Speaking Circles are small groups of 8-10 people who come together to feel at ease in
public speaking
Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech delive ...
. Originally developed as a way to combat
stage fright
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when per ...
, independent practitioners now also report successful applications to treating
stuttering
Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...
and other social challenges.
History
Speaking Circles were developed in the late 1970s by former
stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
Lee Glickstein, who codified the methods he found successful in addressing his own experience of stage fright.
[{{citation , title=Be Heard Now! , author=Lee Glickstein , publisher=Broadway , year=1999] 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.
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
Oratory is a type of public speaking.
Oratory may also refer to:
* Eloquence, fluent, forcible, elegant, or persuasive speaking
* Rhetoric, the art of discourse
Places
* Oratory (worship), a public or private place of divine worship, akin to a ...
and
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...
al 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).
References
External links
Official Speaking Circles website
Communication skills training
Personal service companies