BetterOn: A Growing Presence

Turns out pandemics are an appropriate time for reflection. Like most, I’ve spent the last half year asking questions. (Yes, it’s been that long.) Some are ‘me’ focused and will take a long time to answer, if ever. Am I staying healthy?  Do people around me need help? What is my role as a white male in our white supremacy culture? What am I doing about it?  Am I staying focused?  Is my mask in my pocket?  This is a separate post altogether.

I’ve accepted that the other side of this moment won’t be the same and neither will I. That’s an opportunity. So. What do I leave behind? What won’t make it through? What becomes legacy?  For Ryan?  For BetterOn?

For 7 years, I’ve studied and guided people through a transformation called camera presence. What began as communications training for a video era has become accelerated self awareness.  Pre-pandemic, BetterOn leaned towards live products - individual and group experiences.  I’d always get the question ‘why don’t you scale the business?’  To which I’d think, is it possible to scale magic?  Guiding people to see themselves as they are, and helping them process to grow isn’t a tchotchke.  It’s legit personal development.  

Pre-covid, the pain that came with cameras was almost avoidable. 6 months later, we’ve all felt it. Sure, everyone should be more comfortable on camera but most importantly, everyone needs to see themselves in these moments to grow. 

BetterOn gives people glimpses into their truth with real world applications. One client recently pitched virtually and won a competition of $150K for her startup.  Another reflected that he finally saw something in himself that friends had told him his whole life (and he loved it). And another, like many, said she couldn’t believe that practicing presence was so much fun. Our work surpasses personal barriers while crossing time zones, languages, and cultures. 

Residual effects, like being more present with partners and kids or in 1 to 1 meetings, have become common feedback and music to our ears. When lockdown hit, we launched remote presence bootcamps with groups upwards of 50. Since then, Red Hat, Yale, Automattic, and Momentum Learning have leaned into asynchronous video training to grow their people. 

The result? From giving talks at remote conferences to leading teams through this massive change, one thing that doesn’t shift is the desire for connection. That’s where BetterOn comes in.  Guiding people to see themselves, so they can connect with others in a video forward era. Turns out the magic carries through.

Send me a message if your company is interested in presence work.