Magical Entertainment and Messaging Ideas for the CNS 2019 Annual Meeting
October 20, 2019 in San Francisco.
Opening Session & Opening Reception
Featuring Paul Gertner
Magic Innovation Expert
I’m happy to present some ideas for your 2019 Congress of Neurological Surgeons in San Francisco this October. I do have the date of Sunday October 20th available and I’m happy to put a hold on it until you have reviewed my material and decided if I might be a fit for your program. Paul Gertner
Magic that will fool a Neurosurgeon
To answer your question, yes I do this type event quite often. I specialize in entertaining and fooling highly analytical audiences. Most of my audiences are engineers, scientists, physicians, information technology and system analysts. When you have a very intelligent and analytical audience the magic presented must be of a very high caliber… or they simply see right through it. My magic is designed not only to fool intelligent audiences, but I also fool other magicians…. I have also appeared three times on the TV show Penn & Teller Fool Us… and I have fooled them TWICE. My magic is the level you are looking for if you have an audience of 1,500 neurosurgeons watching the show.
I can perform at both the Opening Session on stage and at the Opening Cocktail Reception… but with two very different types of presentations and magic illusions.
Here are my recommendations.
Sunday is the kick off opening to your five-day Congress. You have a very important theme set for the meeting: The Age of Reason. That theme should also be an integral part of the magic presentation during the Opening Session.
For the Opening Session I recommend only a short 10-12 minute presentation using magic. While I can certainly perform longer (or shorter) if desired, my presentation should not be the main focus of the Opening Session… instead it should be used to “focus” the attention of the audience on the other “speakers” and to encourage and excite the audience about what is to come. It will also serve as a brief introduction to me personally as I will shortly be joining and performing for all of the attendees while strolling around at the Opening Reception performing sleight-of-hand magic later that evening.
OPENING SESSION
At the Opening Session I can help you accomplish three things:
- During the Opening Session I will grab the attention of the 1,500 attendees and focus their attention on the center stage, welcoming them and gaining their full attention and warming them up for the all of the speakers and video presentations to follow.
- I will help introduce the meeting theme The Age of Reason with a short magical presentation performed as part of the Opening Session. I would design a customized 10-12 minute magic illusion (probably 2-3 different illusions) that will be presented to the entire group. The illusion will reinforce the theme: The Age of Reason and put a spotlight (and generate anticipation) about the cutting-edge studies and special speakers they will be hearing from over the next five days. The magic will be powerful, entertaining… but will also seamlessly introduce the theme of the meeting and deliver a solid message.
- My short presentation will challenge the audience to keep an “open mind” over the next five days to the innovative new ideas they will be exposed to during the Congress. Innovation and solutions that that will be backed up and based on evidence and reason, the cornerstones of neurosurgery in The Age of Reason.
The following video will show the various illusions that I might use as part of the Opening Session.
CLICK ON VIDEO BELOW.
(Note: Optional: Thinking Inside the Box Illusion is at the end of the Video.)
If you want something on a larger scale (because of the audience size)… you might want to consider the Thinking Inside the Box Illusion that was featured at the end of the above video. It’s messaging and presentation would fit very well with your meeting theme, The Age of Reason. This Illusion is available as a separate cost since it is a large-scale illusion that involves a trained assistant, rehearsal time , customization and shipping costs etc. but it might be nice for the large stage with 1,500 attendees if the budget permits.
OPENING RECEPTION
For the opening reception I will stroll throughout the reception entertaining small groups with sleight-of-hand close up magic. The magic I do is on a very high level and is designed to fool and entertain this very analytical audience. The magic will happen right before their eyes and even in their hands. I will perform short 5-7 minutes sets… quickly moving throughout the audience to cover as many people as possible. Normally a crowd gravitates when I begin so I will sometimes end up performing for groups of 25-30 people at a time during the reception.
Yes I have 3 different magic routines that actually use a cell phone. In one trick I actually use the spectator cell phone to take a picture of them while they are thinking of a playing card… and the end result is they have a picture of themselves and the card they are thinking of has magically appeared on the photo. It is a nice souvenir photo they get to take home with them.
CUSTOMIZED CNS 2019 MAGIC TRICK
During the reception I will also perform a customized card trick that I used to fool Penn & Teller on their TV show Fool Us. This would be customized with either the Theme of the Congress AGE OF REASON or the name of the meeting CNS 2019 on the side of the deck. This is a mind-blowing trick that not only fooled Penn & Teller but also it will fool 1,500 Neurosurgeons too.
Magic Trick customized for CNS 2019: VIDEO BELOW
NOTE: This illusion could also be performed with meeting theme:
AGE OF REASON
written on the side of the deck.
I also have a very large repertoire of magic so here are some samples of other magic I will perform while strolling around the reception
THE FOLLOWING IS A VIDEO SAMPLE OF STROLLING MAGIC
PENN & TELLER FOOL US
I have appeared on Penn & Teller Fool Us Three times… more than any other magician, here are the various videos from the show.
FIRST PENN & TELLER APPEARANCE
SECOND PENN & TELLER APPEARANCE
THIRD PENN & TELLER APPEARANCE
Contact:
Paul Gertner
The Paul Gertner Group, Inc.
info@gertner.com
412-523-3724
