I've just spent the day on an NLP course seeing how, if at all it fits into presentation training, and how we can best use it to manage our audience. The good news is, its quite funky, the bad news is I'm not entirely convinced of its value. Yes you can explore language, learning styles and values, but is this really the utopia of presentations? I read recently that Obama used NLP to win the election, was it NLP or just good speech writing? or are the two synonymous, as NLP is considerably younger than the art of great oration, so is it just another management model for trainers to make some extra cash?
To be fair to NLP there are a few key pointers, the three learning styles which we should be aware of in every presentation, the use of positive language to raise the mood of the audience which of course are all facets of gaining rapport with the audience. Understanding your audience and getting them to listen and interact with you is one of the key challenges that a presenter faces, I believe that NLP may have a part to play in my future courses which I'll happily share with you over the coming weeks.
