Personal Highlights From The Session 2019
By Andi Gladwin - Friday, May 17, 2019
Running a magic convention is quite different from attending a magic convention. However, I still try my very best to attend as many events as possible - after all, we organise our events based on the performers we'd love to see, so we try very hard to make time to actually see them! Therefore, you'll often find Josh and me backstage watching the action on the monitors.
This year, thanks to the incredible work of the Vanishing Inc. team, I got to see more of The Session than ever before. Here are just a few of my personal highlights (I could write hundreds of them — but these were the first that came to mind):
Marc Kerstein's talk
This was Marc's first time talking at a magic event. I knew the audience would love him, but what I didn't realise was just how much work he would put in to share his app magic. It was a real treat to see him shine.
Mac King's lecture
Just before Mac went on stage for his lecture, he turned to me and say, "I'm not really sure what I'll talk about!" He then proceeded to have everyone bent over with laughter for an hour and a half as he shared some great effects, and told some hilarious stories.
Ben Siedman's show
We had already hosted Ben for Magifest 2018 and so I knew that he would kill at The Session. His show was one of those occasions where I watched the audience more than I watched the performer, so I could see their reactions.
Dani DaOrtiz's lecture
When Dani asked me to pick some volunteers to help on stage, I ended up including John Archer and Mac King in the committee. To see these forces of nature on stage, reacting to Dani's amazing magic was a real treat — and the kind of thing you don't see at "normal" conventions!
Ben Hart's talk
We have been working on some projects with Ben for a little while and so I was excited to see his first talk for magicians. If you were there, you'll remember his confetti on fan effect, which he performed last week on BGT.
But what really stood out to me was the choices that he made to stage his material. I can't wait to see more from him!
Sessioning
By far, my biggest highlight was when Josh and I stopped all work for a few hours and hung out in the lobby and asked as many people as possible to show us some tricks! Amongst the dozens of great things we saw, those that stand out are Andy Frost performing some excellent sleight of hand, Ross Taylor fooling us with an impossible location, and Jeremy Griffith executing his incredible Ripping technique. And I'll never forget watching Christan Grace make people's jaws drop with his Level One deck vanish!
Those are just a few highlights of many. I could list so many more, including Jared Kopf's lecture, Florian Brook's juggling, James Went's impossible card location, Hide Kimoto's talk, Jason Ladanye's lecture, and that's not even thinking about The Event, which was our strongest year yet!
We've just announced the first names appearing at The Session 2020. We always sell out, so book your place today.
Tell us your favourite memories in the comments below.
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