the Central London nlp group

Articles written by Group members and non-members

Putting Together a Practice Session
by Marysia Kurowski ("Isha")

So you've had the itch, or decided that you could do it better? What next?

What your session will be about
Is there something you are burning to pass on to others? That you want to revise/learn more about? Perhaps there's something that hasn't been done for a while, or ever. You could keep your past programmes, as a useful checklist. What does the programme co-ordinator suggest, or want more of? Has (s)he approached you to do a session on which you have special knowledge?

About you
Session leaders will need to have integrated extensive NLP skills. One aim of the group is to practise skills learnt on Practitioner training. That training includes learning NLP good practice and giving it a high priority. If you are exposing relative newcomers to NLP you will need to incorporate good practice and your NLP Practitioner skills into the way you do your practice session, and present a model of NLP which is consistent with that taught in Practitioner training.

An outcome for doing your session
Ask yourself why you want to lead a practice session. What would you like to get out of having done it? And if you got that, what would that get you? And what would be your evidence procedure? Chunk up to discover what your outcomes have in common with the stated outcomes of the Group. Your answers will inform everything that you do. And attendees have their own outcomes, too.

The experience level you'll aim at
The NLP Group always needs good session leaders for Practitioner-level participants. So we particularly welcome offers of Practitioner-only sessions. We also hold sessions for a level encompassing both beginners and foundation levels. Those who lead sessions open to all are people who have sufficiently demonstrated to us their ability to do so in the past.

"You'll find it on line 239 of your handouts..."

Approach and style
The organising committee of the Group are looking for practice sessions, including at least three exercises. If your session is on a skill/pattern/technique with many pieces, build on each exercise. End with one which integrates what has been learned. If your session is on a skill/topic/set of techniques with diverse pieces which stand alone, you can provide a variety of independent exercises. We always appreciate handouts. And do use the flipchart. It's a valuable adjunct to what you say and do. Which style? Humorous, serious, provocative, questions, exploring and discovering? Make it fun for participants. People learn more easily when they're enjoying themselves. Give them something new or different to think about, too. And give a sense of closure.

Structuring
The easiest way to structure your session is to create an outline then fill in the pieces. Decide what really needs to be explained or demonstrated very early in the session, and get into exercises as early as possible. We get some of our most positive feedback about sessions with lots of exercises and practice.

Is it ready?
A whole evening can seem very long, or short when you realise how much you want to cram in. You can get together with a couple of trusted colleagues and present your workshops, or pieces of them, to each other. Your colleagues take notes during the presentation, and after it give all the feedback in the form of a "feedback sandwich": they say what was good, what could be even better, and what else was good. You as presenter refrain from replying until all the feedback has been given.

Learning more about doing sessions
O'Connor and Seymour's book, Training with NLP (Thorsons, 1994) is jam-packed with teaching and tips about training and communicating.

Good luck!

Isha was Programme Co-ordinator for the NLP Group for a while. She has led over 50 practice sessions in NLP and related subjects and has many years' experience of leading workshops and classes.