NLP Tips for Public Speakers

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) aims to teach people how to observe, understand, and influence themselves and others as effectively as experienced psychotherapists and communication experts. That’s why it places great emphasis on choosing the right words. The idea is that, by doing so, you can persuade someone, influence their decisions, or make a positive impression.

NLP is used in many fields, such as psychology, negotiations, advertising, and politics. Interestingly, it can also be applied to public speaking. While NLP is controversial and not recognized by the academic community, some of its techniques can be genuinely effective—especially for public speaking. Here are some tips on this topic.

Tip 1: One-Minute Stories

It’s great to start your speech with:

• A story that happened to you
• A summary of an article you read
• Some statistics
• A story built around a quote

It’s important to tell your story in a way that evokes an emotional response from the audience. Make your message sensory by using words related to the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Connect these senses within your story as if it’s happening to everyone in the audience. In NLP, this is called “association.”

Tip 2: Use Sensory Words

This tip expands on the first. In NLP, these words are called “predicates.” They are chosen specifically to trigger sensory experiences. For example:

• Hearing: hear, listen, melody, harmony, ringing bell, sounds like
• Sight: look, see, colorful, bright, clear
• Touch: feel, rough, soft, smooth
• Taste and Smell: smells, sweet, aromatic, spicy

Tip 3: Set an Anchor

An anchor creates a “stimulus-response” principle, a concept introduced by psychologist Ivan Pavlov. You can “anchor” a scene by using positive words on one side of the stage and negative words on the other. Once you’re sure the anchor is set, move to the “positive” side to get the audience to agree with your point of view.

Tip 4: Use Gestures for Positive and Negative Points

When talking about something negative, gesture away from yourself and the audience. When discussing something positive, gesture toward yourself and the audience.

Tip 5: Use Gestures to Engage the Audience

While speaking, use gestures to emphasize your words. Pleasant moments in your story should be accompanied by smooth movements. This works on a deep, subconscious level and draws in your listeners and viewers.

Tip 6: Remember the Three Types of Information Perception

There are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Make sure your presentation isn’t just verbal. Show photos or graphics. Let people touch objects (like Steve Jobs did when he introduced the first iPhone) or have them participate in activities on stage.

Tip 7: Focus on How Inspiring Your Speech Is, Not Just the Content

Many speakers focus more on the content they want to deliver. Instead, concentrate on how you want to deliver your message.

Tip 8: Use Words Most of the Audience Will Agree With

Vague words allow the audience to agree with you because they lack specifics and are hard to argue with. For example, we can all agree that we want to improve “education,” experience “positive emotions,” achieve “success,” and increase “motivation.”

This is like talking about transportation in general, not a specific car brand. Such words don’t directly answer questions like “What exactly is happening?”, “Who is responsible?”, or “What should be done?”

Also, replace verbs (actions) with abstract nouns (things that aren’t active or tangible). In NLP, this is called “nominalization.” It’s a very useful tool for public speaking.

Tip 9: Use Specific Words

Of course, if you use only vague words, you might come across as a demagogue or deceiver. They’re ambiguous and can put the audience into a trance. That’s why you need to add specifics to your speech.

Who exactly? What exactly? How exactly? These are questions you and your audience should answer together. They create awareness. In NLP, this technique is called the “meta-model.”

Tip 10: Be Aware of the Emotions You Evoke

In communication, we always evoke some kind of emotion, whether we intend to or not. It’s important to be aware of which ones. A good emotional state to aim for in any public speech is curiosity. With curiosity, the audience will be engaged and eager to learn more. Use body language, tone and volume of voice, facial expressions, and gestures to achieve this.