World Hypnosis Conference After Action Report
Continuing education should be a requirement, not an afterthought, in any professional's career. The world is moving too fast to sit on your laurels and still be doing the same thing you were doing five years ago.
This is why we end up with people who don't have 20 years of experience; rather, they have one year of experience repeated 20 times.
As a bodyguard, I used to do a minimum of 100 hours per year. Everything from shooting to remain "surgical," and tactical medicine, to foreign languages, driving skills, and more.
As a hypnotist and performance coach, nothing has changed, which is why I signed up for the recent Hypnosis World Conference held in Chicago.
The Conference
The Hypnosis World Conference has been running for more than forty years. Like most that have been running for that long, it had started to lose its spark. People get used to doing things the way they've always been done.
Thankfully, my friend Rich Guzzi, with the help of the lovely Jolana Andre, took over the reins with the goal of revitalizing the conference and putting it back on the map...and did they deliver.
Over 300 attendees, up from the usual 100 or so, and the lineup featured some of the biggest names in the industry. (More on those in a bit). Not content with just the keynotes, they added VIP rooms, swag bags, vendor expos, gala dinners, comedy hypnosis shows, and more.
Keynote Speaker # 1
Dr. Richard Bandler of NLP fame was the keynote speaker for this year's event.
For those not in the industry, Dr. Bandler is a living legend and one of the most influential figures in modern personal development. He's the co-founder of Neuro-Lingual Programming (NLP) and used to hang around with the likes of Virginia Satir, Milton Erikson, and Fritz Perls.
His system would later catapult Tony Robbins into global fame. Tony would go across the country curing people of phobias in less than five minutes.
While some psychiatrists labeled it pseudoscience, its results often spoke louder than its critics. And, on stage in Chicago, Bandler proved why he's still a force to be reckoned with. He kept the packed ballroom spellbound with stories from NLP's early days.
He followed that up with a one-day, post-conference class.
Key Note Speaker #2
The second keynote speaker was none other than Chase Hughes.
For the uninitiated, Chase is a former U.S. Navy Chief who specialized in human intelligence, interrogation, and human profiling.
He's been on Joe Rogan's podcast, has a popular YouTube channel, and works and consults for corporations, Formula 1 race teams, and famous athletes seeking a competitive edge.
He's also the author of several books and runs a training facility in Virginia for people interested in performance training and human behavior.
His keynote explored cutting-edge neuroscience research and its direct applications to hypnosis. Like Dr. Bandler, Chase followed his talk with a sold-out post-conference masterclass.
My Training
Apart from attending the post-conference class with Dr. Bandler, I also took a pre-conference training in Multi-Directional Eye Movement Integration (MEMI) with Dr. Mike Deninger. MEMI has been used with incredible success in dealing with PTSD and other issues.
I wish I could have attended every session available, but with five to six classes running simultaneously, you have to make some tough choices. Sometimes there are four people you'd love to go and see teaching between 11 and 12, and then the next hour there's nobody of any interest to your particular field. That's the conference game, unfortunately.
Fortunately, Rich filmed every single class, so anyone can purchase the recordings and catch up later. Brilliant.
I got to train with Karen Hand, a legend in the hypnosis industry. Her class was great and included a slew of useful, quick hypnotic techniques you could use as quick wins in either a coaching, hypnosis, or speaking engagement.
Steve Roehm was another presenter I've been dying to catch. He works on conversational hypnosis, and I only wish his class had been longer.
Connie Jo Holmes was another gifted presenter who shared powerful insights on group hypnosis and joint ventures and Matt McMillan of Impact 4 Today was also on point and had a great class on asking the right questions.
There are too many others to mention, but needless to say, I came away with over 50 pages of notes, which is how I gauge the value of any conference.
My Presentation
I also had the privilege of presenting at the conference. My talk, "Best Known Beats Best," shared the title of my upcoming book. I maintain that too many coaches and hypnotists focus on getting more and more certifications while their businesses struggle.
My upcoming "Best Known Beats Best" training, launching in January, is designed to change that. The goal is to help professional coaches, hypnotists, and solo-preneurs build visibility, authority, and recognition, and not just collect more certificates.
Of course, there wasn't enough time to cover it all, but I touched on
"Imposter Syndrome"
"Choosing The Right Business Name"
"Why Best Known Will Always Beat Best"
"Key Elements of Your Website and Google My Business"
and more.
The Host Of The Conference
Here is Rich Guzzi: The host, the organizer, and MC of the Hypnosis World Conference.
I first met Rich in Vegas at Hypno Thoughts, which is another great opportunity for continuing education.
During a conversation about our mutual love of luxury watches, I got to know more about the man behind the mike.
While most recognize him as one of the world's leading comedy hypnotists, far fewer know he's also a consummate businessman and entrepreneur. His ability to blend his showmanship with strategic thinking is exactly what breathed new life into this year's conference.
His only problem is going to be, how do you top this one?
Final Thoughts
So, the Hypnosis World conference was far more than a chance to present and learn some cutting edge techniques. It was a reminder that growth never stops.
Whether it's mastering a new skill, connecting with peers, making new connections, or sharing ideas, events like this keep our industry sharp and moving in the right direction.
I left Chicago feeling inspired, energized, and more committed than ever to helping clients achieve lasting change through hypnosis and coaching.
