Speak with Confidence, Authenticity & Connection

The best thing about Speaking Circles is the chance to share who you are with an attentive and supportive audience. There’s nothing to prepare, nothing to practice before walking into this experience. Everything you need to capture the hearts and minds of others is already inside you.

Julie T., Coach

You Are Your Message

When you show up relaxed, authentic, and in your power before an audience, whether in person or virtually, you are giving your listeners what they are secretly hoping for: a chance to connect with YOU.

Listeners want to get to know you, to experience who you are, just as much as they want to hear your message. The more they feel your comfortable, natural presence, the more what you have to say will resonate with them.

Speaking Circles^® offer you the opportunity to develop and embody the confidence, authenticity, and connection that moves people and keeps them engaged with you and your message.

The special skill—and practice—that Speaking Circles teach is called Relational Presence. By using Relational Presence, which is the ability to settle into and speak from your own inner stillness when you are in front of others, your natural self emerges through your words and presence to be seen and heard, felt and appreciated by your listeners.

By being with one person at a time in Relational Presence, you invite receptive listening from your audience, letting people into your world through your open expression and authentic presence. 

In doing so, you can:

• Engage and touch an audience of any size—from one to many
• Access your natural expression and humor
• Develop awareness of your breath, slowing down, and natural pauses
• Deliver more dynamic talks and presentations
• Become more influential and magnetic, tapping into your full leadership potential
• Develop stronger, closer, more meaningful relationships with anyone in your life

Whether in person or virtually, you can bring to your public speaking—or any interaction with others—a quality of presence that helps your message land in the moment and stay with people long after you part.

Here’s how two Speaking Circles participants expressed it:

Your Keys to Confidence, Authenticity, and Connection

In your turns in front of the group at Speaking Circles, your speaking begins to develop more flow and depth. You learn to recognize what it feels like when you are settled into Relational Presence.

In the process, you discover a way to leverage and balance the four key elements that engender confidence, authenticity, and connection while speaking with others:

Body: Energetic connection through stillness, breath, and presence. Fully experience your physical sensations, your connection to the earth, and the space around you.  

Heart: Emotional connection through you sharing your feelings and experiences. Tap into and express your emotions, passions, and truth in the moment. 

Mind:  Mental connection through shared knowledge, perspectives, and insights. Uncover powerful clarity and wisdom, honestly and eloquently, allowing breath to support your expression.

Spirit: Intentional connection through your energy, vitality, and being centered in the body. Passion and conviction emerge in warmth, ease, and flow. 

As you speak from a state of congruence with body, heart, mind, and spirit, you become grounded in your confidence and authenticity, and the sense of connection between you and your listeners deepens.

When you speak from this place, your words are more powerful, your presence is more captivating, and the experience—for your listeners and for you—is more profound.

One Speaking Circles participant said this about the results:

I’m feeling balanced and much clearer. I can see that I’m really being asked to step into my power with this work and develop a professional presence. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to do this amazing work.

Myoko Partlow, Educator and program developer

A Potent Transformation

Letting yourself be seen and heard is what allows your listeners to relate to and appreciate you and your words.

The more Speaking Circles you attend and the more you practice Relational Presence, the more confident you become, the more authentic you are, and the more connected you feel to everyone else.

The benefits you experience as a result filter through all areas of your life, including:

• Greater public speaking/conversational skills
• Better listening skills
• Stronger, closer relationships
• Greater understanding of others
• Higher self-esteem
• Deeper sense of self
• Refined leadership skills
• Greater motivation and desire for accomplishment
• More desire to learn, grow, and impact others

Here’s what one Speaking Circles participant said about the transformation she experienced:

Speaking Circles helped me discover how to speak with confidence to smaller groups. There was no pressure to perform like other public speaking classes. It was easy, loving, and uplifting. The experience was a profound life moment that has shaped my speaking experiences since.

Cimone-Louise F., Speaker, writer, workshop leader

Some of the many areas where you can apply and practice Relational Presence are:

• Giving speeches and presentations
• Leading and contributing in meetings
• Seeking promotions/career advancements
• Networking endeavors
• Leading or managing others
• Engaging in team building practices
• Starting/managing a business
• Managing difficult conversations
• Connecting with others at deep levels in any setting

The applications and benefits of Speaking Circles and Relational Presence are virtually limitless. 

Are you ready to experience them for yourself?

If you’re ready now, search our global network of Facilitators to find Facilitators who conduct in-person and virtual Circles in several languages in a convenient time zone or a location near you.

Information on the science behind the effectiveness of Speaking Circles and Relational Presence is at Research on Effectiveness, and our Resources page lists readings to guide you.

We answer common questions here, and we welcome you to contact us with specific questions.