Like a pair of toy handcuffs, language unites people, and like a pair of cuffs with a missing key, the language bond can last a lifetime. Forge linguistic connections with today’s Groupon: for $997, you get a six-day NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner-certification training from LasVegasSeminars.com (a $3,300 value). Trainings take place in two three-day sessions held in the conference room at the Embassy Suites Hotel January 6–8 and March 2–4 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

With work appearing in Anchorpoint magazine and The Big Book of NLP, master practitioner Alexander Van Buren has shared the art of neuro-linguistic programming with students at Stanford University and corporate clients such as Toshiba and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Neuro-linguistic programming teaches brain-owners how to turn detrimental behaviors into positive ones by changing the way they communicate with themselves and others. In the course of two extended weekends, attendees dive into 12 skill sets designed to reprogram the mind for success and more impressive Tetris scores.

Van Buren will work to build students’ connection and communication skills, teaching them how to interpret nonverbal cues and the unstated presuppositions behind different statements. Intense focus on the habits of successful people will assist in identifying the essence of human behaviors, and emotional-management training helps to eliminate bad feelings and the tendency to cry at the end of E.T..