Inspired Speaking: Speaking Your Purpose (Part Four)

5 Phrases to Captivate Your Audience

Milton Erikson was the master of hypnotic influence and his methods and language patterns can be put to great effect to enhance your speaking skills. Milton model patterns are a way of using language persuasively to lead the hearts of the people in front of you. Milton language induces a trance-like state in an audience which in turn enables you as a speaker to have subtle control over the energy in a room so that you can step into a leadership role. As a conscious and aware woman, your message is likely to be one which raises the consciousness of those in front of you and it helps to know the tools that can expand your reach and ignite the hearts of people who may not otherwise hear or understand your message. In other words, this is a great way to reach out and touch those who wouldn’t normally be open to hear what you have to say.

There are a myriad of Milton Model patterns but a basic summary of five influentially hypnotic words and phrases to use are:

1. ‘ If….then…’ This employs the use of cause and effect to imply that one thing causes another. For example ‘If you are hearing this now, then you will become a successful speaker.’
2. ‘Because….’ This also uses cause and effect to imply that one thing causes another. For example ‘Because you are here, you are naturally going to overcome this challenge.’
3. ‘Everyone…’ and ‘everything’ and ‘everywhere’…. These words are known as universal quantifiers and have the effect of generalisation which is a powerful way of being all inclusive with your people
4. ‘Makes’ and ‘means’ … These words validate the subject matter and the people engaging with it. For example ‘It makes sense that you’re wondering’ or ‘being here means that you care.’
5. ‘You can’, ‘you should’ and ‘you must’ are modal operators which are words that imply necessity, forming rules. ‘You can be anything you like’ is an example of the use of a modal operator to inspire and ignite the heart of your listener.

Being a conscious woman who may be sensitive to the role you have to play in carrying out your life’s work requires high level communication to ensure you’re not misunderstood. Being able to deeply understand human behaviour and language patterns gives you a distinct advantage in conveying your message passionately without coming across as preachy or aggressive. The hypnotic lilt and lull of Milton can be aligned with Feminine power to great effect and is well worth learning if you want your message to flow out seamlessly to benefit as many people as possible.