How do I know that Christmas is early? Because the world near me has stopped because of snow. Traditionally this is something that happens in February it at all, so my mother's prediction that the world tilted after they landed on the moon might be correct after all!
Snow is fascinating to watch. Boy racers buckling wheels as they find out they don't know everything after all, the stupid spinning wheels faster and faster and of course the smug 4*4 owners who for one or two days out of the whole year actually have a use for four wheel drive....if only they could remember how to select it.
As for us? Warm in the office, catching up on paperwork with phones quiet as hometime begins to start from lunch onwards. Happy Easter to you all!
Ian
PS... short of a Xmas Present? Try a CD from http://www.londonhypnosis.org.uk/
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Saturday 13 November 2010
No immunity from life!
Step forward all those who are perfect. Please avoid the rush! Being the trainer, being the service provider if you like does not make you immune from life itself. The last bit my friend Jon sent me and it makes a lot of sense. I learn from everything I do, try to do and watch others do. Anyone who is genuinely a 'good' speaker will know that this is something that is achieved through ongoing work. Like the silverplate - it needs polishing, dusting and inspecting. If there is one thing I hope it is that I will never be arrogant enough to think I know it all. I enjoy learning from my own efforts and from others. Whatever you are good at, always try and find more learning opportunities, more challenges and be prepared to listen and accept that there are areas waiting for improvement.
My friend Jon was talking about hypnosis at the time. He was encouraging therapists to always accept that they need time for themselves as well as time for others. Use the words, the concept and apply it to anything that makes sense to you. If you look after you, you will look after others better.
Happy weekend!
Ian
My friend Jon was talking about hypnosis at the time. He was encouraging therapists to always accept that they need time for themselves as well as time for others. Use the words, the concept and apply it to anything that makes sense to you. If you look after you, you will look after others better.
Happy weekend!
Ian
Thursday 11 November 2010
Sparkle, eat, bang and enjoy!
After two weekends of fireworks, I have struggled hard to keep the obvious metaphors in check. I have failed! I am sure most of you went and saw the boring rocket that suddenly exploded; the big start that fizzled out; and the general mix of disappointing, occasional bright sparks and damp squids.
One of the older acronyms is BikerB. The two Bs are begin and end with a bang - make an impact. There is some measure of good advice in there. I believe strongly in the good first impression, and it is certainly true that openings and endings are more likely to be recalled by the audience. There is no excuse though for weak content. All of the speech should be crafted, honed and strengthened. Consider a meal. A good starter and sweet is great. If the main course is badly prepared and tasteless, then the whole meal is ruined and that is the experience that is remembered. My advice then is to ensure your speech takes off strongly, displays a full and interesting main course before ending with a bang. For the pedants – yes the metaphors are mixed, but the sometimes the result is worth it!
One of the older acronyms is BikerB. The two Bs are begin and end with a bang - make an impact. There is some measure of good advice in there. I believe strongly in the good first impression, and it is certainly true that openings and endings are more likely to be recalled by the audience. There is no excuse though for weak content. All of the speech should be crafted, honed and strengthened. Consider a meal. A good starter and sweet is great. If the main course is badly prepared and tasteless, then the whole meal is ruined and that is the experience that is remembered. My advice then is to ensure your speech takes off strongly, displays a full and interesting main course before ending with a bang. For the pedants – yes the metaphors are mixed, but the sometimes the result is worth it!
Monday 1 November 2010
Treat or Treat
As the pumpkins are put away along with the costumes, here is a special offer. You can save the increase in VAT, and have an additional discount from 15% up to 25% by booking an in-house course between now and the end of the year. Double discount - a treat on top of a treat!
Courses in December also get an additional free gift. Take advantage now - treat yourself!
Courses in December also get an additional free gift. Take advantage now - treat yourself!
Friday 29 October 2010
Be Careful what you cut!!
It is interesting times for training businesses. Some of the regular clients are reducing their training budgets, whilst others are increasing them! Cutting training always makes an immediate short-term saving. However, as staff teams shrink in numbers, each client contact, each presentation, each pitch for business becomes more important. The savvy companies are those that are ensuring their staff are the best equipped to get the maximum roi. To remove training from staff who are under increased pressure to produce results is not a wise move.
We are always ready to discuss, alter and adjust training packages to offer good value, essential skills and a positive outcome. Don't let your staff get left behind, instead it is better to learn from the leaders and increase the staff skills. That way, they will be equipped to help survive the difficulties and to be in front when everything improves.
Ian
www.businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
We are always ready to discuss, alter and adjust training packages to offer good value, essential skills and a positive outcome. Don't let your staff get left behind, instead it is better to learn from the leaders and increase the staff skills. That way, they will be equipped to help survive the difficulties and to be in front when everything improves.
Ian
www.businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
Thursday 22 July 2010
Friday 16 July 2010
When networking and presenting meet
Networking opportunities are ever present in the business world. These include seminars, workshops, working breakfasts, evening dinners as well as more organised local events. Whether it is the Round Table, Chamber of Commerce or the village church restoration supporters group, you need to have an eye for the network opportunities.
Other articles will offer advice about different approaches to match the occasion - for example subtle at the social occasion is always a good option. However, the focus is always to increase the number of people who know you, or of you, and in a positive warm and often reciprocal way. This last point is important. The successful networker is not a taker, but a sharer. Involved, engaging and approachable are good attributes to foster carefully.
You are probably already familiar with network groups through family, school, university as well as church, sport or other gatherings. You may not have seen them as networks in the same way as the pure business network model, but they are pretty similar and certainly as useful. Indeed to neglect the more social, more informal networks is something to be avoided. However the focus for this article is the professional or business network that is further along the formal end of the networking continuum.
I will examine some key areas where you can score heavily on the network chart, without doing more than polishing up a few skills, becoming network orientated in your thinking, and open to opportunities as they present themselves.
Business cards and names
Nothing impresses us more to know that someone knows who we are. I write as someone who has struggled for years with name-recall difficulties. I still do, but I am substantially better than I was in the past. Always start from knowing the correct name. Listen, clarify and check names especially those that seem less straightforward. Be careful not to alter names. David might not like to be called Dave, whereas Michelle might prefer Shelly. If in doubt, ask. Write names down, make discreet notes and try to use new acquaintances’ names in conversation as soon as possible. Regular use will help install the names.
Just as you want to know the names of other people, you want them to remember and know your name. When I first got my individual business cards printed I thought they were magical, precious and I guarded them carefully. It was several years later that I realised that my business cards had no value at all unless other people had them. This does not mean take the confetti approach, but does mean always offering a card when appropriate, and always have some with you. Neat, clean, not dog-eared and tired cards! As you accept cards, at the earliest opportunity jot a note on the back to help remind you of the person who gave you it.
What do you do?
This is so often an opening line in a conversation as well as the standard first item on the business meeting agenda at network events. Of course you can answer it... Can’t you? Often this is where the opportunities are lost. Initially the question is almost rhetorical. Like “how are you?” it seeks an answer but in an almost disinterested way. Presentation skills to the rescue. The ‘what do you do‘ question is one of a number of mini ‘elevator’ speeches - little short, sharp and impressive responses that you can enhance with presentation skills training, rehearsal and indeed by merely recognising the power of a strong response, which in turn, will motivate you to give one.
A response along the lines of, “Well, I , er, sort of er run courses and er teach things to people in London as well as, er wherever they work to, um help them communicate”, is not going to win any medals. Much better would be something like, “ I run courses to teach professional business people at all levels how to address an audience, deliver powerful presentation and engage effectively with clients, colleagues and audiences.” Clear, precise, said with enthusiasm and conviction and imparts good information that the recipient can then respond to with further questions.
Speaking in public
Of course the elevator speech is one opportunity: there are others involving bigger audiences for longer periods of time. I am regularly invited to speak at local events, professional dinners, and training seminars. At these events speaking skills are required if you are going to make network connections. The reverse is true as well. If your speaking lets you down, then expect that to impact on the overall perception that others will have of you. After all, when you hear a confident speaker doesn’t that automatically imply confidence in other aspects of their life? If you hear a speaker making something of a shambles out of a speech, you will likely think twice before considering any business opportunities with them.
Don’t be frightened of offering to speak at events. Until your diary is packed with engagements, smaller events have a real value. They still offer the chance to network, alongside offering the chance to improve, enhance and hone your speaking skills. Most ‘big name acts’ in the entertainment field started in pubs and clubs. Most well known speakers started with local groups. No-one starts at the top, and the experiences on the way up are invaluable.
Getting it right
There is a well know saying that NLP borrowed: “If you always do what you always do, you will always get what you always got”. We all speak naturally. Speaking and presenting are two different things. In almost every other business skill, you will receive training. Presentation skills, until recently, has not been top of everyone’s list and hence the number of presentations that are rather poor. Research suggests that a substantial amount of all business presentations are felt to be unsatisfactory by the audience. It is not a quantum leap of thinking that most of the poor presentations are delivered by those who have received no training. We then inflict their underwhelming abilities onto others and wonder why we lose contracts, fail to win new clients and have uninspiring meetings and events.
With a little encouragement the ‘always get’ cycle can be broken to create a new mentality that will add a vibrancy to your meetings, an efficiency to your training and an enthusiasm to all aspects of your public speaking. There should be nothing stopping you from achieving
Rules and guidance
Bearing in mind this is an article about aspects of networking, let me use another adage that will be helpful to you. Less is more. When networking of course you want to mention your company and the temptation is the hard sell. Trust me; doing so will not put you in a good light. Networking involves people. Get to know them, let them get to know you. Your skills, areas of knowledge and expertise will lead them to your company when the time is right. If your networking and presenting falls into the category of junk mail….then expect it to be binned. Make an impact, don’t just advertise. Be patient and recognise that this is a medium-term strategy that might have some short term results as well.
Be prepared to listen, offer help and to give and take. Recognise the value in everybody. There may well be a couple of ‘hot’ contacts but share yourself with everyone. Today’s quiet junior executive may well be tomorrow’s high flying .star. Or they might just mention your name in the right place, or to the right person. Even the short phrase. “This is what I do, if I can ever help, call me”, can pay dividends in time.
And finally
Like all good presentations, an article should have a conclusion and a call for action! Almost any marketing or business development book stresses the importance of networking as a positive action to take. It is not rocket science to follow that suggestion further by saying that positive networking is required and that is achieved by making the best use of the opportunities to speak both individually and to groups. To learn more about presentation skill training, and how to become a competent, interesting speaker, you need to attend a course delivered by an expert. Now then, may I give you my card….if I can ever be of help, please do call me!
© Ian Price, Business Training Direct
This article was prepared by Ian Price for members of the Business Training Direct newsletter and Business Training Direct courses. It remains copyright to Ian and may not be used or reproduced for any other purpose.
Ian can be contacted on 07930 399 121 or through email: ian@businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
Other articles will offer advice about different approaches to match the occasion - for example subtle at the social occasion is always a good option. However, the focus is always to increase the number of people who know you, or of you, and in a positive warm and often reciprocal way. This last point is important. The successful networker is not a taker, but a sharer. Involved, engaging and approachable are good attributes to foster carefully.
You are probably already familiar with network groups through family, school, university as well as church, sport or other gatherings. You may not have seen them as networks in the same way as the pure business network model, but they are pretty similar and certainly as useful. Indeed to neglect the more social, more informal networks is something to be avoided. However the focus for this article is the professional or business network that is further along the formal end of the networking continuum.
I will examine some key areas where you can score heavily on the network chart, without doing more than polishing up a few skills, becoming network orientated in your thinking, and open to opportunities as they present themselves.
Business cards and names
Nothing impresses us more to know that someone knows who we are. I write as someone who has struggled for years with name-recall difficulties. I still do, but I am substantially better than I was in the past. Always start from knowing the correct name. Listen, clarify and check names especially those that seem less straightforward. Be careful not to alter names. David might not like to be called Dave, whereas Michelle might prefer Shelly. If in doubt, ask. Write names down, make discreet notes and try to use new acquaintances’ names in conversation as soon as possible. Regular use will help install the names.
Just as you want to know the names of other people, you want them to remember and know your name. When I first got my individual business cards printed I thought they were magical, precious and I guarded them carefully. It was several years later that I realised that my business cards had no value at all unless other people had them. This does not mean take the confetti approach, but does mean always offering a card when appropriate, and always have some with you. Neat, clean, not dog-eared and tired cards! As you accept cards, at the earliest opportunity jot a note on the back to help remind you of the person who gave you it.
What do you do?
This is so often an opening line in a conversation as well as the standard first item on the business meeting agenda at network events. Of course you can answer it... Can’t you? Often this is where the opportunities are lost. Initially the question is almost rhetorical. Like “how are you?” it seeks an answer but in an almost disinterested way. Presentation skills to the rescue. The ‘what do you do‘ question is one of a number of mini ‘elevator’ speeches - little short, sharp and impressive responses that you can enhance with presentation skills training, rehearsal and indeed by merely recognising the power of a strong response, which in turn, will motivate you to give one.
A response along the lines of, “Well, I , er, sort of er run courses and er teach things to people in London as well as, er wherever they work to, um help them communicate”, is not going to win any medals. Much better would be something like, “ I run courses to teach professional business people at all levels how to address an audience, deliver powerful presentation and engage effectively with clients, colleagues and audiences.” Clear, precise, said with enthusiasm and conviction and imparts good information that the recipient can then respond to with further questions.
Speaking in public
Of course the elevator speech is one opportunity: there are others involving bigger audiences for longer periods of time. I am regularly invited to speak at local events, professional dinners, and training seminars. At these events speaking skills are required if you are going to make network connections. The reverse is true as well. If your speaking lets you down, then expect that to impact on the overall perception that others will have of you. After all, when you hear a confident speaker doesn’t that automatically imply confidence in other aspects of their life? If you hear a speaker making something of a shambles out of a speech, you will likely think twice before considering any business opportunities with them.
Don’t be frightened of offering to speak at events. Until your diary is packed with engagements, smaller events have a real value. They still offer the chance to network, alongside offering the chance to improve, enhance and hone your speaking skills. Most ‘big name acts’ in the entertainment field started in pubs and clubs. Most well known speakers started with local groups. No-one starts at the top, and the experiences on the way up are invaluable.
Getting it right
There is a well know saying that NLP borrowed: “If you always do what you always do, you will always get what you always got”. We all speak naturally. Speaking and presenting are two different things. In almost every other business skill, you will receive training. Presentation skills, until recently, has not been top of everyone’s list and hence the number of presentations that are rather poor. Research suggests that a substantial amount of all business presentations are felt to be unsatisfactory by the audience. It is not a quantum leap of thinking that most of the poor presentations are delivered by those who have received no training. We then inflict their underwhelming abilities onto others and wonder why we lose contracts, fail to win new clients and have uninspiring meetings and events.
With a little encouragement the ‘always get’ cycle can be broken to create a new mentality that will add a vibrancy to your meetings, an efficiency to your training and an enthusiasm to all aspects of your public speaking. There should be nothing stopping you from achieving
Rules and guidance
Bearing in mind this is an article about aspects of networking, let me use another adage that will be helpful to you. Less is more. When networking of course you want to mention your company and the temptation is the hard sell. Trust me; doing so will not put you in a good light. Networking involves people. Get to know them, let them get to know you. Your skills, areas of knowledge and expertise will lead them to your company when the time is right. If your networking and presenting falls into the category of junk mail….then expect it to be binned. Make an impact, don’t just advertise. Be patient and recognise that this is a medium-term strategy that might have some short term results as well.
Be prepared to listen, offer help and to give and take. Recognise the value in everybody. There may well be a couple of ‘hot’ contacts but share yourself with everyone. Today’s quiet junior executive may well be tomorrow’s high flying .star. Or they might just mention your name in the right place, or to the right person. Even the short phrase. “This is what I do, if I can ever help, call me”, can pay dividends in time.
And finally
Like all good presentations, an article should have a conclusion and a call for action! Almost any marketing or business development book stresses the importance of networking as a positive action to take. It is not rocket science to follow that suggestion further by saying that positive networking is required and that is achieved by making the best use of the opportunities to speak both individually and to groups. To learn more about presentation skill training, and how to become a competent, interesting speaker, you need to attend a course delivered by an expert. Now then, may I give you my card….if I can ever be of help, please do call me!
© Ian Price, Business Training Direct
This article was prepared by Ian Price for members of the Business Training Direct newsletter and Business Training Direct courses. It remains copyright to Ian and may not be used or reproduced for any other purpose.
Ian can be contacted on 07930 399 121 or through email: ian@businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
Building Confidence
Confidence, nerves, anxiety
One of the comments I hear most often is related to confidence and nerves. People tell me they get anxious, terrified, or totally panic struck at the thought of giving a presentation. As the moment arrives for them to rise to their feet the symptoms double in strength!
Of course everyone would like to be the best. They would like to hold the audience attention, look and feel confident, deliver an effective presentation and gain the applause and respect of the audience. We all strive for perfection!
That is a goal that is theoretically within everyone's reach, but is also for most people not realistic. As the media concentrates on the Olympic bid, an analogy with athletes will help explain what I mean.
Many Olympic athletes know at the start of their event, that even if they beat their personal best, they will be a long way short of a medal. Importantly, it does not matter. What does matter is that they perform well, do not disgrace themselves and enjoy the event. They do not need to be the best, they need to be the best they can. In achieving this personal goal, they know that every event, every race, will add to their abilities. But they also know something else. They know they have to work at it and of course have to give themselves as much help as possible.
Confidence does not just happen
The airline pilot is not afraid of flying, he is afraid of crashing. Equally I could argue that people are nervous not of speaking in public, but of it going wrong. Continuing that analogy, the pilot therefore takes control of all the aspects of flying and virtually eliminates the crashing option.
Nervous speakers need to do the same. In their case that is taking control of themselves, the material, the audience, and the resources. It is here that there is often incongruence between ideal and reality.
When I ask the nervous speaker what they do 30 minutes before a presentation, the most common replies are: panic, re-write the speech notes, rush around getting things ready, and a whole variety of other answers. Is that taking control? One candidate told me recently that they would most likely be in the taxi to the venue, writing the ending of their speech. Let me compare this with a confident speaker, and what they might doing in the same 30 minutes.
Meeting and greeting the audience is one option. Visualising the successful presentation, preparing themselves physically and mentally to speak, breathing and vocal warm up exercises are other options, as well as looking forward to speaking. What they are not doing is still preparing the content or the notes. They are not running around sorting the venue, their notes, any props or technical items or otherwise stressing themselves.
We know confidence is crucial for presenters. The commonest cited attributes for a good speaker are confident and professional. With confidence, everything is under control, you are in charge. Little obstacles remain little and easily overcome.
Confidence – it's a complicated concept!
Confidence is a word that everyone knows, and yet can be hard to define. When giving a presentation, it is the feeling of being prepared and reasonably certain that you will perform well when it counts.
However this confidence can come from knowing you speak and deliver well. It can come from knowing that the material is well prepared and relevant to the audience. It comes from having the grounding of knowledge in the subject that will allow you to cater for the unexpected question.
It is not a 100% confidence though. That could create arrogance, could cause laziness and could lead to a lower standard of preparation and delivery. There needs to be enough adrenalin to create a sense of excitement, to raise the game a little and to enthuse and excite the speaker who in turn will enthuse and excite the audience. Confidence is self perpetuating up to a point. You know you can present and prepare well. You use good speaking skills and consequently reap the reward of having your confidence increased when things go well.
Lack of confidence is also self perpetuating as well. The less confident speaker will become aware of every fault that exposes their shortcomings and vulnerabilities. They will note every hesitation, every error in their presentation and allow this to further ‘prove’ that they were right in the first place to doubt their abilities. These are what hypnotherapists call ‘ANTs’, something I have written about before - Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the statements we say and repeat to ourselves such as, “I can’t…”, “I will never be able to…”. “I am not very good at…..”, and so on. The more we re-enforce our negative beliefs, the more we struggle to combat them. We all have doubts, fears and anxiety. We can all learn to control them and keep them in perspective.
Keeping it positive
Confidence is helped by a number of factors. Your own performance feedback, the feedback from colleagues and the audience, and the response you give to that feedback.
We are all aware of how difficult it can be to gracefully accept praise. This is whether it is self-praise or praise received from others. Are we the sort of person who counters praise with a ‘but’?
‘You delivered that well’, is countered by: ‘But the audience was friendly’.
‘You handled the awkward questions well’. ‘But I knew the answer’.
But, but and more buts
As a trainer I might get a pile of positive evaluation sheets after a course and just one that is critical. Over the next few days the positive pile will be placed on the mental back burner whilst I worry about the one person who did not share the view of all the others. If I am not careful it will nag at me, demand that I consider each aspect of the course and how that failed to meet the attendee’s expectations. It is human nature.
Imagine if you accepted positive feedback rather than finding a reason not to. Imagine how much your confidence would increase when you allow your skills to be recognised and rewarded with praise. Imagine the effect of putting all feedback into perspective. Not everything will always go well and there is always room for helpful comments. Even if you have a nightmare of a presentation, you can learn from it and evaluate it in the perspective of it not being the norm, but the exception that warrants some consideration as to why it went wrong to ensure lessons are learnt. This approach is so much more beneficial than deciding that one poor performance wipes out all the positive experiences.
Learning and growing
The successful presenter learns from every presentation and knows that obstacles can be overcome. Alternative skills can be developed and one poor presentation is not the end of the world. Indeed working to overcome the obstacles continues to build the confidence and provide new energy. In order to gain confidence and experience, there has to be the less successful events to provide the learning.
We also learn and get motivated by others. I speak in competition regularly and have had some success. However when I don’t win, the initial disappointment is quickly changed to motivation to improve. I am not alone in this and certainly in my area the standard of competition has continually grown as every time the bar is lifted higher and higher. Confident people aren't threatened by constructive criticism, but unconfident people are. Consequently, confident people are more likely to focus on what they can improve rather than dwell on what went wrong.
A presenter can get caught in a confidence draining cycle. Beware allowing yourself to feel stressed as that in turn causes anxiety, the anxiety causes panic, the panic leads to mistakes, mistakes allow self-doubt to creep in, escalating the panic, causing the presenter to forget things. Pretty soon, the focus goes from delivering a great presentation to just wanting to get off the stage alive, and dreading the next speaking opportunity.
I also recognise what I learn and from whom I learn it. I was delighted to win the National Championship in 2004. I was equally delighted to recognise publicly just how much I had learnt from other top speakers. From one I learnt powerful pause and pace techniques. From another I learnt to enhance my vocal range in a way that was particularly effective. We all learn at all levels. Never stop allowing yourself to learn and grow.
Make it happen
Another comment I often hear is that people go to great lengths to avoid speaking in public unless they have to. Think back to when you learnt to drive. You had lessons and you then practised. You were determined to master the skills; you took every opportunity to drive. Of course the result was that your driving got better and your confidence grew. You never attempted to avoid driving. You worked hard at it, studied, took lessons and found that things that were immensely difficult just suddenly became easier. Great speakers do not just happen. They work hard at perfecting their skills, learning new techniques, getting real life experience and begin to enjoy the whole process.
Believe in yourself
Experience, practice, skill development are all important but so is self-belief or self-esteem. Set goals for yourself, acknowledge your successes however small and regard them as building blocks as you develop the faith in yourself. As your confidence grows, allow your faith in yourself to grow. Each situation you handle, each presentation you deliver is another positive learning step and another indicator that whatever happens you will be able to manage and conquer – not just because of your faith in yourself but because this is enshrined in the hard work, dedication and determination to succeed.
If you believe you will deliver an effective presentation, it increases the chances that you will.
Relax and let the inner self flow
True confidence is much more than mere attitude, it's an embedded way of thinking and being that is based on the hard work and effort combined with the skills and a measure of self-esteem. It is knowing that you have hidden resources that will rise to the occasion as required. Not blocked by undue anxiety or fear, the creative mind can be allowed to work positively in the most demanding of situations. Like an athlete who says they are in the ‘zone’. The speaker who remains calm will find words, phrases and techniques will rise into the conscious mind without effort. It is as if the energy that is required when worrying, fretting and feeling anxious is released and can be used instead positively. The mind and body will almost go into automatic. Allow your powerful mind to impress you sometimes. If you don’t block it, believe me it will.
Confidence is moves and complacency is static
Confidence, self belief, expertise and experience are all great to have. There is a danger that the learning and growing stops. No new challenges are offered or accepted and an easy status quo develops. I have met a number of speakers who used to be dynamic, used to be good, used to be inspiring. However they stopped moving somewhere in the glare of the spotlight of success. They became complacent, arrogant or just plain lazy. Speech preparation is reduced as their ‘skill’ will carry them. They get jaded, their delivery gets stale and somehow they become less effective and something of a disappointment to their audiences. Never stop working, challenging yourself and learning. It was the hard work that developed your skills and confidence in the first place. Always work for that special ‘buzz’ that comes from concluding a presentation and knowing that you really did your best. If you coast along, the audience might not realise but you will; the door will open to the complacency that leads you astray.
Don't give up – start now
Let me conclude by returning to the newer speaker. Complacency is not an issue as you are still developing your confidence. Recognise that each step is a small one. I often tell my course attendees that there is not one thing that I will teach them that will improve their skills dramatically. It is the many many little things that will add up to making a substantial improvement. Allow each small step to increase your skills, and your confidence. Just like any other achievement, it will be a bit at a time. Of course training and learning skills will help give you the tools. You can practice using your new skills in a variety of different ways and each time you will find yourself more adept. Don’t block success or mask it with negatives, but enjoy the process. As an adult you can actually enjoy the process. You did not really think about the process of learning to read, it just happened. With presenting you can enjoy giving the presentation and enjoy the process of your own learning and development. How satisfying that is!
Accept that the ups and downs of your presentation are all learning points. Accept that by making the conscious effort even to read this article you are already ahead of many people who just give up emotionally and decide that they can’t speak. You know you have a more positive attitude so let that flow. Accept you are not infallible, but that with determination, a positive attitude, some skill development and learning, your abilities and your confidence in those abilities will grow. Let it happen!
Ian Price is the principal trainer and proprietor of Business Training Direct. He is the 2004-5 National impromptu speech champion and the 2005-6 Southern area prepared speech champion. His hypnotherapy training can also help individuals with acute fear or phobia of speaking. His presentation skill training courses help people at all levels whether they need to conquer fear, or develop their presentation skills to become effective and competent speakers. You can contact Ian via email on ian@businesstrainingdirect.co.uk.
Ian is happy to chat with you about your presentation skill training needs. His services include preparing individuals for specific events, public courses and in-house training courses.
One of the comments I hear most often is related to confidence and nerves. People tell me they get anxious, terrified, or totally panic struck at the thought of giving a presentation. As the moment arrives for them to rise to their feet the symptoms double in strength!
Of course everyone would like to be the best. They would like to hold the audience attention, look and feel confident, deliver an effective presentation and gain the applause and respect of the audience. We all strive for perfection!
That is a goal that is theoretically within everyone's reach, but is also for most people not realistic. As the media concentrates on the Olympic bid, an analogy with athletes will help explain what I mean.
Many Olympic athletes know at the start of their event, that even if they beat their personal best, they will be a long way short of a medal. Importantly, it does not matter. What does matter is that they perform well, do not disgrace themselves and enjoy the event. They do not need to be the best, they need to be the best they can. In achieving this personal goal, they know that every event, every race, will add to their abilities. But they also know something else. They know they have to work at it and of course have to give themselves as much help as possible.
Confidence does not just happen
The airline pilot is not afraid of flying, he is afraid of crashing. Equally I could argue that people are nervous not of speaking in public, but of it going wrong. Continuing that analogy, the pilot therefore takes control of all the aspects of flying and virtually eliminates the crashing option.
Nervous speakers need to do the same. In their case that is taking control of themselves, the material, the audience, and the resources. It is here that there is often incongruence between ideal and reality.
When I ask the nervous speaker what they do 30 minutes before a presentation, the most common replies are: panic, re-write the speech notes, rush around getting things ready, and a whole variety of other answers. Is that taking control? One candidate told me recently that they would most likely be in the taxi to the venue, writing the ending of their speech. Let me compare this with a confident speaker, and what they might doing in the same 30 minutes.
Meeting and greeting the audience is one option. Visualising the successful presentation, preparing themselves physically and mentally to speak, breathing and vocal warm up exercises are other options, as well as looking forward to speaking. What they are not doing is still preparing the content or the notes. They are not running around sorting the venue, their notes, any props or technical items or otherwise stressing themselves.
We know confidence is crucial for presenters. The commonest cited attributes for a good speaker are confident and professional. With confidence, everything is under control, you are in charge. Little obstacles remain little and easily overcome.
Confidence – it's a complicated concept!
Confidence is a word that everyone knows, and yet can be hard to define. When giving a presentation, it is the feeling of being prepared and reasonably certain that you will perform well when it counts.
However this confidence can come from knowing you speak and deliver well. It can come from knowing that the material is well prepared and relevant to the audience. It comes from having the grounding of knowledge in the subject that will allow you to cater for the unexpected question.
It is not a 100% confidence though. That could create arrogance, could cause laziness and could lead to a lower standard of preparation and delivery. There needs to be enough adrenalin to create a sense of excitement, to raise the game a little and to enthuse and excite the speaker who in turn will enthuse and excite the audience. Confidence is self perpetuating up to a point. You know you can present and prepare well. You use good speaking skills and consequently reap the reward of having your confidence increased when things go well.
Lack of confidence is also self perpetuating as well. The less confident speaker will become aware of every fault that exposes their shortcomings and vulnerabilities. They will note every hesitation, every error in their presentation and allow this to further ‘prove’ that they were right in the first place to doubt their abilities. These are what hypnotherapists call ‘ANTs’, something I have written about before - Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the statements we say and repeat to ourselves such as, “I can’t…”, “I will never be able to…”. “I am not very good at…..”, and so on. The more we re-enforce our negative beliefs, the more we struggle to combat them. We all have doubts, fears and anxiety. We can all learn to control them and keep them in perspective.
Keeping it positive
Confidence is helped by a number of factors. Your own performance feedback, the feedback from colleagues and the audience, and the response you give to that feedback.
We are all aware of how difficult it can be to gracefully accept praise. This is whether it is self-praise or praise received from others. Are we the sort of person who counters praise with a ‘but’?
‘You delivered that well’, is countered by: ‘But the audience was friendly’.
‘You handled the awkward questions well’. ‘But I knew the answer’.
But, but and more buts
As a trainer I might get a pile of positive evaluation sheets after a course and just one that is critical. Over the next few days the positive pile will be placed on the mental back burner whilst I worry about the one person who did not share the view of all the others. If I am not careful it will nag at me, demand that I consider each aspect of the course and how that failed to meet the attendee’s expectations. It is human nature.
Imagine if you accepted positive feedback rather than finding a reason not to. Imagine how much your confidence would increase when you allow your skills to be recognised and rewarded with praise. Imagine the effect of putting all feedback into perspective. Not everything will always go well and there is always room for helpful comments. Even if you have a nightmare of a presentation, you can learn from it and evaluate it in the perspective of it not being the norm, but the exception that warrants some consideration as to why it went wrong to ensure lessons are learnt. This approach is so much more beneficial than deciding that one poor performance wipes out all the positive experiences.
Learning and growing
The successful presenter learns from every presentation and knows that obstacles can be overcome. Alternative skills can be developed and one poor presentation is not the end of the world. Indeed working to overcome the obstacles continues to build the confidence and provide new energy. In order to gain confidence and experience, there has to be the less successful events to provide the learning.
We also learn and get motivated by others. I speak in competition regularly and have had some success. However when I don’t win, the initial disappointment is quickly changed to motivation to improve. I am not alone in this and certainly in my area the standard of competition has continually grown as every time the bar is lifted higher and higher. Confident people aren't threatened by constructive criticism, but unconfident people are. Consequently, confident people are more likely to focus on what they can improve rather than dwell on what went wrong.
A presenter can get caught in a confidence draining cycle. Beware allowing yourself to feel stressed as that in turn causes anxiety, the anxiety causes panic, the panic leads to mistakes, mistakes allow self-doubt to creep in, escalating the panic, causing the presenter to forget things. Pretty soon, the focus goes from delivering a great presentation to just wanting to get off the stage alive, and dreading the next speaking opportunity.
I also recognise what I learn and from whom I learn it. I was delighted to win the National Championship in 2004. I was equally delighted to recognise publicly just how much I had learnt from other top speakers. From one I learnt powerful pause and pace techniques. From another I learnt to enhance my vocal range in a way that was particularly effective. We all learn at all levels. Never stop allowing yourself to learn and grow.
Make it happen
Another comment I often hear is that people go to great lengths to avoid speaking in public unless they have to. Think back to when you learnt to drive. You had lessons and you then practised. You were determined to master the skills; you took every opportunity to drive. Of course the result was that your driving got better and your confidence grew. You never attempted to avoid driving. You worked hard at it, studied, took lessons and found that things that were immensely difficult just suddenly became easier. Great speakers do not just happen. They work hard at perfecting their skills, learning new techniques, getting real life experience and begin to enjoy the whole process.
Believe in yourself
Experience, practice, skill development are all important but so is self-belief or self-esteem. Set goals for yourself, acknowledge your successes however small and regard them as building blocks as you develop the faith in yourself. As your confidence grows, allow your faith in yourself to grow. Each situation you handle, each presentation you deliver is another positive learning step and another indicator that whatever happens you will be able to manage and conquer – not just because of your faith in yourself but because this is enshrined in the hard work, dedication and determination to succeed.
If you believe you will deliver an effective presentation, it increases the chances that you will.
Relax and let the inner self flow
True confidence is much more than mere attitude, it's an embedded way of thinking and being that is based on the hard work and effort combined with the skills and a measure of self-esteem. It is knowing that you have hidden resources that will rise to the occasion as required. Not blocked by undue anxiety or fear, the creative mind can be allowed to work positively in the most demanding of situations. Like an athlete who says they are in the ‘zone’. The speaker who remains calm will find words, phrases and techniques will rise into the conscious mind without effort. It is as if the energy that is required when worrying, fretting and feeling anxious is released and can be used instead positively. The mind and body will almost go into automatic. Allow your powerful mind to impress you sometimes. If you don’t block it, believe me it will.
Confidence is moves and complacency is static
Confidence, self belief, expertise and experience are all great to have. There is a danger that the learning and growing stops. No new challenges are offered or accepted and an easy status quo develops. I have met a number of speakers who used to be dynamic, used to be good, used to be inspiring. However they stopped moving somewhere in the glare of the spotlight of success. They became complacent, arrogant or just plain lazy. Speech preparation is reduced as their ‘skill’ will carry them. They get jaded, their delivery gets stale and somehow they become less effective and something of a disappointment to their audiences. Never stop working, challenging yourself and learning. It was the hard work that developed your skills and confidence in the first place. Always work for that special ‘buzz’ that comes from concluding a presentation and knowing that you really did your best. If you coast along, the audience might not realise but you will; the door will open to the complacency that leads you astray.
Don't give up – start now
Let me conclude by returning to the newer speaker. Complacency is not an issue as you are still developing your confidence. Recognise that each step is a small one. I often tell my course attendees that there is not one thing that I will teach them that will improve their skills dramatically. It is the many many little things that will add up to making a substantial improvement. Allow each small step to increase your skills, and your confidence. Just like any other achievement, it will be a bit at a time. Of course training and learning skills will help give you the tools. You can practice using your new skills in a variety of different ways and each time you will find yourself more adept. Don’t block success or mask it with negatives, but enjoy the process. As an adult you can actually enjoy the process. You did not really think about the process of learning to read, it just happened. With presenting you can enjoy giving the presentation and enjoy the process of your own learning and development. How satisfying that is!
Accept that the ups and downs of your presentation are all learning points. Accept that by making the conscious effort even to read this article you are already ahead of many people who just give up emotionally and decide that they can’t speak. You know you have a more positive attitude so let that flow. Accept you are not infallible, but that with determination, a positive attitude, some skill development and learning, your abilities and your confidence in those abilities will grow. Let it happen!
Ian Price is the principal trainer and proprietor of Business Training Direct. He is the 2004-5 National impromptu speech champion and the 2005-6 Southern area prepared speech champion. His hypnotherapy training can also help individuals with acute fear or phobia of speaking. His presentation skill training courses help people at all levels whether they need to conquer fear, or develop their presentation skills to become effective and competent speakers. You can contact Ian via email on ian@businesstrainingdirect.co.uk.
Ian is happy to chat with you about your presentation skill training needs. His services include preparing individuals for specific events, public courses and in-house training courses.
PowerPoint with no 'Power' and little point
PowerPoint and similar programs have become increasingly popular with in-house trainers. The ability to prepare material directly on a computer to project onto a suitable screen has freed us from the acetate nightmare of poor quality overhead projectors, upside down slides, and scruffy flipcharts. So why then do we cringe when faced with yet another PowerPoint presentation? This article will begin to unravel the reasons, whilst helping suggest remedies to that hackneyed but true phrase of ‘death by PowerPoint.’
The ability to give a presentation is a requirement in many business areas. It can be a powerful way to get across a message, to inform, explain and train. Sadly though, it is an assumed skill. It is a skill that managers are expected to have acquired along their career path without any formal training. We do not assume other skills so quite why we assume this one remains a mystery. Nevertheless the reality is that very few presenters have received any form of helpful training. Neither do they get accurate feedback. At the end of a presentation there are a few positive comments, maybe a round of applause, and an inward sigh of relief that it is over. No wonder it is such a wasted medium.
The first mistake people often make is to assume that if you can present, then using PowerPoint makes you a better presenter. This is not true. The use of PowerPoint should complement the presenter’s message, not take over. Consider this further. If the slide show is the most important aspect of the presentation, how much money could be saved if we disposed of the presenter and merely emailed the show to the audience?
The presenter is the key element of the presentation yet on so many occasions I have seen the screen centre stage with the speaker lost to one side. So lesson one is to reverse that scenario.
It is said that the influence of a presentation is roughly as follows: words (text) form 7%, vocal input 38% and visual 55%. That is an interesting fact when you consider that most PowerPoint slides contain only text – normally in the form of dreaded bullet points. It is akin to having a car and only using 1 st gear. The program is capable of so much more yet there is a reluctance to use it.
Accelerated learning techniques often use visual imagery to add ‘stickability’ to information. Slide after slide in many presentations forgo the power of the image in favour of words – and often lots of them, crammed into too many slides at sizes that inevitably require the presenter to apologise for the difficulty in reading the slide.
If there is one aspect of any speech that lacks influence, it is when it is being read word for word from a script. Consider this – how many presentations have you seen when that delivery is compounded by the script being on screen and still being read out as if the audience have not yet mastered the ability to read for themselves? The answer is of course, far too many.
There is hope however. Just like any other skill, there is a need for training and personal development. I would like to suggest that presenting, and presenting with PowerPoint are two different things, and one follows the other. Any potential speaker needs to develop positive presentation skills without the use of technical aids. This might seem daunting at first, but in reality, this is the foundation that speakers then build upon. The ability to speak with vocal energy, passion and interest is a key requirement. The ability to structure a presentation, to identify and develop key points in a memorable and influential style has to be learnt before adding in technical aids.
I said earlier the visual aids complement the speech. This means that they should be appropriate, memorable and helpful to the audience. They should not distract, confuse or enable the audience to lose rapport with the speaker. Guy Kawasaki is something of a guru amongst the speaking profession and has a trademark to his speeches that is known as the ‘ Kawasaki rule of ten.’ Guy never uses more than ten slides, each with only one phrase on it. He speaks to each phrase and the level of audience retention is phenomenal. The reason for this is his charisma, his ability to take the audience along with him on a journey of knowledge and interest. In other words, Guy remains the focus of the event, not the slides – they assist the audience in recalling key points.
We are not all Guy, we do not all have that charisma and may need a little more to make our sessions memorable. That is surprisingly easy to learn, in the same way that it is (for most people) surprisingly easy to learn to drive a car. Once would-be presenters overcome the obstacle of accepting that they need training, the path is clear for them to learn and improve their presentation skills to an impressive standard.
For those who wish to develop their skills in this discipline, I would suggest the following route to success. Begin with conventional presentation and speaking skills. Develop your voice, learn to structure what you say and deliver it with enthusiasm, interest and passion. It is then time to learn sufficient basics of the building of PowerPoint slides so that you can create your own slides rather than rely on others to do this for you. Slowly begin to use PowerPoint within your limitations to enhance your message. With training, practice and constructive feedback, you might just become the new Guy Kawasaki, and if that is beyond you, at least you will know that your audience will be grateful to have been spared yet another lack-lustre performance. It is time to make sure people look forward to you speaking.
© Ian Price, Business Training Direct
This article was prepared by Ian Price for members of the Business Training Direct newsletter and Business Training Direct courses. It remains copyright to Ian and may not be used or reproduced for any other purpose.
Ian can be contacted on 07930 399 121 or through email: ian@businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
The ability to give a presentation is a requirement in many business areas. It can be a powerful way to get across a message, to inform, explain and train. Sadly though, it is an assumed skill. It is a skill that managers are expected to have acquired along their career path without any formal training. We do not assume other skills so quite why we assume this one remains a mystery. Nevertheless the reality is that very few presenters have received any form of helpful training. Neither do they get accurate feedback. At the end of a presentation there are a few positive comments, maybe a round of applause, and an inward sigh of relief that it is over. No wonder it is such a wasted medium.
The first mistake people often make is to assume that if you can present, then using PowerPoint makes you a better presenter. This is not true. The use of PowerPoint should complement the presenter’s message, not take over. Consider this further. If the slide show is the most important aspect of the presentation, how much money could be saved if we disposed of the presenter and merely emailed the show to the audience?
The presenter is the key element of the presentation yet on so many occasions I have seen the screen centre stage with the speaker lost to one side. So lesson one is to reverse that scenario.
It is said that the influence of a presentation is roughly as follows: words (text) form 7%, vocal input 38% and visual 55%. That is an interesting fact when you consider that most PowerPoint slides contain only text – normally in the form of dreaded bullet points. It is akin to having a car and only using 1 st gear. The program is capable of so much more yet there is a reluctance to use it.
Accelerated learning techniques often use visual imagery to add ‘stickability’ to information. Slide after slide in many presentations forgo the power of the image in favour of words – and often lots of them, crammed into too many slides at sizes that inevitably require the presenter to apologise for the difficulty in reading the slide.
If there is one aspect of any speech that lacks influence, it is when it is being read word for word from a script. Consider this – how many presentations have you seen when that delivery is compounded by the script being on screen and still being read out as if the audience have not yet mastered the ability to read for themselves? The answer is of course, far too many.
There is hope however. Just like any other skill, there is a need for training and personal development. I would like to suggest that presenting, and presenting with PowerPoint are two different things, and one follows the other. Any potential speaker needs to develop positive presentation skills without the use of technical aids. This might seem daunting at first, but in reality, this is the foundation that speakers then build upon. The ability to speak with vocal energy, passion and interest is a key requirement. The ability to structure a presentation, to identify and develop key points in a memorable and influential style has to be learnt before adding in technical aids.
I said earlier the visual aids complement the speech. This means that they should be appropriate, memorable and helpful to the audience. They should not distract, confuse or enable the audience to lose rapport with the speaker. Guy Kawasaki is something of a guru amongst the speaking profession and has a trademark to his speeches that is known as the ‘ Kawasaki rule of ten.’ Guy never uses more than ten slides, each with only one phrase on it. He speaks to each phrase and the level of audience retention is phenomenal. The reason for this is his charisma, his ability to take the audience along with him on a journey of knowledge and interest. In other words, Guy remains the focus of the event, not the slides – they assist the audience in recalling key points.
We are not all Guy, we do not all have that charisma and may need a little more to make our sessions memorable. That is surprisingly easy to learn, in the same way that it is (for most people) surprisingly easy to learn to drive a car. Once would-be presenters overcome the obstacle of accepting that they need training, the path is clear for them to learn and improve their presentation skills to an impressive standard.
For those who wish to develop their skills in this discipline, I would suggest the following route to success. Begin with conventional presentation and speaking skills. Develop your voice, learn to structure what you say and deliver it with enthusiasm, interest and passion. It is then time to learn sufficient basics of the building of PowerPoint slides so that you can create your own slides rather than rely on others to do this for you. Slowly begin to use PowerPoint within your limitations to enhance your message. With training, practice and constructive feedback, you might just become the new Guy Kawasaki, and if that is beyond you, at least you will know that your audience will be grateful to have been spared yet another lack-lustre performance. It is time to make sure people look forward to you speaking.
© Ian Price, Business Training Direct
This article was prepared by Ian Price for members of the Business Training Direct newsletter and Business Training Direct courses. It remains copyright to Ian and may not be used or reproduced for any other purpose.
Ian can be contacted on 07930 399 121 or through email: ian@businesstrainingdirect.co.uk
Unleash the power of you mind with hypnosis.
Most people accept the mind is a powerful super computer. It accepts data files it, stores it, filters it and makes use of it as required. It does a good job of all of that. But every computer can get confused, can misread the data and of course can run damaging programmes at times.
If we consider most of the things we would like to alter or change in our own life, in terms of a computer mal-function, it is easy to see how hypnosis could fit in.
Scared of dogs? Maybe many years ago something happened and the programme has gone into a loop. Every dog is the same dog with the same outcome, therefore be scared.
Eating or smoking too much? Habits are formed when we ‘teach’ our subconscious to behave in a different way. We then find it harder to remove that teaching without some help.
Confidence a little lower than it should be? Filtering out positive messages and storing negative ones means we have a head full of ‘cant’s’ rather than ‘why nots’!
So it goes on. Hypnosis is the means by which we can choose to reconsider the habits, the messages, the expectations of our subconscious with a view to altering, adapting and making use of the power of the mind constructively. We can literally reprogramme the negative aspects replacing them with positive outlooks, positive habits and positive attitudes.
This does not mean brain-washing. Hypnosis can only assist with the assistance of the person by their wanting the change, supporting it and allowing it to happen. Changing behaviour is always for the better, and therefore acceptable to the self-protecting part of our minds.
So many people around the word use hypnosis, meditation, quiet times, prayer, contemplation, and a thousand other techniques because they all know it works. The hypnotist makes such activities more productive, by guiding and facilitating the individual to achieve whatever it is they wish.
Despite beliefs to the contrary, the subject is always in control, and consents therefore to the positive suggestions that the hypnotist offers them. There is nothing magical, nothing mystical in hypnosis. What there is instead is something that might be considered counselling for the subconscious. A guided, alteration of some mal formed programme that is working against the desired outcome. A mouthful indeed. That is better said as a catalyst for creating the change that is required.
Whichever words you use, hypnosis is capable of enhancing your life. With the added benefit of being a really relaxing feeling, there is not real reason why you should not give it a go. Speak to your local hypnotist and start the journey of change today.
If we consider most of the things we would like to alter or change in our own life, in terms of a computer mal-function, it is easy to see how hypnosis could fit in.
Scared of dogs? Maybe many years ago something happened and the programme has gone into a loop. Every dog is the same dog with the same outcome, therefore be scared.
Eating or smoking too much? Habits are formed when we ‘teach’ our subconscious to behave in a different way. We then find it harder to remove that teaching without some help.
Confidence a little lower than it should be? Filtering out positive messages and storing negative ones means we have a head full of ‘cant’s’ rather than ‘why nots’!
So it goes on. Hypnosis is the means by which we can choose to reconsider the habits, the messages, the expectations of our subconscious with a view to altering, adapting and making use of the power of the mind constructively. We can literally reprogramme the negative aspects replacing them with positive outlooks, positive habits and positive attitudes.
This does not mean brain-washing. Hypnosis can only assist with the assistance of the person by their wanting the change, supporting it and allowing it to happen. Changing behaviour is always for the better, and therefore acceptable to the self-protecting part of our minds.
So many people around the word use hypnosis, meditation, quiet times, prayer, contemplation, and a thousand other techniques because they all know it works. The hypnotist makes such activities more productive, by guiding and facilitating the individual to achieve whatever it is they wish.
Despite beliefs to the contrary, the subject is always in control, and consents therefore to the positive suggestions that the hypnotist offers them. There is nothing magical, nothing mystical in hypnosis. What there is instead is something that might be considered counselling for the subconscious. A guided, alteration of some mal formed programme that is working against the desired outcome. A mouthful indeed. That is better said as a catalyst for creating the change that is required.
Whichever words you use, hypnosis is capable of enhancing your life. With the added benefit of being a really relaxing feeling, there is not real reason why you should not give it a go. Speak to your local hypnotist and start the journey of change today.
Myths of Hypnosis
There are many phrases I hear time and time again when I speak to people about hypnosis. It is time to dispose of some of them.
Getting Stuck in Hypnosis.
A common fear that is totally unfounded. If the hypnotist goes home, dies, falls asleep or is absent for any other reason, the subject will gently drift back to normal reality. It is impossible to be stuck in a trance state. In fact, I bet you have never read about anyone stuck in a trance state either!
I will lose control
The hypnotist does not take over your mind. You are aware of everything that is said, and because you feel comfortable with it, you can let it happen, and enjoy the process. If the fire alarm went off, or something happened that threatened you in any way, you would immediately become fully aware of everything and able to react appropriately.
But I saw a stage show once where.....
Let me finish that sentence. The people on stage enjoyed being the stars of the show. They were extrovert people, the best subjects selected from a very large number and although they did some strange things, they were fully consenting to be used for entertainment, and fully expecting to do some silly things. That is what happens at stage shows, and they, like you, expected it to happen.
Only the weak minded/strong minded/sober/drunk people can be hypnotised.
The reality is, that virtually everyone can be hypnotised, subject to them wanting to be. It is not a measure of the strength or otherwise of your will, intelligence or any other attribute. Some people respond quicker, some slower, but everyone can be hypnotised. Occasionally it is not the right time or place, or hypnotist for an individual person but on a different day, maybe with a different hypnotist it will be the perfect time.
I might reveal my innermost secrets to the Hypnotist.
You remain in control at all times. Therefore you will only say or talk about things that you want to talk about. Some hypnosis sessions do not require you to talk at all; at other times that might be part of the therapy. At no time will you disclose your bank details etc. If it were possible, I am sure the Sunday papers would be full of rogue hypnotist stories.
But someone famous on TV did this or that....
What you see on TV is part of the story, not all of it and is edited for entertainment. Magicians do not saw people in half in reality; it just looks like they do. So it is with ‘hypnosis’ on TV – much of it is not what it seems! Trust me.... I am a hypnotist!
The best solution for you is to try it for yourself. Call today and speak to a real life hypnotist and find out the answers to your questions.
Getting Stuck in Hypnosis.
A common fear that is totally unfounded. If the hypnotist goes home, dies, falls asleep or is absent for any other reason, the subject will gently drift back to normal reality. It is impossible to be stuck in a trance state. In fact, I bet you have never read about anyone stuck in a trance state either!
I will lose control
The hypnotist does not take over your mind. You are aware of everything that is said, and because you feel comfortable with it, you can let it happen, and enjoy the process. If the fire alarm went off, or something happened that threatened you in any way, you would immediately become fully aware of everything and able to react appropriately.
But I saw a stage show once where.....
Let me finish that sentence. The people on stage enjoyed being the stars of the show. They were extrovert people, the best subjects selected from a very large number and although they did some strange things, they were fully consenting to be used for entertainment, and fully expecting to do some silly things. That is what happens at stage shows, and they, like you, expected it to happen.
Only the weak minded/strong minded/sober/drunk people can be hypnotised.
The reality is, that virtually everyone can be hypnotised, subject to them wanting to be. It is not a measure of the strength or otherwise of your will, intelligence or any other attribute. Some people respond quicker, some slower, but everyone can be hypnotised. Occasionally it is not the right time or place, or hypnotist for an individual person but on a different day, maybe with a different hypnotist it will be the perfect time.
I might reveal my innermost secrets to the Hypnotist.
You remain in control at all times. Therefore you will only say or talk about things that you want to talk about. Some hypnosis sessions do not require you to talk at all; at other times that might be part of the therapy. At no time will you disclose your bank details etc. If it were possible, I am sure the Sunday papers would be full of rogue hypnotist stories.
But someone famous on TV did this or that....
What you see on TV is part of the story, not all of it and is edited for entertainment. Magicians do not saw people in half in reality; it just looks like they do. So it is with ‘hypnosis’ on TV – much of it is not what it seems! Trust me.... I am a hypnotist!
The best solution for you is to try it for yourself. Call today and speak to a real life hypnotist and find out the answers to your questions.
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