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For
as long as I can remember I always wanted to connect with
people but I never really knew what to do. Could it be a
gift? Is there such a thing as a natural talent for getting
along with people or is it something that’s learned along
the way? And if it can be learned, can it be taught? I
decided to find out.
I
knew from 25 years of shooting still photographs for
magazines all over the world that attitude and body language
are paramount to creating a strong visual impression –
magazine ads have less than two seconds to capture the
reader’s attention. I was also aware that there was a way of
using body language and voice-tone to make perfect strangers
feel comfortable and cooperative. My third realization was
that a few well-chosen words could evoke expression, mood
and action in almost any subject. With these insights under
my belt I decided to look a little deeper.
Why
is it easier to get on with some people than with others?
Why can I have an interesting conversation with a person
I've just met, and yet someone else might dismiss that same
person as boring or threatening? Clearly, something must be
happening on a level beyond our conscious awareness, but
what is it?
As
my new path became clearer I set aside my cameras and
resolved to focus on how people work on the inside as well
as how they look on the outside. Over the next few years I
sought out and studied Neuro Linguistic Programming with Dr.
Richard Bandler in London and New York and earned a license
as a Master Practitioner of NLP. I studied irresistible
language patterns in Canada and England and delved into
everything to do with the brain’s part in human
connectivity. I worked with actors, comedians and drama
teachers in America and storytellers in Africa to adapt
improvisational drills into exercises that enhance
conversational skills.
Since
then I have gone on to give keynote speeches and seminars
all over the world, working with all kinds of groups and
individuals, from sales teams to teachers, from leaders of
organizations who thought they knew it all, to children so
shy that people thought they were dim-witted. And one thing
became very clear; making people like you in 90 seconds or
less is a skill that can be taught to anyone; and in a
natural, easy and entertaining way..
....in 30 seconds or less!
Nicholas
Boothman spent more than two decades studying the ways in
which human beings connect, communicate and collaborate.
Today, he has been called ‘one of the leading experts in
face-to-face communication in the world' by John Tierney at
the New York Times. The Economist Magazine's Matthew Bishop
calls him ‘truly inspirational,’ and Good Morning America
says, ‘His book is my bible.’
A former fashion and advertising photographer who dealt with
hundreds of new faces a week for clients like AT&T, Revlon
and Coca-Cola he now shows businesses around the world how
to naturally connect and build trust, from first impressions
to lasting relationships, and all the communicating
in-between.
His first two books, How to Make People Like You in 90
Seconds or Less and How to Connect in Business in 90 Seconds
or Less have been translated into more than 20 languages and
his programs are delivered by licensed trainers in North
America, Europe and Asia.