1999 Ultimate 14-Day Modeling Course with NLP Master Practitioner Certification
Please note: These evaluations do not represent every single student in the course. (One student left early and as of 9/01/99 has not filled out an evaluation) This is unusual. Normally we would be able to publish every student's comments, but in this class we cannot. We did, however, publish every single evaluation that we did receive.

"(Rex is) flexible, compassionate and highly skilled. His depth of talent is really remarkable. He seems to have boundless energy, staying up late into the night with students, talking and answering questions. Truly the kind of NLP teacher you dream about having.

I honestly feel that this program is one of the very best two weeks I've ever experienced. Finally, I learned what true NLP is about, after an unsatisfactory experience with another organization. Rex and the staff have created an absolutely amazing learning environment which really is 'whole-brained.' I now understand what is meant by the saying 'NLP is an Attitude.' It's about utilizing every single moment of life as a time for growth and stretching the brain toward new learnings and new achievements. Rex gets habits activated in the nervous system that feel so great, they're hard to break!

I learned plenty of new techniques, and new spins on timeworn NLP techniques of the past, but mainly I learned how to activate my own brain in a totally resourceful and powerful way at any time, giving me the ability to create my own techniques on the spot. I learned how to easily and naturally transmit wonderful feelings to another person in many ways. It is clear to me now that feeling delightful and being powerfully persuasive are one and the same.

This training hasn't been a vacation --more like boot camp for success and happiness. Rex will constantly stretch your limits and challenge you to go beyond what you thought possible. When you emerge on the other side, you will feel like a new person, bereft of all the limits you thought you had. He doesn't just rev you up to high gear and send you packing, with nothing but enthusiasm and hopes, like some other trainers. He gives you incredible real world tools and attitudes that will last a lifetime. If you take only one NLP training in your life, the choice is clear --IDEA Seminars."

Seth Cauthorne, Hotel Bellman, Denver Colorado

"Rex walks his talk - he is 100% congruent. Rex is personal and gets involved with his people as friends. Rex is real and he is funny. Rex's background as an actor is an invaluable addition to his mastery of NLP, because modeling is after all, NLP.

Life is about living your purpose. The meaning you make of your life creates your reality and how enjoyable and fulfilling it is. This program fulfilled all my expectations in acquiring the skill of modeling. I now have the skill to easily and naturally create the life I desire by modeling behaviors, feelings, and results that I find in anyone who is doing something at an outstanding level.

I now have the knowledge of just exactly how to find excellent people in sales and rapidly learn at an accelerated rate how to be as good as they are. I already have an excellent set of selling skills myself, and my new knowledge of modeling will allow me extract additional distinctions from others to take myself to an outstanding level in my life, in our society, and in our world. I can see very clearly my future many decades from now and it is great!

Thank you for putting together and putting yourselves fully into this Rex, Carolyn, Tom, Erik, and Jerry."

Shamus Brown, Sales Entrepreneur/Eg. Designer, San Rafael, California

"Dear Rex and Carolyn,
I want to take a few minutes to respond to your evaluation form. Since I had to leave Cedar Valley early, I didn't get a chance to finish it. I also wanted to say good-bye to Carolyn and to thank both of you for putting together a really wonderful program.

I'm back at work, and I truly feel that my life has been transformed in a very significant way. It's hard to put my finger on it, but I think what has changed is my attitude. Instead of feeling irritated at all the problems, I now see them as challenges. I've adopted several of the strategies we were taught as part of my daily routine: I do cross crawling every day, I stop and remind myself to think of what is good and new, and I use directed questions every morning to start my day. I'm even beginning to use the language patterns with colleagues and with my son. I find myself scanning for people's meta-programs, and I am very aware of when people use complex equivalencies. I'm also aware of when I need to chunk up or down in presenting information, and I'm working on finding the right level in conversations. I loved learning the sleight of mouth patterns and find myself using them as well. In fact, I am amazed at how much I was able to absorb in two weeks!

I am working now on finding ways to help my teachers instill some of these practices into their teaching. Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that people learn best while they are having fun. I don't know why it took me so long to realize the importance of that simple fact. Adding the music and the cross crawling were also important part of my learning. I'm trying to find a way to get this information to teachers so that they really do it. I've already begun training a group of about 17 of my staff in incorporating various NLP strategies into their classroom, and so far, they really like it. So I'm hopeful some of the information on managing states and language patterns also helps them to become better communicators.

On a personal level, I have to say that this seminar really helped me to continue integrating spiritual components of my life. Building in the awareness of living in the present (the good and new), writing all the things for which we were grateful, reframing situations so that problems become resources, going first, learning to model excellence, and doing things differently - all of these practices are now more entrenched in my consciousness and have helped to push me to a new level of awareness. For this I am most thankful.

All in all, I have to say that this seminar was one of the best things I have ever done. Many thanks again for putting a lot of thought and effort into it."

Diann Richards, Supervisor of English, Edison Public Schools, Edison, New Jersey

"(Rex is) down to earth, good heart, caring, intelligent, inquisitive.

The 14-day modeling course was wonderful! The course was an enjoyable blend of information, exercises, and experiential processes. It was educational, I developed skills and it was also a lot of fun. Rex sets a really warm, humble and respectful environment that brings out the best human qualities and connects the subject matter to our lives. The physical environment was peaceful and beautiful as well. I would highly recommend Idea Seminars to anyone that wants to develop life changing skills based on neurolinguistic programming."

John Paredes, Engineer, Tampa, Florida

"Rex continues to be the best NLP trainer for anyone interested in self-improvement and a full life. He has years of experience and that is reflected in his trainings. He has gone beyond other trainers to provide unique and useful advancements with compassion and genuine interest in his students.

The master practitioner course taught by Rex Sikes and Idea Seminars is just what its title implies: mastery of the practice of NLP. Rex reinforces and solidifies practitioner skills while going beyond with the advanced skills for total mastery.

Rex Sikes' master practitioner course is all about learning how to direct your mind and the minds of others in useful and enriching ways. It is about filling your mind with positive habits of questioning to cause your mind to search for personally fulfilling answers. The addition of Rex's 'MIND DESIGN' principles is a much needed extension of NLP fundamentals.

The modeling, meta-model, meta-program, sleight of mouth and language pattern drills and exercises are an excellent way to make these skills your own.

Rex knows his stuff and is available at meals and late into the night to answer questions or just talk and share experiences.

I recommend this course to any serious student of NLP. There is no better way to study and learn NLP than through Rex' Practitioner and Master Practitioner Trainings."

Kurt Arbuckle, Attorney, Houston, Texas

"(Rex is an) excellent communicator, trainer, teacher, good friend. Totally dedicated, funny. A joy to learn from him, brilliant, articulate.

Fantabulous! Rex is the elite of the elite in the areas of communication & learning. I've attended all different types of training. Rex & Idea Seminars has put together a learning experience that is unsurpassed. His dedication, commitment & caring that you understand and absorb the material shine through in his every word, thought & action. If anyone were to ask me who they should see in regards to NLP, hypnosis, communication skills or what they could do to get more out of their life, I would point them in the direction of Rex & Idea Seminars.

I will be applying so much of what I've learned from Practitioner and Master Practitioner workshops to my hypnosis shows & hypnosis business, and I am very excited about starting Trainers Training. I see only success after success in my future

Thanks Rex."

Dan Pollack, Master Hypnotist, Sussex, Wisconsin

"Rex is a bright mind and even more than that a human being with a great heart. A teacher of NLP with the heart of a father and a brother. Perhaps the best NLP trainer in the world!

Up to this point, I have never laughed so intensively, honestly and consistently through any process of learning. This I'll take with me & share with other through the rest of my life...and beyond.

Beyond developing an inner laughter that allows me to be respectful of myself and other when faced with difficulty; the chance to become a living breathing metaphor of NLP was the best gift I have given to myself (and others)."

Leamsi "L J" Collazo, Network Engineering Consultant, Annapolis, Maryland

"The program has just been teaching new ways of lighting the candle of my life. It has allowed me to change to resourceful states in seconds and adopt new beliefs about how I can go through life however my past may have been.

What has helped me most is to experience the change by myself. It was me who did the changes, who chose to. What Rex did was to show us how to reach the resources in ourselves in an elegant, wonderful & delightful way. He managed to put/inject fun in every minute of the training, challenging our motivations.

Having been through many years of therapy I was used to rely on the therapist. I didn't have many tools to introduce & maintain fun & delight in my life. Here I have been able to do it & experience & not only these are new tools to consider my own life a blessing but as well tools I can teach to my clients when my work with them is over.

I have learned new resources & how to get in touch/reach these resources instantaneously and that has made a major shift in my perspective of life.

This seminar has been like a school recess, having so much fun while learning major things to go through life.

Rex, Carolyn & Sydney, thank you, you have been resourceful & allowed me to feel at ease and in friendly atmosphere.

I would advise anybody to take this training because you will learn so much about communicating with others & with yourself that will enable you to bring fun & delight in your life & in the life of others."

Caroline DuBois, Psychotherapist, Brussels, Belgium

"Rex obviously cares very much about people and his use of rapport is excellent. Rex also knows the material he teaches exceptionally well and he teaches in a manner that causes you to learn very quickly. Rex is a Master Trainer.

YES! YES! YES! The training I received was excellent. Imagine your future...the best future ever...Then imagine that you have found the key to that future....And know that the key is the ULTIMATE MODELING PROGRAM taught by Rex Steven Sikes. A future filled with more joy, more peace, more laughter, more excitement, more love, more money, more friends, more of whatever you are wishing for.

By taking this program I put the key in the door and have made my future even more certain than before.

The goals I cam here with have all been met. The comedy skit that I did is a much more powerful resource than the firewalk. The resource triangle is a wonderfully powerful tool that also teaches courage, it will definitely be a tool that I will continue to use daily.

The MIND DESIGN that Rex uses to teach is a stroke of genius. I have taken other trainings and will recommend Rex to the people that are interested in moving forward in their lives in even more dynamic ways.

Taking Rex's training has also helped me to integrate my Practitioner Training.

The surroundings at Cedar Valley were wonderful...."

Julian Siwek, Oracle Database Administrator, Waynesburg, PA

"Rex is one of the most interesting, funny and kind people I have ever come across. He really is driven by helping people to learn to create the type of life they want -- a life filled with love, joy, passion, excitement and a sense of humor. Rex, simply put, is a wonderful and beautiful person. Thank you Rex.

The 14 day practitioner training that Rex and Carolyn put on for their student is wonderful. This is the second year in a row I have trained with Idea Seminar's and my experience over the last 14 days has been life changing. If you are looking for ways to become more happy, alive, caring and full of 'zest,' then training with Idea Seminar's is the place for you!"

Trent Woodward, Property Manager, Minnesota City, Minnesota

"Rex Sikes is a master at what he does. He seems to know exactly what his students need and want and shows them how to achieve it. He makes learning fun and exciting. Rex was there for all of us from the beginning of the day until the last student went to bed. Thank you Rex for your Love and Caring!!!

Wow! What a joyous, delightful, funfilled learning experience. This seminar was much, much more than I ever expected it to be. Not only did I learn useful NLP skills and techniques but I also took away something I believe to be much more important. A new view of myself and the world I live in. Everything was absolutely wonderful, the rooms, the food and the peaceful surroundings of Cedar Valley. I met wonder people who I now consider to be my personal friends. I believe this experience has made deep and profound change in my life and in doing so will allow me to help others to become all they can be. I will definitely be back!!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!"

Michael McCarthy, Saugus, Massachusetts

"(Rex is) funny, challenging, respectful, creative, smart, spiritual, and honest.

You may be looking for something that gives you an edge in business, or that helps with your relationships, or just something that makes you feel better about yourself. I wanted all of those, and I have found them in the training at IDEA Seminars. It is not a magic bullet, except that it does bring things into your awareness that are. The content of the Master Practitioner class contained much that was new to me, even though my introduction to NLP was years ago. There were days when my head seemed ready to burst with all the stretching and new learning that it was doing. Things I had studied in other classes three years ago suddenly became clear to me. All of the participants brought special talents which became clear as we progressed, learning to give to and receive from each other.

As I look forward to returning to my business life and personal life, or even my spiritual one, I know that the skills and learning I have acquired here will help me to understand others and myself, to influence and appreciate them, and to have a life rich in tangible and intangible rewards. I have specific plans for the next two weeks, and an outline for the rest of my life, and I also have the flexibility to change them and adapt as appropriate. Thank you, Rex, for a terrific experience!"

Jim Bondelid, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"(Rex is) very very knowledgeable, presents the information in different ways so that you really get it! Warm -- caring -- respectful.

Second helping was better than the 1st! I took the 14-Day Practitioner in 1998 and by taking the next step and doing Master Practitioner in 1999 not only did I get to strengthen and enhance my Practitioner skills again I got it at a much deeper level along with Master-Prac. I was again reminded of how powerful what Rex teaches really is. I believe that the environment of total immersion for 14 days makes the changes even more powerful. Rex's teaching style incorporates a fun learning environment along with a healthy dose of stepping-up and doing on your own. I made my decision to return for Master Practitioner because of Rex's style of teaching, along with his respect to me on my challenges and stretching me past what I thought was possible. One of the best values for my investment in NLP."

Greg Hillman, Vice President, Mullins & White Energy, Allen, Texas

"(Rex is) cool, fun, neat, wise, monumental, knowledge, caring, touching, kind, understanding.

As I write these comments I find tears coming to my eyes. I don't know what to say. How can I use words to describe the most profound improvement in the quality of my life that I've ever experienced. I wish there were a way for others to really come to know how their experience of life can be changed. This program has really allowed me to let myself out from inside. Its made me a more expressive musician in many ways & have a better stage presence. I guess part of it was being ready finally to change but most of it was Rex. If people learned these skills & ideas in school, the world would be a great big grand playground for them & everyone around them. I thought I made some big changes from practitioner 1 month ago, but this has allowed so many new & good changes in myself. I'm not that religious but I thank the universe for bringing me to Cedar Valley for 14 days of more new ideas & integration. I am captivating, charming, funny, kind, gentle, I guess I always was, but never let it come out because I was afraid. I didn't learn here, rather I became something new & wonderful. Something I'll look back on when I'm 80 yrs old as being a turning point for many of my future successes. I found out lots of New NLP stuff, but more importantly I learned how to be happy, & how to let myself feel good more often. I hope you can tell I'm speaking from heart about my experiences. Thank you Rex. Thank you Carolyn. If you want to make permanent wonderful changes in your life & experience 14 playful, joyous, wonderful life-changing days Decide Now & Go. Nothing is more important than what you will learn with Rex. I am privileged to know them. I'm sure I will continue to thank you into the future as the changes continue to bring me everything I always wanted."

Ken Hoffman, Copywriter/Musician, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

"It is really difficult to find the accurate words (at least in English). Rex is incredibly good. An outstanding trainer. In my opinion, he has improved a 1000% since 1994. I'm really happy for having taken the decision to come.

It's really delightful to have had the rare privilege of have participated in this 1999 NLP Modeling Course. I feel very happy and lucky that I decided to attend this seminar!

And being a participant of the 1994 Master Practitioner and a trainer with 25 years of experience and five working with NLP, I can affirm that Rex has improved a very big chunk since my last time. I learned a lot!!

This seminar has been of a great impact in my life and in my future, and the possibilities are unlimited."

Pedro Henriquez, NLP Trainer, Caracas, Venezuela

"Rex is a great teacher who seems to be focused first and foremost on creating an environment for learning that's fun and filled with laughter.

I learned more during the Master Practitioner than words can describe. The wonderful people, great environment and superb teacher all helped this experience become one of the best I have ever had! From the moment I arrived at the Cedar Valley Center and saw the huge smiles on everyone's faces all the way through the end of the incredible program I was in a constant state of happiness. Everything we learned and every exercise we did was amazingly fun. So when you attend an IDEA Seminar be ready to laugh more than you have ever laughed before while learning naturally and easily. As your sitting there, reading about this seminar, don't take my word for it, find out for yourself."

Charles Johnson, Student, St. Paul, Minnesota

"Rex is the great trainer he is because he give fully of himself & because of the principles he lives & teaches by. Rex teaches by example, & the best example he gives is his deep love for his wife & daughter & his respect & love for each & every one of his students. And his natural skill in all that he teaches shines through & sets a wonderfully high standard for all of his students.

After having gone to IDEA Seminars last year for Practitioner Training, I already knew the joyful experiences I would have & the wonderful connections I would make when I came back here. Yet, part of me felt that I already knew the material & didn't necessarily need to be exposed to it again. What I didn't realize fully at that time was the new connections & 'a-ha's' I would make upon being exposed once again to skills, strategies, principles & techniques that I perhaps I had awareness of already, but had not yet fully integrated into my life. And the wealth of new material & models we learned extended my knowledge, skills & awareness in directions I could not conceive of previously."

Dave Miller, Vice President of Host Product Development, Teaneck, New Jersey

"(Rex is) the warmest, most loving and experienced trainer I have met. The quality of your attention to each individual, the special way you have of relating to your students and validating our progress has turned this experience into a unique adventure! Thank you for being you!!

Experiencing this training has brought me more than any of the many seminars I have ever attended and believe me, there were very wonderful ones! Where do I begin to express the gifts I felt blessed with over and over again during the programme? Laughter, delight, joy, fun, caring, warmth, total acceptance, humour, emotion, sharing, unconditional love were part of the every day package...And they were offered as a 'perk,' freely, on top of all the meaningful, insightful and profound learning opportunities which composed the 14 days we spent together.

Top quality training, very knowledgeable trainers (including 1 year old precious Sydney from whom I learned the art of letting go & being totally uninhibited!) and an extremely well structured programme made this a special time that I want to take with me and that I know will there for me to remember wherever I go.

Having been in corporate training for many years, I had tended to evaluate trainers during their 'performance' --at the risk of losing focus on the teaching...This time however, I was so taken by the way Rex offered me his gifts and encouraged me to gently consider new and loving ways to look at life, that I dropped my 'training hat' on day one and it's still off!

Learning, growing and feeling empowered, knowing how naturally and easily I will find myself integrating all that I have experienced since the day I got here makes me feel rejuvenated, energised, loved & loving.

Thank you Rex, Carolyn, Sydney, Erik, Jerry & Tom"

Monique Tritten, Training Consultant & Future Therapist, Geneva, Switzerland