Mentalism is a word used primarily by magicians and other mystery entertainers to describe a collection of demonstrations related to the power of the mind. As a descriptor it is broad in scope. Not only would it include magicians who perform tricks that create the illusion that they can read minds or predict the future, it would also describe memory experts, lightening mathematicians, body language readers, NLP influencers, hypnotists, and those who present what they claim to be genuine displays of psychic phenomena.

While there is value in adhering to a more accurate and detailed taxonomy of what makes up the material one might encounter in “mentalism,” those distinctions serve practitioners and theorists far greater than they do potential consumers.

To that point, a good definition of mentalism would be demonstrations of a superhuman or impossible nature related to the powers of the mind.

Now, why would one want to hire a mentalist for an event?

Mind Boggling Entertainment for a symposium on artificial intelligence.

Mentalism is a novel form of entertainment many people are unlikely to have encountered in the past. Like magic, it can be utterly amazing and even inspiring. It is by nature highly interactive and is a perfect experience for groups looking to build rapport among participants or celebrate and deepen their existing relationships.

As a subject, believe it or not, many of the core concepts of mentalism parallel core concepts in other fields, especially in the corporate world. Mentalism often speaks to untapped potential, the power of the mind, and the relationship between one’s thoughts and the realities these thoughts help create in the “real world.” Also, many mentalism demonstrations hold natural appeal to certain groups. I have yet to see a meeting of salespeople not drool over the possibility of being able to know the thoughts of their potential clients and competitors.

Custom presentation for a public Holiday event

Finally, and this is a poor reason to choose mentalism as opposed to magic, the inherent subject matter of mentalism has a more adult appeal than does a lot of magic as presented by many magicians. Now, I am reluctant to make this point because magic can be one of the most sophisticated and rarified of the entertainment art forms, but let’s face it, a lot of magicians fail to ever progress beyond a kiddie show mentality and that has unfortunately colored the genre in unfair ways.

Having said that, I began my study of mentalism for precisely that reason. I was tired of being lumped in with people wearing bright red jackets and treating their audiences like children. I wanted to produce something that left a deeper impact. I could think of nothing more intriguing than exploring the potential of the human mind.

I had long observed in my magic shows that I would often know which card someone picked or which choice someone would make without using any of the “trickery” I would normally rely on. As a skeptic this troubled me. I did not believe that “psychic phenomena” existed and didn’t want to contribute to the growing volume of misinformation. After analyzing the situation more closely I realized that very often I could tell what card people would pick based on how they reacted. Believe it or not, people react differently when they pick an Ace of Spades, Queen of Hearts, or a Joker. Many people (especially non card players) furrow their brows and spend a little more time looking at black cards as they assure themselves if it’s a club or a spade. And I learned that under the pressure of being in the spotlight many people – not all – often default to making certain more comfortable choices than swimming against the tide.

Thus began my exploration of the mind and how it works, how we make decisions, how we perceive reality, how we communicate on levels beyond the verbal, and how we influence others in ways of which they are unaware. I have built a fully interactive theatrical show around these principles that not only amazes, but also engages and entertains like few others can. It is designed to appeal to intelligent, sophisticated groups looking to be challenged, inspired, and edified.

Custom presentations a specialty.

In addition to the entertainment program, I also often give talks and seminars where we explore the principles involved and how they can apply to your needs as a sales team, manager, or group of creatives. It is tailored to your specific goals and challenges and is a great way to convey critical success concepts in a fun, hands on, meaningful and memorable manner. I designed these presentations after companies which had hired me for my show expressed interest in seeing how these strategies could apply to their own endeavors. I always find these programs to be highly rewarding, not only for the client but also for myself.

You may notice on my website that I don’t refer to mentalism or myself as a mentalist. This is because (aside from the CBS crime procedural The Mentalist) most people in the United States are utterly unfamiliar with the term. Those from the UK have a bit more familiarity thanks to the televised programs of a very talented mentalist named Derren Brown. In Derren’s case the use of the term mentalist is fitting as he has explored phenomena reaching far beyond demonstrations of telepathy, clairvoyance, or others of a similar psychic flavor. He has used his skills to convince people to rob banks and reveal the secrets of faith healers and séance workers.

Derren Brown – one of the most successful mentalists in the world.

My work focuses on the ability to read the signals, tells, and clues that people give off in order to figure out what they are thinking; or employ these same techniques in reverse (after all, if I can read them cannot they read me?) in order to influence them in ways of which they are otherwise unaware. Because of that I prefer the term “mind reader” as that is what I am quite literally doing – I am using my understanding of how people communicate in order to read their thoughts. I do not consider myself a psychic, though the techniques I employ are very real and have far reaching implications when applied thoughtfully.