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Be an Effective Public Speaker: Communicate to Influence

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The Art of Public Speaking

“If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you can communicate skillfully, you can work miracles.”

Nothing holds more truth to the importance of communicating with influence and persuasion than this inspiring quote made famous by American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn. Whether you are interacting with just one person or addressing a crowd of people, there is always that end goal of eliciting a response. Not just any response. But a response that is positive and one that you want.

Communication is a basic skill used in human connection. But as basic as it is, many fumble over harnessing their own communication skill and fail at effectively interacting and conversing with others. This is because there are a number of barriers and even challenges that happen during the process of communication. These lead to the distortion of the intended message, which causes confusion and misunderstanding. In effect, you get a response or feedback that that is not desirable or in accordance to what you want to receive. Ultimately, you lose the chance at persuading and influencing others.

The Struggle to Communicate

For a lot of us, we struggle at getting our ideas across to others, despite the fact that we are already know the ins and outs of a particular topic, issue or situation. For some, it is the problem of having people to listen to you and not talking over you. On the other hand, there are others who speak too much without creating any impact. These are just some of the communication challenges that hamper your quest at drawing out favorable responses the way you want them to.

Apart from these, emotional barriers, language and cultural differences, diversity in perception and viewpoints and even the use of unfamiliar jargons also get in the way of effective communication. That is why it is crucial that you are able to shatter and overcome these communication barriers for you to come off  as an influential and persuasive public speaker that you really are.

The Linguistics in NLP

Language is the backbone in NLP. “Linguistics” plays an essential component in influencing others and the output that you want to achieve. It delves on the use of successful language structures, covering both verbal and non-verbal cues, that can create desirable changes that you want to achieve in life. Essentially, NLP teaches you to use language elegantly to attain behavioral changes that will benefit you in whatever aspect in your life. Think of it as a conduit for success and excellence by being able to influence and persuade others to work with you at meeting an end goal.

In general, we view language as simply a means of conveying a message or an idea. What most do not realize is that how you deliver your message across has a power to steer or set in a direction the minds of others. This is where the power of language comes in, which is what was pointed out in the quote from Jim Rohn that I mentioned earlier. Communicating skillfully with the use of effective and successful language patterns can truly create miracles to happen effortlessly.

NLP works around four main language patterns. Each has its own use and application, but all have an impact in the whole communication process. Let us briefly take a look at what these are and how they affect in influencing and drawing positive responses from others.

Sensory-based Language

Basically, it is the language used by our senses. This is covered by the five senses, which are Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Olfactory and Gustatory, or abbreviated in NLP as VAKOG. This technique allows you to improve how you interact with others by stepping into how they make sense of their world. It teaches you how to calibrate which sensory system a person uses to be able to interact with them more efficiently. By using words that are in tune on how they perceive their world, you are able to establish a connection and come to a better understanding with the other person.

If you are speaking with a person who is visual, using visual language allows the other person to get the message that you want to convey. So instead of simply describing an armchair as a furniture used for sitting, illustrate in visual terms describing its colors and the shape of the armchair. This goes well with the other sensory systems. So if you are dealing with someone who is kinesthetic, describe the armchair based on its texture and the comfort it can provide to the person sitting on it.

The Meta Model

The Metal Model is one of NLP’s first formal models and is one of the most valuable techniques used to understand others and how they think. Essentially, it is a tool for listening. It is usually used to verify, clarify and specify vague verbal and written language. It involves the use of skillful and probing questions to get a very clear information that is either unconsciously or intentionally distorted, deleted or generalized in the first place. It equips you with the skill to ask the right questions to draw out or challenge a truth.

It provides you with tools that will allow you to map out how someone is thinking by analyzing the words that they use, which is covered in ten (10) Meta Model patterns.

  • Mind Reading
  • Lost Performative
  • Cause and Effect
  • Complex Equivalence
  • Presuppositions
  • Universal Quantifiers
  • Model Operators
  • Nominalisations
  • Unspecified Verbs
  • Simple Deletions

The Milton Model

On the other hand, the Milton Model is the exact opposite of what is used in the Meta Model. Instead of using precise questions to draw out definite responses, it provides you with the techniques that purposely distorts, deletes or generalizes certain ideas to encourage the other person to draw out responses from their unconscious mind and recall experiences that are in accordance to the framework that you have set as a speaker. This allows the listeners to fill in the language gaps with their own experiences or internal references.

The Milton Model covers fifteen (15) tools, which are encompassed in the following:

  • Tag Questions
  • Pacing Current Questions
  • Double Blinds
  • Conversational Postulates
  • Extended Quotes
  • Selectional Restriction Violation
  • Phonological Ambiguities
  • Syntactic Ambiguity
  • Scope Ambiguity
  • Punctuation Ambiguity
  • Utilization
  • Embedded Commands
  • Analogue Marking
  • Spell Out Words
  • Linkage Language

Sleight of Mouth Patterns

The Sleight of Mouth is probably the most popular and the very first NLP Language technique that comes to mind when it comes to persuasive communication. It uses fourteen (14) patterns that challenge the other person’s belief, which results in the change of mind and thinking behavior. This NLP Language tool is very efficient for those who are in the field of sales. It is basically a vehicle for reframing beliefs that will help you persuade rather than be persuaded and come out winning in every argument.

Being able to communicate efficiently is an essential life skill. But more than that, it is a powerful skill that can propel you from being ordinary to someone who can influence others and be seen as a benchmark of excellence.

These NLP Language Patterns are just some of the techniques you can from my 3-hour Persuasive Public Speaking Workshop. This fun and enriching training workshop will show you the tips and tricks to becoming a persuasive and accomplished speaker.