The Nature of Essence Appreciation
After a person’s second turn up front (five minutes in most Speaking Circles) listeners have the opportunity to give brief positive feedback in the form of what we call “essence appreciation.” Newcomers are asked to just listen and abstain from chiming in because what...
Relational Presence Basic Tools
Relational Presence or RP is the state of listening with another beyond agenda, words, personality, effort. It is not itself engagement or making a connection, but rather a state of neutral availability for connection with no demand for it. Connection tends to arise... Authentic Eye Contact
These words by Doreen Hamilton hang on the wall at our San Anselmo training center: “The confidence to speak in any public situation transforms your ability to be yourself in all areas of your life.” Relational Presence is key to this wide-ranging...
The Biological Basis of Relational Presence
Many perspectives are available on the alchemy of Relational Presence from the realms of creativity, philosophy, and science. Creativity I believe that every human mind presents a unique landscape, an essentially foreign universe to every other mind. (To survive and...
How to Think and Speak at the Same Time
Any degree of public speaking fear, from stage fright to mild anxiety, can be seen as a problem in harmonizing one’s speaking with one’s thinking. You may tend to think too fast to keep up with in your speaking, or your mind “freezes” and you...
Speaking Circles®
Learn how to move through stage fright rather than trying to mask it by sharing who you really are.