Conversation 6, Rex Sikes & Jonathan Altfeld discuss Presenting & Speaking

As someone relatively new to the subject of NLP I greatly appreciated the mix and range of experience available to me on the linguistic wizardry seminar. Knowledge sharing wasn't just encouraged by Jonathon, but expected as a pre-requisite to getting the most out of the course. As a result this added to the whole seminar experience from day one. Perhaps of greatest benefit to me was the way that Jonathon ensured that we learned as much during lunch breaks and evening conversations as we had learned during the day. By joining us Jonathon showed how the material could be usefully integrated in the real world - achieving shop discounts ethically, was another great bonus. During the course, the practical sessions and brain gym exercises were highly enjoyable - I've already used one or two as handy exercises to occupy the attention of boisterous nephews and nieces. It seems NLP really is 'child's play'. In general, I would like to have played around with more examples of 'state-chaining' through story telling. The Village Council sessions allowed me to see for myself how I'd benefited from the course. Personal benefits for me since the course have been in my professional and social interactions - for instance I now find it easier to model the behaviours of colleagues who have enviable influencing styles; I now see interactions as an opportunity to share stories in a more exciting way; and the quality of my presentations (and joke telling) have improved. For this I believe Jonathon should take some credit.

"Jonathan & Doug together make a winning team putting a new & exciting spin on how to be successful using sleight of mouth. You'll find in just a few days, your abilities & understandings of how you can use the language patterns of sleight of mouth confidently & covertly in everyday communication increasing by leaps & bounds. Even more you'll be able to target with precision your communication to achieve the outcomes you want. Take the next steps in enhancing your influence & persuasion skills now, attend Belief Craft. I was thoroughly entertained & entranced by the dynamic duo of Jonathan & Doug, both masters in their ability to train, & check that we as delegates were mastering the skills, & able to put into use the ability to craft other people beliefs, & even better we got to update our own. I thoroughly recommend this training for anyone who wants to be more successful in elegantly using the the patterns of Sleight of Mouth & knowing the appropriate contexts to use them in."

I thoroughly enjoyed Jonathan's Linguistic Wizardry in November 2006 in Glasgow, Jonathan's humour and at times subtle directness is charming and enables great learning. I experienced these 3 days and his evening sessions both as a participant and sometimes from a trainer's perspective. The courses gave me more insight into myself (which NLP always does!), as well as more info, and exciting and useful NLP to bring to my own trainees, trainers and clients, as well as my own life. Jonathan's voice and careful testing of the waters in respect of humour are also delightful. And I met some great people. He's really worth the money, go for it, enjoy it and learn.

I've always known, as most all of you here have, that the most influential and powerful communicators relay messages on deep levels and that the power of metaphor is of paramount importance. Jonathan's treatment of the subject on the Metaphor Machine CD-set is really quite impressive. The distinctions he makes between 'isomorphic' and 'homomorphic' metaphors is really critical to development of skills in this area. Of course the 'homomorphic' metaphor structure is the one for the serious student, and Jonathan does a tremendous job of 'unpacking,' as he likes to say, the structure of an effective metaphor and laying out the formula for easy re-creation. In sum, this set is one that provides extreme traction and momentum in developing this critical skill set.