Circles, energy and presence

Presence and communication go hand in hand, but generally we preference words and content over presence. It can be tricky to know how to focus on presence as its about being and it can feel amorphous. In the context of training people in presentations and public speaking, to focus on presence is illuminating. There are a few models I have used to help in getting a grasp of presence but most frame presence within quadrants and to be frank I am not a fan of quadrants. Why, you ask? Because being is nothing like a quadrant, with pointy edges, squares with clear, fixed boundaries. Presence is about being, how you are being, moment to moment and this is in no way structured like a quadrant.

Which is why I preference Patsy Rodenberg’s framing of circles and energy in relation to training in presence. In addition to the fact that groups of 3’s are always easier to comprehend – 3 key message points is advised etc…

Whenever I ask participants to define presence, a strong theme emerges about the senses, it is a feeling and we see it, we sense it, this is all very SENSUAL, presence is of the SENSES.

Let’s come back to circles, they are softer and when they move, they can rub alongside each other, yes, they are more sensual, just like presence!

Patsy’s 2nd circle framing of presence makes experiencing this sensual, somewhat nebulous domain of presence easier to step into and quickly get a grasp of presence and the subtle but significant ways our presence can change. Incidentally, my understanding is she created this practice in response to a question she kept coming back to when training high grade actors – why some hold an audience’s attention and others less so. This is where it is useful for presentations and public speaking because you really want to have the same impact that these actors with presence have…and before you say oh but some people have just got it naturally, well no, actors train to have presence to generate presence and yes some DO it better than others and that is what Patsy focused on – what are they DOING?

I invite you to experience and DO Patsy’s circles, stand up and feel what it feels like (thought, feelings, body) to BE in each circle, there are subtle and significant shifts you can make within each and shifting between each. They are each important at different times for different intentions of communicating.

Patsy writes “moving from within second circle was what all actors who possessed “it” had in common”