Speaking Circles

Reported by Nicholas Albery on Global Ideas Bank.

Lee Glickstein has launched a movement called Speaking Circles to help people to practice becoming public speakers and has led over 2,000 such groups himself. He believes that any group, whether of friends, family or business colleagues, can use the formula to create a Speaking Circle of their own. I am inspired by this book to want to try forming a Speaking Circle in North London, UK - so any reader who might like to take part, please make contact.

The essence of a Speaking Circle is to limit the numbers to a maximum of ten and to allow each member five minutes on stage, with the audience giving only positive feedback afterwards, thus creating a feeling of safety and gradually repairing the damage from any earlier public traumas in life. Glickstein explains the details in this book:

The Circle lasts no more than two and a half hours, starting with tea or coffee.
There is a brief introduction from whoever is facilitator, reminding participants of the groundrules. Everyone then stands up one by one for three minutes each to introduce themselves, to "check in," with no feedback from others.
If possible, the meeting is videotaped. Each person brings their own tape which is inserted to record their talk and which they can take away for appraising at home.
Each person then gives a five minutes talk.
The facilitator raises his or her finger when 30 seconds are left.
The audience gives the person speaking unconditional support and positive acceptance silently during the person's talk and with only positive comments during feedback time.
The audience does not talk among its members during or between speakers (laughter is of course allowed). No notes are taken. No comments are made on the contents of people's talks.
The content of talks is confidential, not to be repeated outside the Circle without specific permission. - Feedback is limited to 30 seconds per person and should be entirely positive: talking about the listener's feelings and responses, without talking about the speaker's life; without evaluating or comparing this talk with a previous talk; without turning people's attention back to the listener; and without coaching, analyzing or advising. Here, for instance, are some examples of forbidden feedback: "That's the best talk you've ever done" (thus comparing with a previous talk). "You really opened up today; I finally see who you really are" (again comparing with previous efforts). "That could be a professional talk, especially if you'd ..." (thus giving advice).
The speaker makes no comments on each feedback beyond saying "thank you."
The facilitator wraps up the meeting with a few words. There can then be a time for socializing.

How do you find what to talk about in your five minutes? In a Speaking Circle it is perfectly permissible to remain silent for your five minutes on stage. The idea is to be yourself - and if you are a nervous wreck, not to seek to hide this. But Glickstein advises that meditating beforehand on the following questions may help you to find suitable subject matter:

What has life taught you?
What have been the turning points in your life? In what directions have you turned at these points? What have you learned?
What secrets have you discovered?
Who are the people who inspired you in your life?
When you comfort or counsel friends, what do you usually wind up talking about?
Into which areas of life do you have particularly clear insight?
What are you good at?
Where do you seem to have a unique perspective?
What obstacles have you overcome? What did you use to overcome them?

Being yourself on stage is not a list of techniques you can apply, but here, nevertheless, are some of Glickstein's helpful suggestions:

Silently receive your listeners for at least a few seconds before you speak.
Speak as if to individuals in the audience, lingering with each person for five to ten seconds before moving on.
Speak in short sentences, pausing frequently to connect with individuals.
Leave longer silences between important points.
Stand relatively still and move slightly towards individuals as you speak to them.
Use humor based on your own experiences, if you use humor at all.
Stand still and receive applause "into your heart" at the end of your talk, rather than walking off modestly while people are clapping. (In films of President Kennedy's speeches, "you can see him pausing graciously to let the crowd's love wash over him.")

Glickstein also gives advice for longer speechmaking in daily life, much of which is relevant to Speaking Circles too: he advises opening your speech with a short true story from your own life - an experience that you learnt from and that connects with the topic of your speech (take up to three minutes on this). Then outline in three or four sentences the major points you will cover. Now promise people in one sentence what they will get out of your talk. Make sure, either by asking or through nonverbal signals, that this prospectus is acceptable to your audience, and then launch into the body of the talk. The talk can be designed to follow Glickstein's ARC, which stands for Awareness, Reframing and Commitment.

In the Awareness section, you need to address:

What is the problem about which you are passionate?
Why does the problem exist?
What efforts have been made to fix it?
Why have these efforts failed?

In Reframing, you present a way of solving the problem in a new and dynamic way. In Commitment, you tell the audience what specific things they can do right away to help tackle this problem in their own lives. Each part of the ARC is best introduced with a relevant personal story.

Close the talk by telling the audience what it has been like to spend this time with them, inviting them to contact you, or end with an inspirational quote or with more of your personal story. "Your ending," writes Glickstein, "can be an opening to their relationship with your solutions and a lifetime relationship with you."

This book - and its socially innovative Speaking Circles - are not only a must for anxious public speakers but could also help people to relax and be themselves in ordinary day-to-day encounters.

Lee Glickstein can be contacted at: Center for Transformational Speaking, 450 Taraval Street #218, San Francisco CA 94116, USA (tel 001-800- 610- 0169.). The book and a videotape on "How To Conduct Your Own Speaking Circle" are available.

A London Speaking Circle

Nicholas Albery reports:

We tried out the Speaking Circle in November 1997 just using the advice in the above article and it went very well. We cabled a Super VHS C camera up to a TV and to an ordinary VHS video machine, so participants could use ordinary VHS tapes, and put a couple of strong lights in place on either side of the speaker's face.

We booked 12 places, but three people dropped out at the last moment, which is just as well, as our meeting met at 7pm, started at 7:30pm, went on till 10:15pm, then we had a meal together. It overran because, although we kept a good eye on the length of each speech, we neglected to be equally strict with the (up to) 30 seconds of feedback from each participant. But when we got Tibetan bells organized to crash together after 30 seconds, we speeded up no end.

Three people forgot to bring videos. One forgot to bring food to share. It proved harder to get the men than the women to avoid commenting on the contents of each person's speech, rather than their own emotional reaction to it. Otherwise, it all went just fine.

At the end, instead of the facilitator summing up, we each had 30 seconds to comment on how it had been for us and any improvements we might like for next time. One man said he would have preferred critical comments but my response to this was that the video watched back at home would give him all the opportunities for self-criticism he could want.

Source: http://www.globalideasbank.org/communications.html . September 2000.

Glickstein, Lee. How To Compel Rapt Attention Every Time You Speak, Leeway Press, 450 Taraval Street #218, San Francisco, CA 94116, 1996.

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