communication are still turning up good things for me. I'm still learning, mainly by "accident" after hearing and observing the streams of communicative information I come in contact with.

There are many variables that make up the communicative act between two people or that proliferate while speaking before an audience. Most speakers or wannabe speakers assume (falsely) that all they have to do is stand up and shower their audience with their inimitable wisdom. Then they dust off their hands and assume a job well done. This would be laughable if it weren't so serious. This also explains why people misunderstand others from ditchdiggers to national leaders. Frankly, people are into themselves way too much, and over the top.

My instructors didn't teach me much about human nature from God's perspective, although they addressed the foibles of poor communication, human-to-human. I often thought that they would really be effective if they knew what God knew about human nature's labyrinthine conflicts, miscues, random effects, and instant expressions.

A comedian once said, "I wonder if his brain knows what his mouth is saying?" The bottom line to good communication is not just talking, hearing oneself spray a wide array of persiflage over the area, but actually engaging the brain before speaking. The fact is we should question what we're thinking about before speaking. The person who doesn't do this has a plethora of excuses as to why this would stifle his free expression of ideas.

Here's to good interaction of ideas, carefully thought out and sensitively and wisely shared. Have a good communicative week.~jwa

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Communication and self-perspective

Updated: 3/7/11 Updated

I am continually amazed at how we as human beings perceive themselves. Someone once wrote that you or I are far more interested in a personal toothache than hearing that thousands of people died in a natural catastrophy halfway around the world. That's so true that it hurts.

Our communication is naturally based on how we think, which is to say that we're pretty comfortable with what we think as THE guide to how we talk and act. How many times each day to you marvel at how other people drive, how they act in the checkout lines at the store, and how they battle over where they park.

We're pretty sold on ourselves. That self-perspective governs how we communicate with others. Frankly, we're selfish. I know that's uncomfortable to think about but it's true, nevertheless. God has allowed us to be selfish to a certain degree otherwise we would not care for ourselves. Often we don't take care of our needs properly and we suffer for it either now or later.

The bigger problem is that we expand our selfishness and lust after things that belong to others. That hurts others and it really hurts us, though at the time we can't see how excessively selfish we can become. Excessive selfishness blinds us to our own problems.

This is why you and I need God's 10 Commandments. They all are set to battle against anti-selfishness. Read them carefully with this overview in mind and see how many of them work against human selfishness.

The wrong self-perspective blinds us to godly wisdom. It presumes the notion that it is wise but that's all fool's gold. The clearer we are about ourselves, how we compare to God and His ways, the better we communicate. Everyone sins, probably every day, in some way and on some level. Sin is the breaking of God's holy, spiritual laws, what we know as the 10 Commandments.

The world thinks that God's decalogue is archaic, out-of-date in this modern age. That's precisely what all people have thought throughout time. Their day was their modern age. But God's laws transcend time and space; humankind can never live forever without honoring and obeying God's laws. Someday, at Christ's return, all people will know this (Hebrews 8:10-11). God's laws liberate us from our ungodly selfishness, greed, and arrogance.

So if you want to think better, if you want to reason better, if you want to analyze life better, and if you want to communicate better, helping others improve their lives...begin by obeying God's 10 Commandments. Jesus kept them; He instituted them from God the Father and He gave them to humankind. The 10 Commandments show the mind of God, applied to human beings.

Have a great communicative week.~jwa

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Communication can be complicated or simplistic

Updated: 10/27/10 Updated

"Apart from God's Word, there is no more important study in the world than communication. Without communication, the Bible would be of no use to human beings. Hence, this page is presented to help improve your communication skills" (cited from above). I have no doubts that this is true, which is one of the most encouraging thoughts I carry with me and which also makes me happy that I also pursued a career in communications, beyond that of the discipline of God's eternal truths, which is communication's raison d'etre (reason for existing).

Communication can become complicated for a number of reasons, beyond the incorrect use of syntax and semantics. The backstory of complicated, sometimes convulted, communication is the story of human nature, which of itself is fickle. The intention of good communication can be modified and/or colored by human selfishness. What might start out as a good intention can end up colored by selfish desires. Such desires can and do complicate our ability to help others, through communication.

Communication can be more simplistic the closer it is to God's automatic and spiritual laws. The apostle Paul said to the converted Jews that even the Gentiles, who didn't know God's laws, would be rewarded for obeying those laws, though they might not know why they are reward (probably didn't care :).

So when communication is helpful to others, it likely is following God's laws or principles on His laws. Again, speakers and writer don't have to know they are in harness with God's laws for their simplistic messages to get through to others. Selflessness in communication can help others, in a myriad of ways.

What this all gets down to, whether one communicates well or not, is godly attitude. Attitude is one thing, but a godly attitude is where it's at. The apostle Paul said clearly and boldly that he had the mind of Christ. True statement. He didn't say he knew all that Christ knew but he did believe that all that he knew and practiced came from Christ. He communicated effectively throughout his 14 letters by way of godly communication with a godly attitude, or perspective.

Although Paul's letters can be a little difficult to understand at first, once you study the Bible enough, familiarizing yourself to God's outlook on life from many different writers' perspectives (led by God's Spirit of course), you can understand Paul's writings better; they then become pretty simplistic. First one must get in harness with God and know His mind. Paul was selfless in his writings, I didn't Paul was perfect, which accounts for his effectiveness in helping a few billion people for good, for over 2,000 years.

May God help you to improve your communication to better help others.~jwa

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Check out your reaction time.

Updated: 8/24/10

You might want to check out your reaction time. Can be frustrating, but it's always interesting. All part of the cognitive process :).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf.

All the best.~jwa

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A Quote from General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur's Address to the U.S. Congress in April, 1951

Updated: 8/24/10

Thanks for turning to my comm page. Here is MacArthur's telling words that really fit with my Personal Page, regarding the pursuit of good leadership! From time immemorial, human beings have rejected God's holy and perfect leadership. We're still paying the heavy price for this and will continue until God sends Christ to bail us out of our ongoing ineptitude.

"Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blocks out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence [i.e., renewal] and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past 2000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

Notice that the General insightfully pinpointed humanity's basic problem, our human nature, in contrast to God's nature. "The problem is basically theological (of God) and involves a SPIRITUAL RENEWAL and improvement of human character. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." Wise insight here.

Have a great weekend and Father's Day, all you dads!~jwa

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My beginnings in grad communication studies

Updated: 8/24/10

Back in 1968, I was about to graduate from a private school in Pasadena, California called Ambassador College. It was a small undergrad school but it was the most beautiful one in the country, bar none. In fact, Ambassador College, in the mid to late 60s, was rated as number one in the nation, in the appearance and maintenance of their grounds. I have only the highest regard for AC, attending the most enjoyable campus I've ever been on...and I've been on a few.

The buildings were former residences of Pasadena millionaires, well-built and impressive looking. This is where I had classes! I felt like a prince in this environment. Coming from humble beginnings, living in a small two-story farm house with very little insulation, where winter blizzard conditions dumped heavy snows accompanied by 30 mph winds, creating snow drifts 15 feet high and all this without, I say without...central heat...you can only imagine how I cherished the time I spent on campus, a total of 6 and 1/2 years (four of those years included my undergrad work).

My wife got to spend 10 years on campus (four years for her undergrad work and six years as head of the college library and a couple of years pursuing a Master's degree in Library Science at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles). We both graduated from Ambassador College, as did our son and daughter. Our daughter Crystal got two undergrad degrees at Ambassador College which became Ambassador University: One in science; one in the arts.

She (our daughter) has since acquired a Master's in Leadership Education and is ABD (all-but-dissertation) in her pursuit of a Ph.D. in IDD (Instructional Design and Development degree).

Our son Philip has been "Dr. Phil" for 10 years and teaches Leadership Communication, Organizational Communication, and Rhetorical Theory at Kennesaw State University, Atlanta (check out his page at the KSU web site). He wrote a groundbreaking book called "The Essence of Who We Are," now published. You can check it out at Amazon.com. Back on track now...

In 1968 I was asked whether I wanted to graduate with a split degree in Theology and Communications. My degree reads "Bachelor of Arts." I had taken every communication class Ambassador had. We were long on practicum and less on theory. I didn't know communication theory until I pursued my Master's in Communicaton at California State University some 20 years later. It helped change my life.

Before I matriculated at California State University, Fullerton, I was accepted and studied in the MA Communication program at Wichita State University back in 1978; a year later a transfer interrupted that program.

In 1990 I was accepted to the MA Communication program at California State University, Fullerton. Four years later, I had my MA in Communication, with an emphasis in Rhetorical Theory (Persuasion). My thesis was entitled "Ronald Reagan's Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion." As a published book, it holds a spot on the CSUF shelves.

At the end of my Master's program, I began to take communicatin classes at Fullerton College, a two-year college that had an incredibly large enrollment of over 20,000 students! They had some hi-calibre instructors, some of them celebs, since Orange County has its share of retired celebs, musicians, vocalists, actors, etc. I studied television announcing (before and behind the camera), radio news (writing and performance, live on air), Voice-Overs, and PR. At the same time, I went to the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and took a doctoral class in communication, hoping to get into their doctoral program.

Still later, I was accepted to the University of South Alabama's IDD program (the one that Crystal is ABD in)...twice. I couldn't get myself to switch from communication to education. Sounds simple enough, but the theories were somewhat different; it meant changing my whole thrust in communication. I opted for a distance learning doctoral program in communication.

I am glad I have gone through the programs I have and for one good reason: it has helped me to better understand and appreciate more how people think and conduct themselves. Degrees only identify what someone might be prepared to do; the key, IMO, is how the education one acquires...improves one's life to benefit others. I am better equipped to write and speak than I would ever have been without that education and to think that at the beginning of it all, way back in about 1963 (after four years in the U.S. Navy where I was recommended to the U.S. Naval Academy), I never thought that I would go to any college, even to acquire an undergrad degree. Frankly had no desire to go to college and extend my education.

No...you do NOT have to go to college to be a better person and to serve others. I don't believe that. But yes, it has helped me more than I could have ever imagined. I believe that God helped me through all of my studies, which didn't always come easy.

More later. Have a great week.~jwa

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My daughter is now ABD. Hooray!

Updated: 3/12/10 (I just noticed that I haven't added the latest dates on some of my previous pages.)

My daughter is now ABD (All But Dissertation). She just passed her oral exams yesterday and her written exams two weeks ago. She did well and I'm very pleased with her.

WoW! Did she ever dedicate herself to her studies for the written and orals...like four to six hours nearly every day for nearly three months! That's not all she did. She holds down a 40-hour job as an Assistant to the Arts and Science Department Head (University of South Alabama), keeps up her domestic duties, and helps with the church.

This is really huge for her (and us:)! Now all she has left is her dissertation, which she has been working on over the past year or so. I "kid" her by calling her Dr. Crystal. She will have her Ph.D in Instructional Design and Development one day, an interesting discipline and helpful for creating and constructing cirricula for higher education, the government, or whomever needs a cirriculum of formal, systematic studies.

Thought I'd share this with some of you who might know her.

Education is good. God is certainly for it. His Word provides humankind the best education possible. ~jwa

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The Five Canons of Rhetoric

Updated: 1/22/10

Here is some general knowledge of the classical system of rhetoric and its terminology. By the time Cicero wrote his treatises on rhetoric the study of rhetoric was divided in five parts: inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, and ponuntiatio. Let's briefly review each part.

Invention or discovery. Invention was concerned with a system or method for finding arguments. Aristotle pointed out that there are two kinds of arguments or means of persuasion available to a speaker: Non-artistic, such as reasoning from something already established like laws, witnesses, contracts, tortures, and oaths. Artistic modes of persuasion fell within the art of rhetoric: Logos or rational appeal; pathos or emotional appeal; ethos or ethical appeal. In exercising the rational appeal, the speaker appeals to the audience's reason or understanding.

Disposition or arrangement or organization. Here is where you have introduction, thesis, outline, proof, refutation, and conclusion.

Elocution or style is next. This had to do with the use of language, whether it might be a plain style as in teaching, a forcible style as in motivational, and a florid style, used more for charming and entertaining. There's much to be said about style and how its developed.

Memory is the fourth canon of rhetoric, concerned with memorizing a speech, something I don't advise. A few thousand years ago men memorized their speeches through constant practice, much as professional actors do today. Risky at best; job-busting at its worst.

Pronunciation or delivery is the fifth canon of rhetoric. Skill in delivery can be acquired by actual practice and by analyzing the delivery of others. A speaker may have a great speech written out for him but if he fails to deliver it properly, that speech becomes a flop and he is viewed as a flop.

These are the five canons of rhetoric, thanks to philosopher/rhetorician Aristotle (tutor of Alexander the Great), the scientifically-minded son of a physician, and Cicero (a Roman), who added to these a few hundred years later.

I might add here that rhetoric, technically, is not bombast or sophistry, though modern journalists often misunderstand it to be just that. No, rhetoric is the art or the discipline that deals with the use of discourse, either spoken or written, to inform or persuade or motivate an audience, whether that audience is made up of one person or a group of persons.

The classical rhetoricians seem to have narrowed the particular effect of rhetorical discourse to persuasion. Aristotle defined rhetoric as, "the faculty of discovering all the available means of persuasion in any given situation" (credit to Edward P.J. Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student).

Here's to better communication.~jwa

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The human mind is tricky; there's a better way

Updated: 12/17/09

Thank God that we enjoy the cognitive process. God has given to us the ability to think, reason, analyze, and articulate what we think. What most people don't know is that it allows us the opportunity to learn to think like God does. And He gives us the manual which instructs us as to how God thinks: the Bible.

But the human mind is a tricky thing. Despite all the power that the mind can generate, much of it is random and a lot of it is fickle, still it is easily motivated by the external things of life that come to us throught he six senses.

We want to belong; we are social creatures. So we try to fit in with others, often without consulting good critical reasoning. If someone tries to sell you a bill of goods, it's good to question it (I have people trying to do this to me every day, if not outside the house, certainly over television).

God says that the human mind is limited and cannot know the way of God without God revealing His way to us. It is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Yet we go about our lives thinking there's nothing better.

The apostle Paul talks about the differences between human mind and God's spiritual mind (1 Corinthians 2). You might want to read through that slowly and carefully. There are other scriptures that show we need God's help in our thinking and that we cannot know how we should direct our own steps (Jer. 10:23, for example).

So should we "check our minds at the door," and turn to God's Word, to learn how we can best conduct ourselves and get the most out of life? I think so. God says so. Be very careful that you don't assume that your human mind is not tricky; that's where troubles come from. Thank God for the cognitive process but with that comes great responsibilities.

Here's to better thoughts and good thoughts, serving thoughts.~jwa

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But what are they thinking?

Updated: 11/27/09

I once gave a sermon on prophecy and one nice lady came to me after the service and said she really liked what she had heard about family and children. I was slacked-jawed, though I didn't show it (or at least I think didn't :).

Upon questioning her as to what she heard, she said that I talked about family and childrearing and it helped her a lot. This is what she walked away with and it remains a good lesson for me, perhaps for you too.

When I speak before any number of people in an audience, I acknowledge that they are listening to me and I truly work to get and retain their interest. I hope to give them something to remember, to help them in their personal lives, and to enhance their spiritual education. Sometimes, however, I find myself thinking, "But what are they thinking?"

If a speaker finds his or her audience staring at him/her in what might appear to be attentiveness, but they don't move their heads or change the looks on their faces, they are probably in another world, thinking about something else, and maybe nearly asleep with their eyes open. Oh yes...it happens, more than we want to admit.

Early in my speaking career, I was delivering a message in a church in Temple City, California and as I was about 2/3rds through it, an elderly gentleman in the front row fell out of his seat. No, not because he was so impressed with my speaking or my message. He just fell asleep and fell face down on the floor. Someone helped him up and he sat upright in his chair, as if nothing had happened.

So when you deliver a message and you are one who assumes that if you prepared the message and you liked it, surely everyone else will also like it, please...please think of your audience. They may have come together with a common purpose in mind but their thoughts can be far from one another, let alone be with you, the speaker.

Do not assume that because an audience comes together and they're held "captive" for a couple of hours, they are with you all the way. For them to "get" with you, the speaker, you're going to have to WORK for their attention, remembering that the demographics of every audience is varied in more ways than you can imagine. Try to bring in everyone within your content and delivery; have something for everyone, without losing the focus of your thesis/theme.

May our communication be more effective in the future.~jwa

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Form and Substance in Communication

Updated: 11/4/09

Do you know the difference between form and substance in communication? There's more to it than what I share here, from a personal perspective and from some of my past studies on the subject.

"Form" means what something looks like, its external characteristics, its packaging. "Substance" means what it actually is, what’s inside. When it comes to human behavior, "form" is what we say we say and maybe mean and "substance" is what we do and what we are.

How often have you been in a meeting or simply visiting with a small group of people and you hear someone fill the air with all kinds of seemingly intelligent reasonings, but the longer you hear him or her load the air with trial balloons and especially when you leave the group, you realize something went terribly wrong...not from you, but from one who now appears to have been a big bag of wind?

That's form with little or no substance. On the other hand, you likely have been in the presence of someone who seemed like a straight-shooter, appeared transparent, offered helpful thoughts to the group, and did not shine the light on him or herself. This is substance. You should now the difference and be able to spot it for what it is without any embarrassment or questioning of oneself.

Here's to some good conversations with many people and if you hear a lot of "form" in a conversation, don't be afraid to question it. If you hear a lot of substance from someone, don't hesitate to compliment that person, publicly.

All the best.~jwa

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JWAust.com hits are rising because of the Alan Colmes interview on Easter

Updated 3/24/08

I am happy to report that visits to JWAust.com over the past two weeks have been phenomenal. Thanks for your visits and I hope you'll return again, often. I also thank Alan Colmes for the opportunity to offer the controversial truths of the Bible. As one man put it years ago, "God's truth will rock and sock your world!" And for those that don't yet know it, regarding what God is preparing to do on this earth, "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

I'm now at 30,000 hits over the past two weeks, which for me is high. Very encouraging.

I hope you'll also visit www.gnmagazine.org and www.ucg.org if you desire any magazines, booklets, or other material, free of charge and without any follow-up. We want to serve you.

May God bless you to understand His plan on this earth.~jwa