Do you enjoy speaking up at meetings? And do you love giving presentations?

If not, are you avoiding speaking up and is this preventing you from growing?

Perhaps you can't quite put your finger on what is stopping you from speaking up, but would like to know.

Or perhaps you are clear that you feel scared or doubtful, but don't know how to grow through those feelings. 

This course draws on my work as an Inner Relationship Focusing Professional* and a Public Speaking Coach to help you with both improve your speaking skills and to help you explore your inner world, in a way that brings change. 

You  will receive practical skills training on how to give a talk and speak up in meetings, and experience guided exercises to help you get curious about what happens to you inside when asked to speak up. 

INNER WORLD WORK: How does your inner critic manifest for you? How can you be with any frightened or doubtful parts? And can you create speech content from a feeling place, rather than just your head? Yes! I will show you how. 

SPEAKING SKILLS WORK: You will get the opportunity to do fun, easy speaking exercises in pairs and the group; to practise answering questions in under 90 seconds; to give a talk in front of the group in weeks 5/6; and receive my support and feedback as a speaking coach. 

COURSE CONTENT: 

Week 1: Why working with our anxiety works, and why trying to get rid of it doesn’t. What am I good at? Resourcing exercises.  Fun games to get you thinking. Speaking exercises. 

Week 2: “What do I want to say?”  Getting a feel for our content. And learning how to structure a talk around one key idea. 

Week 3: Learning how to think on my feet. Speaking on random questions in under 90 seconds. “ How would it feel in my body if this issue was resolved?” Experiencing the wanted feeling, and what  blocks it.  

Week 4: “I’m no good at this”. Working with the Inner Critic. 

Weeks 5 and 6: Delivering your talk online and receiving feedback in a supportive environment.

This course was a real joy!  Fiona shares her years of experience with generosity, humor and masses of encouragement. We learned so many useful tips and she somehow made it fun and easy. The speaking exercises and focusing practices were all incredibly helpful.  What made this course special, though, was Fiona's own presence. She held the space in such a lovely, safe, gentle way that I think all of us were able to stretch our comfort zones more than we would have imagined.  I highly recommend this course to anyone who has anxiety around public speaking or simply wants to speak more effectively. 

Tara Begley, Meditation Teacher, San Francisco

What is Inner Relationship Focusing*? 

Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF) shows us how to work with parts of ourselves that have previously been denied or in conflict. IRF encourages us to allow and listen to all of our parts in a deeply accepting way, and this skillful allowing brings new perspectives and shifts. The process tends to be an inherently satisfying and gentle one. 

IRF is a refined and expanded form of Focusing which was first developed by Professor Eugene Gendlin of Chicago University. IRF was developed by Ann Weiser Cornell (who worked with Gendlin) and Barbara McGavin, who both in turn trained me.