Speaking Circles
Speaking Circles™ are small groups of 8-10 people who come together to feel at ease in public speaking. Originally developed as a way to combat stage fright, independent practitioners now also report successful applications to treating stuttering, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and other social challenges. History. Speaking Circles were developed in the late 1970s by former stand-up comedian Lee Glickstein, who codified the methods he found successful in addressing his own experience of stage fright. Subsequently, Glickstein registered the name Speaking Circles as a trademark and incorporated a business, Speaking Circles International, to deliver training  using his methods through a network of licensed facilitators. The Speaking Circles website now lists over 50 facilitators who have paid for initial training and ongoing certification and who now operate their own practices across the United States, Belgium, Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Mexico and Japan. Relational Presence. The core of Glickstein's method is a state of mind he calls "Relational Presence", something he describes as "a state of receptivity to another without agenda or effort." Traditional oratory and rhetorical approaches to public speaking highlight performance as a key to engaging and holding an audience. Metaphorically, speakers are  seen as connecting with their audiences by 'reaching out' to them through compelling words, gestures and arguments. In contrast, speakers applying Relational Presence techniques invite connection by establishing a sense of intimate safety. The speaker and each audience member understand that it's OK to simply be themselves and no performance is required. The most usual method of a speaker establishing Relational Presence with an audience is through non-threatening eye contact made by the speaker with individual members of the audience, and held for longer than usual periods of time (usually a minimum of few seconds for each audience  member engaged in this way). There is research to suggest that this sort of eye contact releases the social bonding hormone Oxytocin, which may well explain the increased sense of safety and trust that speakers and audiences report feeling when a speaker is connecting using Relational Presence. Other research by Dr Stephen Porges suggests that extended non-threatening eye-contact activates what he calls the Social Engagement System, which acts as a brake on the normal fight or flight response, slows the heart rate and thereby creates a sense of safety. More details of the relationship between Dr Porges work  and Relational Presence can be found in this article. Training methods. Licensed facilitators teach Relational Presence through an approach sharing elements in common with group psychotherapy. It aims to gradually repair the damage left behind from any earlier public traumas in life. The licensed facilitator directory can be found at https://relationalpresence.com/relational-presence-facilitator-directory/. Methods used. The following description describes a typical evening 2-3 hour Speaking Circle meeting, although many facilitators run Speaking Circle workshops lasting 1 or more days: