Nick Kemp Blog

Let me start by saying two things

1. I hugely value all I have learned from those NLP courses I have attended to date
2. I use some of these skills when working with clients

However here’s a question – “Has the bubble burst for NLP?”

Changing trends for NLP

I have watched the trends in NLP since the 1990s and noticed a definite change in demand around 2005 for NLP courses and materials. Of course in recent times all manner of businesses have felt the pinch, and NLP concerns are no exception. People simply have far less disposable income and are more selective about what they spend it on. Let’s also remember that trends change and my suggestion is that the standard prac and master prac events have really had their day. No amount of trying to repackage these will in my view work either. It’s also useful to remember that there are no uniform standards in NLP and both content, size of course and training style can be as different as to make many of these unrecognizable as being from the same field.

 I have seen courses in the last decade with as many as 700 delegates in attendance and then heard of others with as little as two attendees, which must make for a very odd dynamic when it came to doing exercises.  There are a lot of excellent skills that can be found in the NLP tool kit, but learning experiences vary greatly from different training schools. I have always advocated learning from a number of different people; otherwise it’s like insisting that the only music worth listening to is pop and refusing to explore any other genre. Of course some NLP business concerns have a vested interest in you only attending their “approved/certificated events” but that’s IMO more about income generation than anything else. I know of at least four trainers who in recent times have stopped running certificated courses mostly due to lack of demand from the public. All of these are now involved in more creative projects and their businesses are doing well. In contrast some of the larger concerns that have not evolved appear to be hanging financially by a (“voluntary”) thread…

Pricing and value for NLP events

Personally  I think that NLP course sizes beyond 50 attendees, do not create for a good learning experience, although they can be great “entertainment.” Some short NLP events can cost thousands instead of hundreds of pounds and online there are increasing numbers of people asking whether such events are really value for money. It’s also worth remembering that in many instances travel and accommodation really increase the costs of attending such events. In London one hotel doubled its room rates when an NLP training was being run in their conference facilities. A basic practitioner workshop can be around 3k, then add one hundred pounds per night for accommodation if in a major city and meals and it’s approaching 5k as a cost for such an event. In recent years some trainers have tried to run pracs and master pracs at the same time in different rooms which to me suggests a further attempt to cut down on costs. In stark contrast some trainers who used to run stock NLP courses are now producing some exciting thought provoking events that make some of the old NLP formats look like dial up compared to broadband!

The Myth of certification = “qualification"

Many NLPers still mistakenly call certifications “qualifications”. A common definition of a qualification would be “a set of professional competences significant for employment” In my experience very few NLPers use such trainings in any employment capacity and in my view many people have realised that attending and paying for such events is more a luxury than an educational consideration that will lead to increased income streams or job enhancement. Of course the tools can be excellent, BUT often people have unrealistic expectations and I even saw one online CV where one character described himself as “MD of his own online forum!” It’s just a shame that in the world of employment NLP certifications are pretty meaningless at best and sometimes (I worked for 15 years in the recruitment sector) these can even be a disadvantage for those wanting to enhance their CVs.

Business, NLP and lack of online awareness

Many non NLP commercial businesses have in some cases also stopped sending employees to larger external NLP trainings due to these tougher economic times, which again partly accounts for this NLP delegate downturn. My own research shows that many of the public find choosing an NLP course pretty confusing with all manner of pricing, different duration of training and different content. I recently had an article on “NLP Speak” published in Rapport magazine (see http://www.nickkemp.com/download-published-magazine-articles-PDFs-reviews-NLP-aNLP-Rapport.php) where I commented on the fact that in my view some NLP trainers tend to promote their field with far too much jargon which for many of the public is pretty off-putting. Some NLP training companies also don’t have the greatest imagination when it comes to marketing. Many have an over reliance on Google AdWords spending literally thousands on pay per click campaigns. Currently it costs three pounds per click for such promotions, yes £3 per click to be on page one of Google for the term “NLP”. At least one major international NLP concern has taken its eye of the ball so much that its main site does not even rank in the top 100 searches for “NLP” on Google! Many other NLP trainers despite talking about excellence make totally rooky mistakes regarding their websites. I have lost count of those who have sites with a zero Google ranking. Many NLP trainer sites have broken links, and misspelling, my favorite being “phoenix” as a huge flash animation across the site. Lower down they did manage to spell it correctly!

The Boot camp, the rise and fall of Happy Clappers and other nonsense

With the changing trends in the marketplace there has also been a rise in the “NLP boot camp” style events where “persuasion gurus” try to persuade would be NLP trainers and practitioners to part with their cash to become “highly successful” I have never seen any evidence for this approach working for attendees, but of course it’s good income for the presenters. My view is that many in the world of NLP have an obsession about “instant success” (speed seduction, change your life in 7 days etc) and don’t always have the appreciation that any business or personal development requires ongoing work and application.  The internet has also in my view affected how NLP is taught and perceived. Overnight the globe is apparently full of “NLP experts” who are perfectly happy to litter their sites with quotes from co creators of NLP in an attempt to attract clients while at the same time attacking the exact same clients on NLP forums. Stupidity reaches new lows as individuals talk about “reverse engineering” what they were originally taught. Of course although many such individuals rarely if ever see any actual clients and when they do so, they proclaim this event with extraordinary enthusiasm! Once again it seems that many NLPers are “hobbyists” and often practice groups are little more than an opportunity to socialize.

 Who the hell is Frank Pucelik?

Everybody knows that NLP was created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder who modeled a number of other therapists in the 1970s. After all if you read Wikipedia, then you can read all about this –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

Well, that may or may not be true…

 In recent times another name has appeared on the radar who claims to have been around at the very start of NLP and has had (his words) his name “erased” from NLP history!

Frank Pucelik claims to have been around from the very beginning of NLP and part of the “Meta Group” that influenced the creation of NLP. This group according to him included a host of other people including Marilyn Moskowitz, Ilene McCloud, Trevelyan Houck, Patrick Rooney, Terry Rooney and Jeff Paris. All such folks are certainly unknown to me and anyone I know in NLP. Frank also makes it very clear that one well known NLP trainer (who prides himself as “being one of the original NLP group”) actually in his opinion is pretty clueless about these matters! To date this same usually verbose trainer has been unusually quiet about this whole issue!

I have had a few e-mail exchanges with Frank and certainly he has a lot to say with fits with others I have talked to who were around in the 1970s. My point is that NLP appears to many both inside and outside the field as being full of infighting, law suits and arguments, hardly a great advert to attract others to trainings. I also suspect that before the year is out “The Pucelik factor” will cause further “interesting discussions”

Is greed good for NLP?

I am fortunate to know many very established international trainers across the globe and so am able to get a great deal of information about market trends worldwide. NLP trainers have been accused of over pricing workshops and selling products at massively inflated prices. Some DVD sets cost literally hundreds of pounds, when production costs are minimal. For me the quality is also just not there in most instances and this again is not sending out great signals to the public at large that this is a field that embodies the pursuit of excellence. Certainly back of room sales can be financially attractive. On one NLP workshop I heard that the back of room sales grossed over 70k in just a few days!

Many of the larger style trainings employ a tactic of staffing such events with assistants who are essentially voluntary labour, so this cuts down on costs. This is a great way for “assistants” aka volunteers to learn, but as I have blogged previously many such folks get stuck in this assisting role and let their own businesses suffer. When Jon Ronson sat in on a 2006 Bandler event (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/may/20/weekend.jonronson1) he was less than impressed with what he commented –

Ronson - I corner (Paul) McKenna and tell him his assistants are driving me crazy. "You have to make them leave me alone," I say. He looks mortified, and says “they're just overexcited and trying too hard.”

In my view Paul McKenna has probably done more to introduce NLP to the public than anyone else in a no nonsense manner, however these massive events really don’t work and interestingly he moved more into TV projects. I have also noticed a downgrading in the quality of hotel venues for NLP workshops to again save costs, but I believe this is a big mistake in these times. Those who are doing well are the independent trainers who have resisted being too greedy in their pricing and frequency of running events. Such folks have a more loyal client base and appear to continue to do well which is good news.

Some NLP concerns have attempted forays into fields of medicine and education, but often the claims made are quite ludicrous with massive over generalizations about what is supposedly possible that makes such professions either wary or dismissive. A have a lot of close friends who are in the medical and education professions and who just roll their eyes when I show them some NLP online “authorities” who proclaim themselves as experts! Those who have spent years in professional educational and medical training often take a dim view of those who simply award themselves prestigious titles.

The smarter NLP initiatives

Fortunately there are some good NLP initiatives which are more hype free which I suspect will in time create some much needed credibility for the field. My hope is that people seeking trainings will think more before booking on events and ask the tougher questions of those making claims for the actual trainings. There are some excellent skills in the NLP tool box and there are some really good trainers who run events with sensible sized groups and who focus on developing skills. There’s little sign of any uniform standards appearing anytime soon and unfortunately in these economic times many businesses revert to increasingly more sensational and desperate marketing with “new certificates” and “even more advanced” workshops!  

My views is that the stadium style NLP events have had their day, but there will be opportunities for those with a genuine  interest in developing skills, working with sensible sized groups and providing a proper duty of care towards customers. I’m presenting at both the London NLP Conference and the San Francisco IASH conferences this year, so I’ll keep an eye out to see what’s new and exciting in this field.

Certainly ANLP who are a community for Interest Company offer some common sense for those interested in learning from the NLP tool kit. So in my view yes the bubble has burst, but that is excellent news as this allows for a new evolution of ideas which is more focused on how these skills can be used in a real, creative and beneficial manner. Next month I am delighted to be co training with some of whom I consider to be really skilled trainers in Denver for a 7 day skills based event and I’m just as excited being an attendee as being a presenter!

See http://sites.google.com/site/wwwtoolsfortransformingcom/2010-advanced-mastery-training

Finally lets remind ourselves that there are some brilliant NLP tools and he tools are not the people, just as the people are NOT the field. My hope is for more congruity, generosity of spirit and co operation to really make this a field to be proud of, we;ll see if there is the will for that!