Speakers Losing their Train of Thought
It's a very common concern for speakers, being fearful of losing track of one's train of thought while training or speaking.
And that fear or concern is justifiable. When you're on stage, you need to be at the top of your game. Clear minded. Clear spoken. Analytical but pragmatic. Effective. Strategic. And flexible... very, very flexible.
Losing your train of thought potentially makes your mind seem haphazard, not in control. Worse, the avoidance of this often creates more worry, concern, and anxiety.
However, breathe easy! This can actually be eliminated (or at least, highly diminished)!
To solve this, use (1) compelling values-based headlines, and (2) emotional-state-chaining.
For values-based headlines, study the use of headlines in marketing as a way of building curiosity for the right reasons (and no, not cheesy newspaper headlines!).
For emotional state chaining, you can study how famous speakers like Anthony Robbins move audiences (though he doesn't actually train that skill, himself). You can also learn this from my "Automatic Yes" CD-set.
The pair of these strategies is absolutely amazing for speakers. And for those people who want the fastest possible route to getting good at solving this challenge, I teach these skills in depth at my version of a trainers' training -- my "Speaking Ingeniously" course.
Once you get really good at headlines & emotional-state-chaining, then... you may forget a particular point, or a particular way of expressing a point, but... if you keep in mind (1) your headline, and (2) the larger emotional chain, you'll always be able to recover where you're at in the chain. And that leads to more fluid presentations, less lost trains of thought, and more action from your audiences!
This particular success strategy is truly a 'thing of beauty', and more importantly, it eliminates unwanted anxiety or stress for speakers, when your process on stage becomes "Fault Tolerant!" Enjoy!
Author: Jonathan Altfeld
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- No matter what skill you want to learn, no matter what fears or concerns or hesitation you may have, there are and will always be a wide range of approaches, to learning that skill. It's important to keep that in mind when making learning choices.
- Many more famous people have been trained in Ericksonian (indirect) Hypnosis and NLP than you might guess. There are certainly far more who have strong interests here than have publically admitted so.
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- Crystal SpringNLP Practitioner & Reiki Master,Attended Course : NLP Practitioner Training
Once again Jonathan has completed a training and brought us all to a beautiful crescendo, ascension of skills, clarity, and directed us in reframing the hovering hesitant past to a powerful present which is future-paced and has maximal integration. Thank you Jonathan.
1998 - Michael VanderDonkNLP Trainer & Business Consultant, TOACH, Sydney, AustraliaPersonal :
Michael Vanderdonk here. I'm an NLP trainer licensed by NLPTRB in Australia, trained primarily by Chris & Jules Collingwood and John Grinder, with a wide range of other trainer experiences as well. I also assist at Inspiritive's NLP trainings. Some years ago, I used to be a very highly paid IT consultant, and now I'm using and training NLP and hypnosis in corporate Australia. I've seen some of the best, I've seen incredibly poor training, and I've also seen a wide range in between. I'd like to take a moment and share with you why US-based NLP trainer Jonathan Altfeld is one of my favorite trainers by far, not to mention why he's highly regarded by some of the best and most experienced trainers around the globe. My interest in Jonathan's work after having attended most of his courses in Australia led me to travel all the way to the UK to attend one of his seminars in particular. Jonathan's trained primarily by Richard Bandler, through the Society of NLP. He started training in '97, has trained all over North America and regularly trains in the UK and Australia. Unlike some who've trained with Richard Bandler, Jonathan seems to be able to navagate his way between the different NLP "camps". Jonathan even sports a gracious review from Chris & Jules Collingwood (John Grinder's favorite trainers!), and James Tsakalos in Melbourne. These high quality reviews aren't any surprise to me. When I first met him, over 6 years ago now, was struck immediately with his effort and care that he gave to his students that was far beyond the call of duty. I was surprised he joined and and even encouraged his students to continue on after the seminar, taking the new skills learnt in the classroom and applying them out in the real world. Jonathan, socially, is amazingly memorable. I remember one evening dinner with a small group from the course, and after a small demonstration with our waitress, every other waitress and waiter, and even a chef, came to our table to find out what was happening. Then there was the time he had the bar staff in stitches of laughter, so captivated they ignored the other waiting patrons (which is usually when Jonathan says "go help your customers")! While he does use several tricks to get these results, he's happy to teach these -- and usually does. His ability to communicate powerfully at different levels at the same time is what guarantees his results. His personality is magnetic, and the way he teaches quickly and easily transfers the skills. There was this time in Melbourne where once again I join him for a drink after the event. He's not even been in the country 48 hours, and the barman yells "Jonathan!" as he enters. His communication is memorable, even to those people who only meet him for a few minutes. I immensely enjoy Jonathan's work - If I didn't I would not be writing this, and I would not have attended most of his events in Australia. Nor would I have traveled around the world in May 2004 to see him and a fabulous hypnosis trainer Doug O'Brien co-train together in London. I've attended his NLP Skills-Builders course (an intro course). I've attended his Linguistic Wizardry course twice (language patterns). I've attended Knowledge Engineering (modeling & belief systems). I've attended his Belief Craft course with Doug O'Brien (combining Modeling Belief Systems with Sleight-of-Mouth). He is an outstanding trainer, able to lead a room mixed with 'beginners' and seasoned NLP trainers to a common goal - His village council exercise in Linguistic Wizardry in particular is a great example of this. If you want to train with the absolute best, start interviewing lots of NLP Practitioners, Master Practitioners, and trainers -- and find out who they think continues to be worth training with. There aren't many, but they are out there. And Jonathan is one of those few!
http://www.toach.net - Artur VardanyanLos Angeles, CAAttended Course : Linguistic Wizardry
Jonathan is an example of what he teaches. Many trainers can talk about NLP but few can actually live it, and Jonathan is one of them. My experience in the LW course has been a fantastic one. I enjoyed all of his lectures and the exercises we took part it. Some of the things I'm focusing on are direct and indirect language patterns and the use of captivating headlines for metaphors, which Jonathan did a great job of integrating for us and making it easy to learn. The exercises were fun but also challenging. The Village Council exercise, in particular, was a very good NLP oriented exercise. This course is about taking what you've learned and doing it out in the real world, obsessively. Overall, I found that in just 3 short days, there was a lot of GOLD that I came away with.
2008 - Marcus InoueSan Diego, CABought Audio : Finding Your Irresistible Voice
Jonathan Altfeld speaks the pleasant truth with his "Finding Your Irresistible Voice" CD set. To my enjoyment, the exercises have improved the quality of my voice. I practiced the techniques that I learned from Jonathan on my brother. In the past, it was difficult to keep his attention due to my monotone voice, but recently when I spoke with my brother, I had his complete attention.
2003 - Jason KnierumEntrepreneur, Sydney, AustraliaAttended Course : Speaking Ingeniously
"I very much enjoyed your seminar. Having more comfort when I talk with people makes the rapport deeper. Even though my demo is only 90 seconds, I hold longer eye contact with more potential customers, building a sense of connection. Result? Sales of my juicer product increased 30%." -
- Willie Harris, Jr.Owner, Importer/Exporter, Seven Continents Trader,Bought Audio : Finding Your Irresistible Voice
I started using your Irresistible Voice CD when I started my import/export company. I was getting nowhere. I had just lost the main customer of my business... my rent bills were coming due... my credit card bills were screaming at the top of their lungs... my world was about to end... Then... Something told me to listen to the CD... take your time and place your headphones on and listen to the damn CD's! I did. I then went to my next meeting waiting to test this stuff out. I walked into his office... sat down... I was told it was only going to be for ten minutes... 'we are VERY BUSY and we only have ten minutes...' And I looked at him... this guy with piles of paper on his desk... and said 'I have always wondered what it's like to work in a place such as this... Just between you and me... how do you do it?' (I lowered my voice as on the CD) And I spent the next two hours talking! And... ...closed a $13,000 account! Jonathan... do me a favor... be careful who you sell this to... take this off the market... or at least raise the price to around $1000!!!!
2003 - Joel ElfmanNLP Trainer, Massage Therapist, & more, New York, NYAttended Course : Speaking Ingeniously
Consistently, Jonathan delivers what he promises, and he will go out of his way to deliver special pieces that you ask for. For me, S.I. delivered! There were a ton of learnings. Not only the explicit materials Jon presented but while he was layering knowledge into us (& unveiling the layering bit by bit) and moving us up the learning curves. Light bulbs from the huge array of other skills, other seminars I’ve gathered just kept popping off all the time. I got to connect a lot of stuff I learned elsewhere. It was fantastic! Headlines, State chaining, Anchoring, Embedded commands, Binders, etc. are a breeze. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll want a lot of practice to get better. But I have zero hesitation about going out there everyday, creating or just waiting for the opportunity to use these skills. And if I hesitate a little, then I know, there is going to be another opportunity any moment where I’m going to naturally, use pieces of what I was taught. And if for any reason I found myself hestitating in the future for some reason, I can use all the skills I’ve learned to state chain myself, easily and effortlessly. Just yesterday, 2 days after our seminar, I was on a job interview, and w/o thinking I started to use some of what I learned. It was so easy. And if I want that, it’s mine. If you’ve watched other trainers and wondered how they do what they do so elegantly or not. Take Jonathan’s course, let him show you how to unpack the pieces, and create your own amazing presentations. Jon’s course is great for any skill level, from Master Prac, Trainer to knowing nothing. One of the guys in S.I. had never taken a single NLP class before. Either he was an amazing natural or another testament to Jon’s teaching skill because he was able to handle all the learnings and exercises really, really well and keep up pretty well w/ the rest of us who knew a lot more NLP.
2007 - Nick FortuneIT Consultant, London, UKAttended Course : Knowledge Engineering
The real topic of the seminar is modeling. Modeling is arguably the heart of NLP &, until now, a subject that has been pretty much opaque to me. No longer. Jonathan melds techniques from the world of computing with meta modeling to produce a solid methodical approach to the subject, which is uniquely his own. [...] We had a lot of fun, we learned a lot, & most important, what we learned was useful & obvious in its application. If you get a chance to attend one of these events, do it!
1998 - Elmer H. "Pete" YoungCriminal Defense Attorney, Augusta, GAAttended Course : NLP Practitioner Training
I am waaay late in fulfilling my earlier intention of thanking Jonathan for the exciting and enlightening experience of his Practitioner course in February, 2012.
I have since attended another and both have literally changed the way I approach, my clients, my trials and indeed, my life! I would tell every lawyer I know to engage Jonathan to improve their skills, but only if they didn't practice in my jurisdictions! These skills have enhanced my life, for sure! Thanks, Jonathan!http://www.GeorgiaDefense.com2012 - UstahiKosovoBought Audio : Knowledge Engineering
My life is really getting even more interesting, just now I finished listening one more piece of puzzle I've been missing - how to track beliefs. My belief about beliefs is that they're life itself. So why not learn everything about them? If you want a precise model of how to do it and get to know people's circuits then Knowledge Engineering is the course to study and put in immediate use. I'm soon going to become Telecoms/Computers engineer and Jonathans experience as AI expert really got me in a new world of possibilites. I'm thinking about how to use it in all the directions in my life. As a guaranteed side benefit from the course is also opening your ears and listening to what people tell you. I'm really finding this a true must skill one should have. I'd like to thank Jonathan for his way of putting the model and for his genuine interest in his customers.
2002