Holding An Audience In The Palm Of Your Hand

Effective communication is a critical core competency of any human interaction, whether business, corporate or personal in nature.  Everyone you meet processes information in a different and unique way, so how is it possible to communicate effectively utilising resonant language, with everyone and anyone?  The answer is simple, NLP thinking.

1.      Believe in your message

The primary element towards stimulating a constructive dialogue that people simply must embrace is what you believe about your message.  The transmission of deep seated personal beliefs isn’t something that you are consciously aware of and it is happening all of the time when you are conversing with others.  You project your beliefs through your physiology, energy and language outside of your conscious awareness, so if you have no belief in your message there will be no resonance for your audience.  Make sure you fully understand the reasoning behind the message, the desired destination and believe in it 100%. Any uncertainty will be projected out into your audience and they will feel it.

2.      Adopt a resourceful emotional state

As you approach your key conversation or presentation, think carefully about your own emotional state at the point of delivery.  NLP provides us with a practical state control technique called anchoring.  Anchoring allows you to change your emotional state to something more useful, on demand. There is little to be gained from having a conversation or standing on a stage when you are angry, frustrated, nervous, fearful, anxious or upset.  Absolutely the best state to be in is one of relaxed alertness and some well-placed, appropriate humour goes a long way towards generating essential rapport.

3.      Build rapport

We often hear about a magical condition between two individuals or an individual and a group that is known as rapport. Very few people really know how to create rapport at a very deep level, particularly in groups. At its most basic, rapport is a process of matching and mirroring physiology.  It is an accepted psychological phenomenon that people like people who are like them. When you have deep rapport, people are willing to assist you in achieving your goals.  Making conscious connections with the unconscious minds of your audience is how you are going to take them with you on the change journey and to have them accept your messages uncritically.  Extend your matching and mirroring beyond the boundaries of the obviously physiological and match the expressions, idiosyncratic language, sensory preferences, voice speed, pitch, volume, quality and most significantly, match the breathing patterns to create a most mystical connection. Yes, you can achieve this in groups! As you observe the group, you will notice that they are ordered into smaller groups who are all in rapport with each other. They will be holding their physiology in a similar manner. One person will be the rapport leader of each group and they are the individuals with whom you should build rapport. Once established with the rapport leader, the rapport will magically spread through the entire group! This is lots of fun to watch!

4.      Linguistic structuring

So, you believe in your message and you are in a useful emotional state. You have spent some time building deep rapport with your audience, now and only now should you deliver your message. At this point, the way you have constructed your message will dictate your results.  Always begin with some robust reasons as to why your audience will benefit from hearing what you have to say.  As everyone likes to receive information differently, make sure that you use a recipe that combines visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory linguistic ingredients.  This is the ‘big picture’ offering and should include all of the positive reasons why your message is important and worth hearing.  

Use your sensory acuity to observe your audience and when you sense that you have buy-in to the why statements, then you can tell them what the message is.  A great way to add colour to your communication is to use metaphor which touches each individual at the personal level and opens up access to the unconscious mind in a way that seems almost magical in its nature.  The use of stories in your message will create a myriad of coloured threads which can be woven into a rich tapestry illustrating your message in a way that is palatable and even compelling.  Keep your language positive at all times.  The unconscious mind does not process negatives, so say it the way you want it.  

Next, your message should describe how your message is important.  This is the point where you can leverage a wider range of perspectives by stimulating conversation and opinion.  Encourage discussion, questions, and self-coaching to develop. Now you have a communicative conversation.

Remember, every time you speak you change the way someone feels, so always focus on generating positive outcomes in your communication and they will be effective every time.

To develop a mastery of communication for yourself, you are invited to join Quest for Success Ltd at our next Enhanced NLP Coach Practitioner Certification Training. During the 8-day training you will develop a deep and complete understanding of language and communication and have the unique opportunity to substantially enhance your personal growth and development. Investing in yourself is the only investment that has a 100% guaranteed return and when you invest in yourself, then the world will reciprocate by investing in you. Build a whole new business for yourself or accelerate your prospects within your existing career.

Any future that you can imagine is achievable. How do we know? We know because if you didn’t have the resources within yourself to imagine that future, you wouldn’t even be able to conceive of it. Re-connection with your inner resources is all you need and we will assist you in finding and developing them way beyond your current expectations, right now.

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