I’ve just been to the annual NLP Conference in London. The conference has been running for about 20 years but this was my first visit after about 14 or more years and what a delightful and encouraging experience!

After being an ‘NLP conference groupie’ since almost the very first one, I’d given up attending in the early 90s because it had become boring and I’d really grown tired of the types who were frequenting it. I’d had enough conversations with, and attended enough workshops presented by, boring, lifeless, and intellectual types who knew a hell of a lot about NLP but didn’t seem to demonstrate any of it: people who’d look over your shoulder or off into the distance as they talked with (at?) you about their latest NLP book or product or theory.

And yes, among the 400 or so people at the NLP Conference this weekend, there were a few of those types, too. Such as, for example the ‘well-known NLP author’ who came in for the last 30 minutes of my three-hour session and, while everyone else in the room had their eyes closed while actively participating in the closing visualisation exercise, was carefully writing down everything I said… But, happily, people like that were far outnumbered.

It’s great – and encouraging. Things have changed dramatically and for the better. Based on my experience in the early 90s I decided to only attend the Saturday of this year’s weekend Conference, and that only because I was presenting a workshop on that day. But I now wish I’d attended the full weekend.

What a great bunch of people to be with! Alive, alert, communicating enthusiastically with each other, interested in and learning from one another, really walking the talk of NLP.

The 80-90 people who attended my session on ‘how to use NLP to have great relationships’ were truly a joy to work with: enthusiastic, sophisticated, fun loving, ready to ‘give it a go’, thoughtful and discerning, challenging in the positive sense of the word, etc. I certainly learned a lot from them and I hope they got a few ideas from my session, too.

It’s great to think that, in an age when more and more of the NLP training providers are becoming more mercenary (packing more and more hundreds of people into shorter and shorter ‘certification’ trainings), that there are still people who are ‘getting the message’ that NLP isn’t about gathering techniques to seduce, or to persuade, or ‘kick ass’ – but is about having a fulfilling life and great relationships.

The next NLP Annual Conference is on 13-15 November 2009 and, first thing tomorrow morning,  I’ll be checking in my diary to see if I can free up that weekend!