076: Day 2 - MINDvention 2012 in Las Vegas, NV

It was a full day of activities...kind of. Tony Chris's lecture was  cancelled due to a travel issue that prevented his attendance at this  year's MINDvention, so no alternate activity was substituted. The  organizers decided not to fill in the open spot with any fill-ins as  they felt this would give more time to the registrants to take a  breather and have more time together and for the dealers, too. Since I  was a little late in arriving to the convention on Sunday due to my own  travel problems, I was pleased to see and hear Allison Campbell give her  lecture a second time on the "Do's and Don'ts of Trade show Mentalism".

My  first chat of the day was in the Dealers' Room with Jheff who talked  about some of his new products. You can see more at  http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/ I was then able to corner Eric  Dittelman, one of the finalists in the "America's Got Talent" show and a  first time attendee at the MINDvention. He is a delightful young man  who talked about his experience on network television and how it changed  his life. Next I spoke with John Staiff, a parapsychologist, who talked  about the paradigm shift in the spirit world. I think I'm going to have  to listen to this one a couple times myself to fully digest all the  information he talked about here.

I went back to the Dealer's Room  where I chatted with another first time attendee, Kenton Knepper who  told me about his association with Jeff McBride and the origins of his  "Wonder Words". Af'ter the evening's "Masters of Mentalism" gala show, I  talked with co-producer, Robert Allen, about his history in Las Vegas  and his association with Danny Archer. There are a lot of good stories  in this episode and quite a variety of friends talking about their  unique interests. You'll definitely enjoy this one.

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MINDvention 2012 Pictures from Days 1&2

Danny and Robert really know how to arrange a convention schedule. The first event of the day didn't begin until 10:00 a.m. which left plenty of time to sleep in after a late night to early morning session. I finally retired to my room around 2:00 to work on an upload the podcast (which, BTW, I hope you enjoyed) and as I left the bar, there sat about 15 of the top mentalists in the world huddled around a table talking about the next best thing that I know I must soon have in my show...and probably yours, too.

But to go back in time a bit (which we mentalists are wont to do), Danny Archer hosted a fascinating interview with Eric Dittleman, finalist on America's Got Talent. I hope to grab him for a few words here on The Magic Word, too. Then followed a panel discussion on TV mentalism featuring a variety of international performers. From left to right in the picture below: Eric Dittleman (U.S.), Sartori (Germany), Haim Goldberg (Canada), and Lior Suchard (Israel).

Paul Draper hosted the Attendee Show which essentially is anyone who wants to perform before their peers. Although it is a scheduled show, the performers are gathered from the registrants who tell Danny that they want to perform. There is a wide variety of performers and performances and personalities from this international group.

Due to a technical error while trying to video record a first day lecture, Allison Campbell repeated her lecture on the "Do's and Don'ts of Corporate Mentalism". Essentially it was a short marketing course on getting work and doing work on the exhibitor floor. It was a fascinating presentation from a professional trade show worker. Not just another viewpoint from the distaff side, but an introspective look at what and how those interested in getting the work can get it.

One fascinating point of view tip was to look at other trade show performers as friends and business associates and not as competition. Look at the pie being larger...not someone else trying to get a piece of your pie. The picture below is a phone number prediction taken direct from her act and sold after her lecture.