April 2006

Dissecting the Magician.

Harold Straker & Nigel Heath.


	Tonight’s meeting was an experimental combination.


	Harold is a Professional Magician and Member of The Magic Circle, he is also a member of NLP-South. His role this evening was to demonstrate three areas where he uses magic. Nigel’s role to prompt the group into noticing what NLP Harold uses and to look beyond the tricks at the subtle communication skills.

This was a Fun evening in which it was possible just to be entertained by the Magic, or to test our sensory acuity and modelling skills to spot what NLP skills could easily go unnoticed. Skills which supported Harold’s Magical performance.
We set the room up in three different areas to separate the three areas of Harold’s Magic. Nigel began by explaining the outline of the evening and setting up some NLP frames to help the group analyse what had been happening. Using flip charts we discussed the sort of NLP skills we might best look for. Nigel suggested different groups might like to concentrate on different skills, for example Anchoring, Language patterns, Pre-suppositions, Representational systems (VAKOG), the group added in Beliefs, Convincer Strategies and Timing. No one opted for a limited ‘spotting opportunity’ so we left ourselves lots of room for identifying the subtle or obvious use of NLP.
Harold then gave a brief overview of his Magic and the ways in which he uses it, Close up table magic, as part of a presentation, on stage as a ‘Mentalist’ or ‘Mind Reader’.

So to the first performance. NLP beginners became the guests around a large round table, using their skills pretending to be at a dinner dance. The rest of the group were arranged in rows behind the table to enjoy the magic and to notice what was happening, not only Harold’s use of NLP but the reactions of the table audience as clues to the subtlety of the performance.Harold performed several tricks in which sponge balls miraculously appeared behind ears and disappeared in a guest’s hand. Some of them had lights on and one of them was invisible and squeaked!


	Then he ‘disappeared’ a volunteer’s special ring, despite tying it carefully to a knotted shoe lace. But fortunately it found its way onto his little finger. He finished with a card trick, where the card chosen by one guest miraculously moved to be on the chair of another guest.

We gathered back to the first position, in groups around three tables. Having been amazed and amused by Harold’s skill and patter there was a momentary dismay at being asked by Nigel “So what NLP did Harold use?” Followed by a desperate internal search to see if anything had been logged! Once started, however each group began to untangle the NLP from the sleight of hand, from the misdirection and from the showmanship. Pulling together our findings we discovered that our own filters help the performer, by distorting, deleting and generalising the little information he chooses to give us.

Harold’s opening statement was “I’ve been asked to provide some magical entertainment.” This set up a frame within which we all assumed our part. Using ‘eye contact’ Harold quickly achieved ‘Rapport’ with the ‘guests’. In engaging particular guests for his tricks there was a ‘presupposition’ that they would join in. Once in ‘Rapport’ it becomes easier to ‘lead’ your accomplice where you need them. Harold used ‘language’ patterns as part of his misdirection. Tying a knot in the shoe lace he described it as “a horrid knot”, “the sort that won’t come undone”. Leading us to believe the ‘trick’ was more difficult than he made it look. Harold used tonal commands and tonal anchoring to put his audience in the right ‘state’. Commands such as “clear your mind”, “Take a card”, “Give me your hand”. As we got into this so we realised we had noticed at a different level much of what Harold had been using, interestingly often without his own conscious awareness. Time already for a break, giving time also for a quick rearrangement of furniture for the “Presentation” using magic.

After the break we gathered in a different part of the room ‘as if’ we were at a training seminar on Coaching. Harold set this up to show how he uses Magic to make a point and improve retention of that point. Using three pieces of rope of equal length he compared them to the importance of three main elements of a coaching interaction. As each element is considered it becomes more important than the other two, so he proceeded to change the length of each piece of rope to illustrate this. Finally returning all three pieces to the same length!
Back to our groups to analyse the NLP processes whilst avoiding the ‘magic’ content. We had noticed ‘Presuppositions’, ‘Metaphor’, many felt they had been ‘Swished’, Embedded Commands and ‘Anchoring’.


	Time was rushing by and Harold still had the best bits to come. So fairly quickly on with the motley! The third “Magical” experience of the evening was ‘Mind Reading’ or ‘Mentalism’. Harold chose three ways to demonstrate his amazing ability to see into the very centre of people’s minds and discover things they didn’t even know.

Harold began by correctly guessing how much small change Margaret had in her purse. Something she wasn’t sure of until she had counted it!

Using his powers of insight he correctly identified Keith as the one with the red walnut! If you were there then you’ll know what I mean. If you weren’t then jolly well serves you right, make sure you turn up to every meeting from now on!!

Then he melded his mind with Bernie to discover the place in the World she was holding in her mind.

Harold moved straight on to his finale as by now we had reached ten o’ clock. I asked if anyone needed to rush away, but no-one did. He was showing us how science and ‘Magic’ are often in the same area by filling a glass with water, covering the top with a piece of card and holding it upside down. The water stayed in the glass because of surface tension, and this is science. However when he removed the piece of card and the water still stayed in the glass, then this was ‘MAGIC’.


	Thank you Harold for a great evening in which we enjoyed the magic, enjoyed your charm and learnt about our own skills in spotting NLP at work in the three different scenarios you gave us. Thanks too to Andy Austin for the photos, even if you can’t see that Harold is holding a glass. Return to NLP-South main site