2024 MINDvention Presenters
Rick Maue
Rick Maue is not a magician. He’s not a mentalist. He’s not an actor, a director, a photographer, a poet, or a writer. And, he doesn’t do magic. He doesn’t do mentalism.
Nor does he do acting, directing, photography, poetry, or writing. However, Rick uses magic. He uses mentalism. He uses acting, directing, photography, poetry, writing, and countless other forms as well. Or, in a word, Rick Maue “creates”.
Throughout the past five and a half decades, he has created more than two thousand magic and mentalism performance pieces. He has written over four dozen books and manuscripts. He has appeared in front of audiences in forty different states, directed numerous theatrical productions, and worked with magicians, mentalists, performers, and creators from around the world.
In addition, Rick was the recipient of MINDvention’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016,as well the Psychic Entertainers Association’s very first Bob Cassidy Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Art of Mentalism in 2023; the latter being a very rare occasion, as the PEA was recognizing a non-member with one of their highest honors.
These days, Rick’s main focus is to share his creations, his experiences, and his passion with artists who wish to travel the often-ignored backroads of creativity, performance, subtlety, philosophy, and humanity.
Jon Tai
Jon Tai is a celebrated magician and storyteller, whose mission is to foster connections between people through shared moments of astonishment. He performs across the country and around the world, in person and virtually, and has called the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Liberty Magic Theater his home base since its grand opening in early 2019.
He is best known for having co-created and starred in “Missed Connections” Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, following its premiere at Chicago’s MacArthur Award-winning A Red Orchid Theatre. A graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Psychology, he lives in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh where he can often be found drinking far too much coffee at Scratch & Co., his favorite neighborhood cafe.
Eric Samuels
Eric Samuels has made an impact on the world of Mentalism for well over a decade. He is a performer, author, product developer, and performance consultant. As a performer, he has established himself as an in-demand corporate entertainer and keynote speaker. As an author, his book Setting the Stage: Content & Character for the Stage Mentalist, has been hailed as a contemporary classic of Mentalism. His product line - Mentalism Tools, has developed some of the most original and coveted products in the game, including TableVision, BOX-X, and The Black Box. And when other performers need help fine-tuning their work, Samuels has become a go-to consultant, combining years as a talent developer in the radio broadcasting business with his second career as a seasoned performer and speaker. Samuels’ body of work was recently recognized by the PEA (Psychic Entertainer’s Association) with the Dan Blackwood Memorial Award for his Outstanding Contribution to the Art of Mentalism.
MindVention 2024 Lecture - OPENERS
Performers have a natural tendency to focus their greatest resources on developing a show closer. Makes sense, as the closer is likely your most powerful routine. But in most performing circumstances, your opener is the routine that will either grab or lose your audience’s attention and interest for the night! And, if you don’t win them over at the start, your closer (and everything in-between) will never achieve maximum impact.
In this session, Eric Samuels will discuss the anatomy of a powerful opener and demonstrate specific examples that he has used to great success in both his corporate and theatre shows over the past fifteen years.
Joshua Quinn
Joshua is a full-time musician and an occasional semi-pro mentalist. In the mid-2000s, he started releasing a few things to the mentalism community, including his book ParaLies, which became a pretty remarkable success – apparently because the stuff he comes up with is quite a bit different than the stuff other people come up with. After it came out, David Blaine cold-called him and asked Joshua to come to New York to coach him on parts of it, which he did, and he ended up using that material in various TV specials. His new book Immaculate Misconceptions (due out this summer) will the basis for his presentation.
The lecture he's putting together highlights material from each of the chapters in the book, which cover:
- Using “hidden in plain sight” predictions as convincing demonstrations of subconscious influence
- The latest work on his original “chunneling” process, which is one of the things Davis Blaine uses
- Using binary codes in ways that are both more deceptive and easier than they’ve often been
- Cards Against Telepathy – because why should playing cards have all the fun?
- New, effective strategies for equivoque and related processes
- Forces, peeks, and multiple outs that don’t seem like they could possibly be those things
- The power of truth versus lies, and how to exploit that power for maximum impact
Garrett Thomas
Garrett Thomas is one of the most accomplished sleight-of-hand magicians in the world, but what does he know about mentalism? Plenty!
Garrett's work in front of the camera and behind (consulting for years for David Blaine) has allowed him to create a wide-ranging number of effects, techniques, and subtleties that have uses in the world of mentalism. In addition, he is also one of the deepest thinkers about Magic and the mystery arts. We are fortunate that Garrett will be able to present and share his knowledge and his participation at MINDvention will benefit all of us.
Jason Suran
Jason Suran, a New York-based mentalist/magician, is one of the most sought-after performers of mindreading magic in America. His unique blend of psychology and deception has led him around the world, from private shows in the hills of Italy to an upcoming stage show in the Caribbean. In addition to his work abroad, Jason is a regular fixture at some of the most exclusive venues in New York. He has performed close-up magic at Carnegie Hall, read minds on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and captivated celebrities in living rooms and private clubs across the city, including The Soho House and The National Arts Club. He takes no responsibility for any bent spoons found at any of these locations.
Originally from Chicago, Jason first moved east to attend New York University where he studied Theatre and Film History. His love of storytelling steered him towards magic and more specifically ... the history and methods of modern psychics. The first mindreading effect he learned was how to guess which hand someone hides a coin in 10 times in a row and he never did a rope trick again. After years of refining his craft on multiple stages (and in 3 different languages), Jason has emerged as one of the most in-demand performers of psychological magic to date. He is a regular performer at New York’s two top-rated magic shows - A Taste of Magic and Monday Night Magic.
Lecture Content
After over a decade as one of the busiest mentalists in the US, Jason is thrilled and grateful to share his work with his fellow mindreaders finally. Following a standing ovation at last year's MagiFest, Jason joins MINDvention to discuss his approach to creating powerful original mentalism as well as how to take the routines you have to the next level. He'll be teaching everything from his original material to his work on classic mentalism plots like PK touches. He'll also be breaking down his Qualitative Anagram which allows you to guess with precision the relationship to any name your spectator thinks. An original cast member of New York's Speakeasy Magick, Jason's work is tested, practical, hard-hitting and accessible to a performer of any skill level,
Bob Arno
In the entertainment industry, Bob is known as "The Pickpocket King". To summarize his fame and media profile is not easy. He’s stolen more than a million wallets but has never spent a night in jail. What IS certain is that he has a long history in Las Vegas as a major attraction at several casinos spanning over thirty years.
Bob has had his hand in many strangers’ pockets—stealing wallets, watches, hotel keys, and more. He’s a professional pickpocket—but not a criminal. As a criminologist, he’s spent a lifetime befriending the world’s top thieves, persuading them to spill their secrets, then using that intelligence to entertain audiences and train security forces.
At MINDvention Bob will talk about….
The real difference between Walk-Around, and a 55 minute corporate keynote presentation.
Finding your core stage persona to stand out from the competition.
Understanding the real value of your Social Media platform.
How your Youtube and Facebook presence affects your income stream.
Time permitting, Bob will also talk about his own obsession with the studies of all things Psychics (fortune tellers) and WHY it is a sensitive issue in the world of entertainment.
Mark Strivings
Mark Strivings is the author of over forty books on various aspects of Mentalism. Creator of the legendary Sight Unseen Case. Has been published in The Linking Ring, Magic (Stan Allen), Magick (Bascom Jones), Genii, M-U-M, among others. Winner of the 2024 David Lederman Memorial Award for Creativity in Mentalism from the Psychic Entertainers Association. Sound guy for MINDvention since its beginning. Clearly has no real life.
Timon Krause
Born in Germany, trained in New Zealand and now based in Amsterdam, Timon has traveled the world with his show. Apart from reading other people’s minds as a mentalist, the young philosopher and author share his own thoughts regularly through lectures (TedXFryslan // TedXAmsterdam), workshops, and in his publications.
Giving magic has been Timon Krause’s life-long passion. He published his first book on mentalism at 16 years of age. Amongst other prizes, he was the youngest performer awarded the title of "Best European Mentalist". He also took home the trophy of the US hit show Fool Us.
Adam Elbaum
