{"id":3598,"date":"2015-03-26T14:59:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T18:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=3598"},"modified":"2015-04-02T14:13:34","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T18:13:34","slug":"workshop-explores-magical-presentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2015\/03\/26\/workshop-explores-magical-presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"April 1 Workshop Explores Magic in Training and Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"magic<\/a>As a PowerPoint illuminates the training room, a tall, silver-haired man at the podium catches your attention with a mesmerizing sleight of hand. It might be an 8 a.m. meeting, and your coffee hasn\u2019t kicked in yet, but that unique approach got your brain to connect. You want to know more.<\/p>\n

Magic is how Marty Thomas-Brumme keeps his audience involved in training, keeps them awake and curious. He\u2019s been a magician for more than 30 years, and he\u2019s been using illusion as a teaching tool for 20. He\u2019s also director of major gifts in Elizabethtown College\u2019s Development Office and a workshop presenter at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at Bowers Writers House<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The workshop, \u201cMore than Just Hocus Pocus: Magic as Tool in the Education and Training Worlds,\u201d<\/strong> offers a dynamic approach to group learning, revealing how magic, used as a training tool, can create interest in the subject or, simply, wake people up.<\/p>\n

\n

I use it to change pace or when coming back from a break.”<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI use magic at the start of the session or to emphasize key points,\u201d said Thomas-Brumme about utilizing illusion as training tool. \u201cI use it to change pace or when coming back from a break. It\u2019s a way to (influence) people to think about the things I want them to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas-Brumme enjoyed magic as a kid and, in college, met his roommate\u2019s uncle who was a magician. \u201cHe entertained us for two hours that day,\u201d Thomas-Brumme said in a recent interview. \u201cHe told me about a book to buy\u201d that went beyond the basics. After reading the book he was hooked.<\/p>\n

While living in New Zealand in his 20s, he had learn \u201ca bunch of tricks\u201d but, because he never really performed them for anyone, he didn\u2019t think of himself as a magician. He began volunteering at a hospital once a week, where he honed his talents with patients as his audience. \u201cI did this for a year. I got lots of feedback. It was kind of a captive audience,\u201d he said chuckling.<\/p>\n

After the year, Thomas-Brumme said he felt like a real magician and realized he could make money with his sleight of hand. Four or five times a year he performs at banquets and adult birthday parties, but not for children. \u201cKid\u2019s magic is completely different,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are more difficult; they are more observant.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 10 years in to his avocation, Thomas-Brumme became involved in training and found that tricks helped to loosen up the group and keep them focused. Also with the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators, Thomas-Brumme has used magic to help open communication in mediation sessions.<\/p>\n

As students do presentations all the time, he said, they might eventually begin to feel a bit uninspired, especially when they sense their audience is losing interest. Magic, he said, helps bring that interest back.<\/p>\n

In the Writers House workshop Thomas-Brumme will show an \u201ceffect,\u201d then the audience will break into groups to discuss how the members would use that bit of magic in a presentation. After coming back together, each group will share their stories. \u201cI won\u2019t be doing a lot of talking,\u201d he said of the presentation. He wants, instead, to get the audience to think \u2018how can I use the effect someplace else\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to create their own style.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty is a master of presentation,\u201d said Jesse Waters, director of Bowers Writers House. \u201cHe is able to empower people to find what is authentic and genuine with in themselves that can bring a population of people \u2018into the fold\u2019.’<\/p>\n

During the event, Thomas-Brumme said he will employ a play on words, make something disappear and reappear as something else and will predict what someone is going to say about a situation — all as unique training tools.<\/p>\n

Bowers Writers House is located at 840 College Hill Lane on the Elizabethtown College campus. The event is free and open to the public with first-come, first-served seating. It is recommended to arrive 30 minutes before the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a PowerPoint illuminates the training room, a tall, silver-haired man at the podium catches your attention with a mesmerizing sleight of hand. It might be an 8 a.m. meeting, and your coffee hasn\u2019t kicked in yet, but that unique approach got your brain to connect. You want to know more. Magic is how Marty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[775],"tags":[77,144,197,207,875],"class_list":["post-3598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","tag-bowers-writers-house","tag-e-a-harvey","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-jesse-waters","tag-marty-thomas-brumme","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3598"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3598\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}