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The Masters Ultimate Stage Hypnosis Seminar
Reported by Paul Maverick
17th - 20th
June, 2004
There are many reasons for going to Las Vegas, the gambling, the
women, the all you can eat buffets... the Star Trek experience at The Las Vegas
Hilton…but chief amongst these must be The Masters’ Ultimate Stage Hypnosis
Seminar (and optional magic day), from which I have just returned.
Presented by the doyens of American stage hypnosis Jerry Valley and Ormond
McGill and featuring Tommy Vee, Chuck Mignosa and Christina Kaya, this annual
event provides the most comprehensive training of its kind available anywhere in
The US. In fact, one look at the backgrounds of its hosts says it all:
Known worldwide as “The Dean of American Hypnotists”, Ormond McGill’s status is
nothing short of legendary. Now 91 years young (he celebrated his 91st birthday
in the middle of the seminar), Dr. McGill started performing stage hypnosis in
the 1930s, pioneered its presentation on television and has written over 40
books about hypnosis, magic, meditation, mysticism, etc. He is also a certified
clinical hypnotherapist, is on The Board of Advisors of The American Council of
Hypnotist Examiners, an instructor with The Hypnotherapy Training institute,
holder of an honorary doctorate in Hypnosis from St. Jobals University and has
been honoured by The National Guild of Hypnotists who declared 1996 “The Year of
McGill”.
Billed as “America’s most captivating hypnotist”, Jerry Valley has been featured
on ABC’s award winning network television show 20/20, has been the featured
hypnotist on various cruise ships including the QE2, appearing alongside
Hollywood starts such as Steve Allen, Phyllis Diller and Robert Vaughn, has
appeared in several films and is a regular guest at various state fairs (like
our fairs but occurring on a state wide basis with tens of thousands of
attendees). A certified hypnotherapist holding a Master's Degree in Psychology
and Hypnotherapy, he has received a number of prestigious and honorary awards
from The National Guild of Hypnotists.
With these two at the helm, my expectations were, of course, very high. I am
pleased to report that I was not disappointed! Neither were the participants,
some of whom had traveled all the way from The UK (as well as Canada and all
over The US). In fact some of these participants are already successful stage
hypnotists (as a result of having taken this course previously) and were
repeating this seminar simply because they enjoyed it so much the first time.
Present too were magicians, mentalists, hypnotherapists, NLP practitioners and
even those with no prior experience of either hypnosis or stage performing.
However, despite the somewhat diverse backgrounds of the participants, from the
outset, the five presenters worked hard to create a sense of commonality,
community, family and friendship, that continued to grow throughout the seminar.
Interweaving presentations with practical demonstrations and supervised group
practice sessions, the topics covered included how to get audience members to
volunteer, what makes a good hypnotic subject, suggestibility tests, hypnotic
inductions, how to judge a subject’s responsiveness, trance deepening
techniques, hypnotic show routines, stage presence, creating a stage persona,
mic technique, how to deal with hecklers, how to market a show, creating
promotional videos, how to get and use testimonials, generating publicity, how
to deal with agents…even Stanislavski received a mention (though thankfully Lee
Strasberg did not).
But this wasn’t all….half way through the seminar, secret weapon Chrstina Kaya
was wheeled out to teach presentation skills and vocal technique and with a
background in performing arts, business, psychology and NLP, and a corporate
client list that includes Dell, DuPont & Cisco Systems, one can see why.
There was even a lecture on the physics of sound by Chuck Mignosa just to ensure
that participants knew everything (and I do mean everything) about mics, PA
systems and how to record live shows.
Each evening a complete stage hypnosis show was performed by one of the
presenters, which was then discussed at length the following morning (these
shows were open to everyone, not just seminar attendees). The first night it was
the turn of the hilarious Tommy Vee. A certified hypnotherapist and NGH member,
he regularly performs at universities and colleges on the US student circuit and
has been nominated for The International Hypnosis Hall of Fame.
The second night Ormond McGill performed a totally improvised show, the likes of
which he has only ever performed once before. Throwing in a little mentalism for
good measure, he actually taught whilst performing and trying out various
hypnotic experiments with his volunteers.
The third night…after a gala dinner (included in the price along with
breakfasts), Jerry Valley performed his superlative show, proving there is
indeed a place for classic entertainment in the 21st century.
On the final day of this four day intensive, students got to put on their own
hypnosis show and everyone who wished to, had the opportunity to try out a
routine or two on stage, with a selection of volunteers…..after the exam.
Yes I did say exam. One of my great concerns about stage hypnosis, has always
been the contingent of small men, with small endowments, big goatees and massive
egos, dressed in black from head to foot, who behave irresponsibly on stage,
humiliate their volunteers and give hypnosis and hypnotherapy a bad name.
Thankfully such individuals couldn’t be further removed from the Masters of
Stage Hypnosis, all of whom, in addition to being successful stage performers,
are highly ethical hypnotherapists and who accordingly presented this seminar
with total integrity, teaching how to perform highly responsible (yet extremely
amusing) shows while instilling attitudes of total respect at all times for the
dignity and safety of one’s volunteers.
Hence the exam. This is a certified course, recognized by The National Guild of
Hypnotists who actually award professional credits for those who successfully
complete. Everyone passed the exam by the way, the lowest score being 85% and
the highest being 100%!
Clearly everyone had a great time, so much so that two thirds of the class
stayed for the optional magic day taught by Ormond McGill and Chuck Mignosa. The
latter of whom incidentally, is a certified hypnotherapist, NLP Master
Practitioner, Time Line Therapist and Reiki Master Sensei, has been lecturing
and performing with Ormond McGill since 1976, lectures at colleges and
universities on “The Psychology of Magic and “illusion vs. Reality; or Why Most
People are Fooled Most of the Time!”, performs magic and hypnosis shows, is a
member of The NGH, The American Institute of Hypnotherapy and The Academy of
Magical Arts and who has been a past president of several American magicians
associations.
Dealing with the psychology of magic, both for stage shows and presentations,
this seminar covered patter, showmanship and misdirection and served as a great
introduction to rope card paper and thumb tip effects, sleight of hand and
mentalism.
Altogether, these five days made up a great package, as did all of the books,
DVDs and the magic kit that were thrown in as part of the bargain. So whether
this is the first time that you are thinking about becoming a stage hypnotist /
magician or you already know that this is something you want to do, I would
thoroughly recommend that you book for the next event.
A seminar is currently being planned for London and you can get more information
about this and the next Vegas event by contacting Jerry Valley direct by email:
avitale934@aol.com or by telephone: 001-978-688-6657
Of course, if you like me, decide to do the Vegas seminar, you’ll also get the
chance to eat as much as you can at the famous Bellagio Buffet, visit the Star
Trek Experience at The Las Vegas Hilton (illusion at its best) and get Sky Dive
Las Vegas to fly you up to 15,000 feet so that you can tandem jump from an
airplane and see four different states on your way down, all of which comes
highly recommended. You’ll also be able to take your pick of magic, hypnosis and
comedy shows (David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Mac King, Penn & Teller, Ron
Lucas and a dozen different hypnosis shows were on while I was in town)… but
London is nice too.
© Paul Maverick, June 2004