So, launching a "new" conference is no joke. We managed to make it through the weekend without anyone losing an appendage, which, as I told an orientation group, was my threshold for success. We did have some hiccups. If you don't know, I'm not about to air our dirty laundry. Just know that the lessons provided will be learned from and we will improve.
I got to play with two fine people.Hypnomedia and Sean. One I had tranced before, and the other was someone reclaiming their hypnotic desires after a bad breakup. I love that they trusted me. That my reputation is such that people know I'm willing and able to be there for them.
I only got to receive one trance, but Captain_Hypno made it a really good one.
This was my first time presenting. I felt like Dominance for Newbies went fairly well. If I teach it again, I want to do a "dress rehearsal" with my co-presenter. We left a lot to chance. I feel like we got lucky it went so smoothly. I was also graciously allowed to add input to Aural Fixation with MindtheBaron. I'm sure to those who were attending that class, it felt like we had done it a million times before. But, in all honesty I had sat in on part of his presentation at the last Chicago hypnosis conference, and I had no conscious knowledge of what he was about to say. Since that worked so well, I think if he offers that class again at Beguiled, I will present with him (he's already agreed to this).
This was also my first year being a part of the ConCom. Y'all. This stuff is real. There's always SOMETHING that needs to be done or someone who needs a little extra help. it's one of those catch 22 things. I am thrilled that the conference went as well as it did, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. However, if we do not have a better outcome this next year, I will be seriously reconsidering whether or not I still want to be "in the room where it happens". Beguiled is the only conference that I can afford to attend because all the other conferences are so far away. So, even though I'm happy that I was able to be so helpful, my primary motivation is to be able to play and enjoy myself with my fellow hypnopeeps. Sue me for being selfish.
At the end of the day, seeing peoples scene logs and blogs that tell me that they had such an awesome time at the conference makes me feel like all of the effort and sacrifice was worth it. So, please keep posting those? I need the encouragement.
I almost forgot about one more awesome thing that happened. @sweettist and I did a dual induction Sunday night on her Toy. We played off each other very well, especially considering we haven't done anything as far as dual induction in person before. I *think* we did a session on a Discord server once...but I digress. Watching the Toy be pushed and pulled in their mind was delicious. And then @sweettist allowed me to install a new concept in the Toy's mind - the hall of all doors. I took the Toy on a mental trip to the MOMA, and had them step through the painting that they responded to which allowed me to seamlessly lead them right back to the place we had established as home base. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to be able to play alongside Sweet again in the future.