Chapter 21: Ten Applications of NLP 341
Creating Powerful Presentations
The ability to communicate well is fundamental to your success. In fact, you
may find that it’s the single most important skill that affects your future.
When you can present well you have the leading edge in so many areas of life,
whether your passion is to be a politician, sportsperson, teacher, TV
presenter, cheerleader, or business leader of the year. Have you got the
self-confidence to go out and stand up for what you believe in? Do you really
want to sit through a celebration dinner scared because you have to give
the vote of thanks at the end? If you can present well, you can get ahead. Or
simply relax and have a good time.So what’s stopping you making powerful presentations? In one word – you!Sadly, so many people we meet are terrified of presenting. And if they’re not
terrified, they certainly prefer to hang around backstage than get out front
and sock it to an audience.NLP can make a difference for you in three ways:✓ It shows you how to make your purpose in presenting crystal clear.
✓ It shows you how to touch everyone in an audience through your use of
language.
✓ It shows you how to feel confident about standing up in front of any
group.
Imagine that you’ve been invited to do a talk at the annual meeting of your
local gardening club. (For gardening, substitute your own hobby from
hamster-training to glider-flying.)Using NLP, your first task is to engage your brain to decide on the outcome
of your presentation. What result, or action, do you want to happen, when
people have been so inspired by your speech? Map out this outcome clearly
for yourself, bearing in mind what the audience would like to discover
from you.As you begin to build the content of your talk, think VAK – visual, auditory,
and kinaesthetic (head to Chapter 6 for tips on engaging with people’s
dominant senses). How are you going to connect with people who like pictures,
those who hear the words, and those who just go with their gut feelings? As
you develop your script, remember that some people just need the headlines
and others like the nitty-gritty details.