I have now had a chance to reflect on the two days of presenting my PCW work at the Valencia NLP Conference. This was the first time I had come to Spain and Valencia is a fascinating city. On the first morning I had the chance to visit the old city which had some fascinating street art. Spain currently has a real problem with unemployment reaching 25% which of course is a disaster for the economy. Despite these tougher economic times Mayca Pérez, the AEPNL president managed to attract 200+ people to the conference and every one of them attended my Provocative Change Works events. This was a larger group than usual and I was very fortunate to have Patrick an excellent translator from Barcelona who is originally from Texas. When running events overseas with a non-English audience, a good translator is essential. Presenting to 200+ people is very different to presenting to a group of fifty. The lighting and PA system were so good that the video camera I set up at the back of the room captured some excellent footage.

Michael Grinder sat in on my first session and this sparked a few wonderful animated conversations over the next 48 hours. Michael (brother of John Grinder) has an extensive background of working in both the educational and corporate sectors. His observations and feedback were so useful that I audio recorded our second conversation! Michael has literally decades of training and teaching experience and it’s rare for me to enjoy discussions as much as I did. I’m always on the lookout for specialists in communication and very often the most casual of conversations can spark a whole new way of thinking.

I really enjoyed meeting Mayca and Eduardo and everyone who attended the conference. On the second evening the organizers hired a bus and transported 60 people to a hotel dinner. In Spain eating times can be very different to the UK and we didn’t begin eating until almost 11pm! By 12.30 am the group was on the dance floor, but I had to retire to bed knowing that I had a breakfast meeting with Michael and a plane to catch soon after. I would love to return to Spain to run some longer more in depth PCW events.

There are lots of common misconceptions about Frank Farrelly’s “Provocative Therapy” and now my own “Provocative Change Works” approaches. The most common mistake is to equate “provocative” as being “aggressive” which I have blogged about previously. Any idiot can be aggressive, but it takes some real skill to provoke or stimulate client responses when working conversationally.

Another mistake is to think of “provocative” as “comedic” or “humorous” Yes there can be a lot of humour in Provocative Therapy and Provocative Change Works, BUT the intention of both approaches is not to be “comedic” or funny.  Both approaches use a great deal of improvisation and one of the golden rules of improvisation is “Don’t try to be funny”  Just as there are literally thousands of individuals trying to earn a living as therapists and practitioners, there are equal numbers trying to be stand-up comedians. In both instances few manage to realise their intended professions. Both professions also require a great deal of skill and application. Stand-up comedians spend years developing their craft and the best presenters have great observational skills, creative thinking and excellent timing. I recommend studying comics such as Stephen Wright, Steve Martin and Eddie Izzard, for lessons in timing and observational skills. A Provocative Therapist and a PCW practitioner have many of skills these stand-up comedians have, but their role is not simply to entertain, even if the client finds the sessions engaging and entertaining.

I developed the Provocative Icon system to teach many of the provocative stances I detail in Provocative Change Works. The icons teach the practitioner a great deal of flexibility in their communications. This is a far cry from the stereotypical “logical, digital, sequential” way of working found in my talk therapy and psychological approaches. Frank Farrelly was in my view light years ahead of his time in creating Provocative Therapy in the 1960s and interestingly I have only seen a few people who understand and can use Provocative Therapy, all of which are women and either in Germany or Austria. In each case they are very quick witted, have excellent timing and great observational skills. The manner of the therapist or practitioner is as important as what they say or do. The side product of humour often occurs when the client makes outrageous exaggerations while remaining in a quite neutral state, but crucially is not trying “to be outrageous” The practitioner’s role is to provoke new ways of thinking and feeling by adopting very specific stances during the interactions. The skill is knowing how to work in the here and now and only responding to what the client feeds back verbally and non-verbally.

Next month I am teaching a PCW skills development day for those who have some PCW or AFPT approved training. This will be a great opportunity to work in a small group setting and discover more about the real potential with “provocative” style communications. See http://www.nickkemp.com/spartcart/product/provocative-change-works-skills-development-day-may-27th.htm

The PCW Practitioner launches in Japan 2013. Here is some of what will be covered

We just finished 3 days intense work on creating more copy and video for www.provocativechangeworks.jp. The project team was myself, Mark Zarretti and Kimiko Bokura. This was a highly productive and effective period where we all met in the UK at my house in Leeds. The tasks included writing copy for the PCW Practitioner, filming and editing video for the site and extensive translations from English into Japanese. It's a real pleasure to work with such talented professionals, bioth of who are the best in their respective fields. Next year sees the launch of the PCW Practitioner training in Japan as well as level 1 trainings being run in USA and Europe.

Exploring hypnosis

I first became interested in hypnosis in the 1990s and many of the books I bought are now out of print and a great deal of audio material and DVDs are quite tough to find as well. I was and still am fascinated by how language can generate different kinds of states. This was of course before the explosion of NLP trainings in the UK, where suddenly a whole new breed of folks started calling themselves “hypnotists”. There was also an unfortunate outbreak of “street hypnotists” roaming the UK in the hope of finding suggestible subjects. Personally I have never been a fan of either street or stage hypnosis, but have been interested in how these skills can be used to help people with genuine problems rather than simply for entertainment purposes. There’s nothing wrong with the entertainment aspect, but in most cases I find it a bit crass and lacking any real sophistication or elegance!
I was (and still am) especially interested in Milton Erickson and his work and continue to work my way through a stack of Erickson’s books. I also came across Stephen Brooks (an English Ericksonian trainer) who also is very skilled and works with real precision. Of course the co-creators of NLP were very interested in Milton’s work and Milton was also interested in Frank Farrelly’s work, although Frank only ever managed to speak to Betty Erickson. Many have described Frank as “hypnotic” although he generally denies this and still regards hypnosis as a bit like getting people to cluck like chickens! In early 2002 I also discovered Dave Dobson and Bill O Hanlon. I love Dobson’s Fun Shop audio series, Beach Trip induction as well as O Hanlon’s excellent book “Taproots”.  Around this time I also heard about this trainer in New York called Doug O Brien. Little did I know that we would become first friends as well as co trainers. Interestingly my observations are that the best hypnotists also regularly see clients and I think running a private practice is the best way to develop hypnosis and other useful skills.

So, what makes a great hypnotist?

The best hypnotists have a great command of language, excellent tonality and superb creative skills. Two of these elements will help to make an “ok” hypnotist, but not what I would consider to be a great one.  I have heard lots of hypnosis audio products but very few incorporate these three key elements. Some hypnotists can have a good awareness of language but not a great sense of rhythm and tonality. Often people attempt to be a karaoke version of Milton Erickson which of course doesn’t sound that great! Others have good tonality but the inductions are often not that creative or interesting. The worst tonality is when presenters suddenly sound like Dracula rising from the grave, always predictably starting any induction with the word “Now…” in a drawn out fashion. Personally this kind of response makes me want to grab and wooden stake and do the right thing for the benefit of humankind. In recent times I was asked to present to “The James Braid Society” in London. The hosts mentioned that they had one NLP and hypnosis trainer as a guest that they described as the worst presenter ever! He must have created a real impression because a number of different people commented “He tried to teach us basic hypnosis, while insisting that it was advanced and new material!” The audience was pretty savvy about hypnosis and the name of the group should have provided a clue that the expectation would be for some medium to advanced material rather than an introductory evening! I mention this because often some trainers can believe that a few training events equip them to teach long standing hypnotherapists what they regard as “groundbreaking material” which is actually pretty basic to the hypnotically educated.

Hypnosis comes in many forms and of course all forms of communications are essentially forms or hypnosis or “getting and directing attention” so we could legitimately call any form of influence “hypnosis.” The suggestive patterns used in Ericksonian hypnosis are the exact same patterns I use to teach sales teams. The secret of course is to make everything sound conversational and flow effortlessly. Surprisingly few people in my view achieve this and even many well-known trainers in my view fall short of the mark.

Learning the skills to create a great induction

I started creating hypnosis products in 2000 and was very pleased to be approached by Anglo American Books and Crown House publishing to distribute my products internationally. Many of these products including “The Adventures of Well Being Now” sold thousands of copies worldwide and received some great reviews. My biggest learning curve was in my own recording studio where I was able to listen back to different takes. I really began to appreciate how important it is to be precise in delivery. I would advise anyone wanting to develop these skills to practice in this way and regardless of what is presented in ad copy, real skill development takes time and application. The few really good hypnotists I have come across are often musicians as well and have a natural sense of rhythm. All hypnosis is about getting and directing a person’s attention. All hypnosis is creating trance states and all hypnosis involves trance work. I recommend writing inductions and then refining the content until the whole piece flows with ease. Although hypnosis patterns are taught in many NLP courses I continue to be amazed by how poor a lot of the results actually are! Of course everybody has to start somewhere but it seems that some people think they can present themselves as a “hypnotist” or now “master hypnotist” with a few weeks’ training!

The best products and presenters have spent time developing their craft. Between 2003 and 2004 I agreed to produce some longstanding NLP trainers in my studio. Most found it difficult to maintain sufficient concentration during the recording process as they were not used to working in this manner. The key to developing skills is practice, practice and practice. I am lucky to work with hundreds of live clients each year and of course I use some hypnosis and metaphor exploration with the PCW model. In recent times I deleted a bunch of old products I featured on. They still sold well online but I didn’t feel the quality was up to standard and I’m very fussy about giving people good value for money. I also always ensure that there are free downloads in the store on this site for anyone interested in using hypnosis for relaxation.

The use of music and recording inductions, common mistakes people make

When I first discovered NLP I along with many other people bought lots of products. Some were pretty good for the time, but some had terrible production. When I mean “terrible” I mean almost unlistenable! A common mistake back then in recording to cassette was a hideous amount of tape hiss. Another mistake is to add music that is totally incongruent with the spoken content. I remember one product where the mix and the music were so bad I started to get a headache within minutes of listening! I wrote and produced all my own music and also am pleased with some pieces I wrote with Doug O Brien that can be found in my store. Doug is an excellent musician and has a great ear for what works best. Of course many NLP folks reference Richard Bandler for great hypnosis, but personally I have found his material hugely variable, but there are a few perhaps less well known products well worth checking out. I especially recommend his content on the “Hypnosis in Munich” audio set. A common mistake for some people creating products is not to pace the material particularly well. Often the flow is not great and there’s not enough dynamic range. The best inductions grab your attention and take you into another world. I’m also not a fan of long inductions and when I see clients I rarely do more than 10 minutes hypnosis work at any one time. The ability to edit is crucial in creating excellent inductions and myself and Doug O Brien teach this skill on our “Stories from the Outside Inn> courses in the UK and USA. See www.storiesfromtheoutsideinn.com

Technology has moved on in recent years and there really is no excuse for not creating a good recording. Sony makes a number of really good recording devices, namely the M10, PCM D50 and for the wealthy the king of devices the PCM D1. When recording it’s important to ensure that the sound levels are correct and there is no unnecessary background noise. Recording programmes like Audition are excellent for ensuring that all final products are recorded to the highest sonic standards. It’s always worth getting the best equipment you can for recording audio and video and many make the mistake of cutting corners and this shows in the final product. Some very well-known trainers have produced some products that with a bit more care could be so much better. If you haven’t figured out already I am very picky about what I recommend, but what follows are some must have products for any serious hypnotist. I would add my own Human Alchemy products to this list, again found in the online store on this site.

Recommended products

Here are some of my favorite products that I recommend to students -
My Voice will go with you – Erickson and Rossi (book)
Taproots – Bill O Hanlon (book)
The Beach Trip – Dave Dobson (audio)
Indirect Hypnosis – Stephen Brooks
Ericksonian Language Patterns – Doug O Brien (audio set)
Hypnosis in Munich – Richard Bandler (audio)