Sensory-Specific Language

Your audience is taking in information and processing it throughout your presentation. How well they actually learn the material depends on your ability to deliver it in a way that makes learning easy for them. People learn in three ways:

While we all learn in all learning styles, each of us has a predominant learning style. 25% of the population is comprised of primarily auditory learners, 35% are primarily visual and the remaining 40% are primarily kinesthetic learners.

Skillful presenters know to use language that appeals to the ears, the eyes and the feelings. If you can connect with your listeners by communicating in their preferred sensory-language, you are "speaking their language".

Auditory

Some of the key words for communicating to an auditory learner are:

• Sound
• Hear
• Tell
• Say
• Click
• Bang
• Talk
• Volume
• Loud
• Snap

Examples of language that appeals to an auditory learner include:

• That sounds good.
• It rings a bell for me.
• I hear what you are saying.
• I tell myself to take care.
• I'm glad to hear it.
• Tell me how it is.
• My teeth are chattering.
• Things clicked into place.
• Let me explain.
• We're in harmony.
• Listen to yourself.
• We're in tune with each other.
• It was music to my ears.
• I'm pleased you said that.

Visual

Some of the key words for communicating to a visual learner are:

• See
• Focus
• Clear
• Bright
• Picture
• Hazy
• Color
• View
• Dim
• Look

Examples of language that appeals to a visual learner include:

• I get the picture.
• It's clear now.
• I see what you mean.
• Things are a bit hazy.
• I take a dim view of that.
• The future looks bright.
• The outlook is bleak.
• Seeing things through rose-colored glasses.
• He is in a black mood today.
• We're in the black.
• I look forward to seeing you.
• Things are looking up.
• We have a clear way forward.
• A colorful expression.

Kinesthetic

Some of the key words for communicating to a kinesthetic learner are:

• Impact
• Taste
• Feel
• Touch
• Smell
• Tense
• Rough
• Bitter
• Relaxed
• Whiff

Examples of language that appeals to a kinesthetic learner include (language that also touches the senses of taste and smell appeals to a kinesthetic learner):

• That feels right.
• It made an impact on me.
• I was moved by what you said.
• It left a bad taste in my mouth.
• I smelt something fishy about that idea.
• Racked with pain.
• The sweet smell of success.
• Get in touch with reality.
• A taste of fear.
• I've got a grasp of the situation.
• Warm regards,
• I've got a handle on it.
• I was moved.
• It was a blow to my pride.
• Let's firm up on this.
• I savored the moment.
• Hold on.

Skillful communicators naturally use the language preferred by the individual they are communicating with. Skillful presenters realize that their audience is made up of people with diverse learning styles. They incorporate language that speaks to all groups.

Source: NLP at Work by Sue Knight

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