How to get the best out of your visits to NLP-
Firstly and most importantly remember it’s a PRACTICE group.
Come for the speaker & / or the subject. Come for your own growth and to practice your NLP skills with other NLPers.
Give yourself this time. If you have spent your hard earned money on NLP training or are thinking of spending some, then come and play.
If you have never yet managed to make it to a meeting, make the next one your first. Everyone is welcome, so bring a friend, it more than doubles the fun and improves the learning, especially if you travel together and can share your thoughts on the way home.
Share your thoughts and feelings about the sessions. Send an email to us. Find a
‘buddy’ in the group to E-
Managing Expectations
One of the key areas to a fulfilling life depends on our ability to manage our own expectations and control the ‘state’ that goes with them. You’ll get more out of the evening if you take ‘responsibility’ for your own role. There are plenty of other people who do their best to ‘manage our expectations’ for us. Either so we won’t sue them for not fulfilling their promise to us, or to persuade us to part with money!!!
Remember your own experiences of building up some event or happening, wedding, holiday, new car, etc.;. How does it compare to your memory of that event?
Are you someone who expects the worst, so you can be pleasantly surprised by a better
outcome, and proved ‘right’ if the worst actually happens? Are you someone who expects
magic and is constantly disappointed by the ordinariness of life? Can you be at both
ends of the spectrum or do you normally sit somewhere in the middle? How flexible
can you be over your own expectations? Can you change as you go along? Do you notice
when someone else is attempting to manage them for you? (Is it happening now :-
Richard Bandler describes NLP as “A state of wanton curiosity!” I can’t think of
a better way to be as you contemplate your next visit to NLP-
BRING A
FRIEND!
It more than doubles the
FUN!
Our Speakers
All our speakers attend voluntarily (with only minimum coercion from me). They all have something they want to share with a larger audience. Some of them are ‘professional’ speakers or ‘trained’ trainers. Others are not. All of them are ‘doing the best they can’. (NLP presupposition). Some will entertain us effortlessly. With some we will need to find our own way to ecstasy. All of them have a message. All of them have given us their time, not only on the night but in preparation too. Many of them travel a long way to be with us. Some really brave ones arrive with thoughts or ideas they want us to help them clarify.
My ‘brief’ to them is to give us as much to do as possible, maximum audience participation, minimum ‘talk & chalk’.
Nearly always they tell me how much they have got from being with this group. (You can feel a sense of pride here, this is positive feedback for the whole group). Many of them like us so much they come back again and again!
“You are a lovely group!!”
The Speaker. XXX
The Subject
This goes along with the speaker. I’ve usually picked on them because of something I’ve read or heard, or one of you, the group, has recommended them, or they have contacted me directly. Over the last couple of years I have decided to give the year a theme. Its fairly loose as themes go. 2oo5 was ‘modelling’, 2006 was ‘innovation’, 2007 NLP in the Real world and in 2008 “How to have even more fun, Now Lets Play”.
The whole group experience. and other group members
No matter what ‘level’ of NLP experience you have there is always something to learn at the practice group. (OK, that’s my belief!)
When we split into smaller groups for the ‘real’ fun stuff I do my best to mix beginners with more practiced NLPers. Both have most to gain from this.
We are all on our own personal journey of growth, and NLP has given many of us a real boost in taking charge of our life. This is a safe place to explore new ways of being, to share ideas that non NLPers won’t discuss, to bring fun into personal growth.
The web-
This takes a fair amount of my time. If you have suggestions for improving it or ideas for subjects to add or interesting links, please let me know. Contact Nigel.
The Venue
What a great room! Plus a cheap bar! If you really don’t like the subject you can always go downstairs and watch the bowling!
My Meeting Reports
My goal in writing the report is to consolidate the session for those who attended and to inform those who (through atrocious diary planning) missed the evening. Sometimes there is a lot of content in the evening and I want to honour the efforts of the speaker and maybe offer my own view of the topic, perhaps relating it to the ‘theme’ or to other evenings. I check my report out with Jenny, who sits at the other end of the room to me. (Different perspective, different group members). If I’m in doubt as to the veracity of my report I also send it in advance to other people who attended, for their feedback. Before it’s published on the web I send it to the speaker to check for accuracy and omissions. If I receive written feedback from anyone else who attended I add this to my report, acknowledging it as their work or attributing it to anon, or a ‘sous de plume’, or ‘nom de nim,’ if preferred!! If you have feedback to offer please send it in. It’s the ‘Breakfast of Champions’.
How about letting me know if you found this guide useful? E-
What do I get from the meetings?
I get a new learning every time. An opportunity to meet up with some lovely people, many of whom have become special friends. A chance to flex my NLP muscles. A lot of energy. Its a very positive group. Come and share the fun.
Nigel Heath
“It’s a practice GROPE!”