Audience Expectation and Use of Convincers is Comedy Hypnosis

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RE: Audience Expectation and Pre-Talk Convincers

Yesterday I received the following message question via MySpace:

Hey my guru friends.

A while ago you sent me a copy of a contract to use for a hypnosis show. Thanks again. I was the entertainment for an awards ceremony for firefighters. There was a lot against me. Before the show I was building rapport with everyone. They were all saying “don’t pick me”.

Out of about 50 people, I picked 6 who responded well to the balloon/bucket test. But only 2 came up. Finally 4 more came up who didn’t respond well to the balloon/bucket test.

Of the 6 volunteers, only one responded to the first routine of "playing your favorite instrument in a band." But after that, everything went in my favor because she was great. She responded to every routine and was very animated. The crowd loved it, laughed, and had a great time, as well as the volunteer. Your video "skits and bits" also helped me out a lot.

I do have a great pre talk that's worked great before, but sometimes people just don’t want to get up front. What’s a good thing to say if people just don’t want to come up. Thanks for all your help.

~ Tony


Knowing that Tony’s experience is unfortunately quite common, especially with newer entertainment hypnotists, I have decided to share my response in hopes it will save some of the rest of you from similar challenges.


Answer:

A lot of your success IS about the pre-talk and how you use convincers. Your pre-talk must be strong and adaptable to a variety of situations - and I can recommend the DVD "Richard Nongard's Las Vegas Stage Hypnosis Show Pre-Talk and Induction" training DVD, which discusses the important elements of the pre-talk - why and how, etc - to help you work on perfecting yours.

- But first, Success is also based on the expectation of the audience - do they know why you are at the event, and what you do, and what is expected of them?

For example, if they paid to see you at a comedy club, then they do know what to expect - but at a fireman's awards banquet (or a fund raising event, or a family reunion, etc), the guests may not even have known you would be there, or what a hypnosis show is all about -- so the group’s expectation level was perhaps not naturally conducive to enthusiastic participation....

“Informed Consent” is a term used on the clinical side of hypnosis all the time, but it has applications in comedy hypnosis as well. The audience should know what to expect at the event, and from you, and therefore they will know what is expected of them in return.

Informed Consent will increase your voluntary participation and compliance rate dramatically.

Therefore, I recommend that for future shows, you must make positively sure that there is advance advertising to the event participants, so they know that you will be there and what they can expect to happen. This may be accomplished with flyers, emails, links to your website, etc, included in the general event notification materials -- and it is important.

Most professional hypnotists will absolutely not work a function where the crowd does not know they are coming, or have not been told anything about a hypnosis show -- for the very reason that 'expectation' is so vital for success. Stage hypnosis shows are just not good as “surprise” entertainment.


Now, back to convincers... It sounds as if you used the Balloon/Bucket convincer/hypnotic phenomena demonstration during the pre-talk. Personally, I would have done something far more simple and less 'trance-demanding' during the pre-talk -- and saved the balloon trick as a compliance/trance test following the induction.

During pre-talk, the 'convincers' are really used more effectively to break the ice, show the audience there's nothing to fear, and get them used to trusting you and following your suggestions - rather than actual testing of hypnotic ability. The exception is the last one you use - you can hit harder with it, while the first one or two is more fluff.

So next time, you might follow this format or structure, which builds up to the targeted state of compliance:

1) “Foot and 6” - silly, gets laughs, interesting, gains attention

2) “L & Circle” - still silly but provides opportunity to explain hypnosis/overriding critical factor, and gains even more attention, compulsion to deliver future compliance

3) Fingers/hands drawn/stuck together or rolling hands skit - more reflective of following hypnotic suggestion and trance induction.

(A great resource for these convincers, and the whole stage show outline process in general, is “The Little Black Book of Stage Hypnosis Secrets” by Las Vegas stage show stars Michael Johns and Richard Nongard.)

After these convincers, congratulate everyone on doing a great job, and then go right into calling for volunteers to come on stage and get right into the induction.


I hope this information has been helpful and may save you some frustration down the road.

Best wishes for your hypnotic success,

~ Paula Saxon Nongard, MA/CCH
www.HypnosisGurus.com
www.SubliminalScience.com
(800) 684-9766