Ian is holding a Super Psychic Reading Workshop in London on the 7th of July.

Has anyone been to his workshops before?

I'll be very interested to hear his take on ethics given the recent 10-page conversation on this topic.

For info here >>> http://www.thecoldreadingconnection.com/......ly-2019/

I would love to see Ian's workshop but would never make it in person. I'm still holding out hope he will sell recordings of a live event one day. I own plenty home study courses that are just recorded workshop events and the material translates just fine. Hell, if the logistics and expense are too much I would be happy to buy an audio recording. This is a spoken art after all.

On that same note, I would love to see a workshop recording from Bob Burns.

I attended Ian's first such workshop in Newcastle, a couple of years ago (it may have evolved since then). A small number of the attendees were knowledgeable (and practiced) cold readers, but most were new to the craft.

Ian teaches his own techniques for the delivery of cold readings, very much from a non-mystical perspective. As taught, the ideas will work with pretty much any choice of oracle.

Ian is a great lecturer, knows his topic intimately, and has an enviable breadth of experience in the field. I think that most people interested in the subject would find the workshop worthwhile. I also think that they would find the most eye-opening (and confidence-building) aspect to be not so much the methodology (good though it is), but the opportunity to practice it with (on) fellow attendees.

Because, as I (and Ian, for that matter) have often expressed, cold reading is not something learned by studying, but by doing. No book or course on the subject is as useful as time spent giving actual readings to real people.


As to the unending ethical question, cold reading is a tool (like a knife), neither ethical nor otherwise. It is the specific use to which it is put that determines its ethicality. There are many practices (Rorschach testing, MMPI, lie detection, homeopathy, even theism, to name but a few) that are not supported by scientific rationality, but are considered ethical by the majority of people (though a significant minority thinks otherwise). Reason seldom sways those who believe in irrational things.

I feel like this ought to be carved in stone somewhere.

Agree a video or audio recording of the lecture portion of the workshop would be something I'd purchase. But Ian does say quite clearly on the web page describing the workshop he will not be offering a recorded version:

"NO VIDEO, DVD OR BOOK
I cannot make the material in this course available in any other form. There will not be a video or DVD, because the course is a practical one in which you try out all the techniques under supervision."

As much as I'd like to purchase a video of the workshop, I do respect Ian's decision not to offer one. While I have purchased many workshops on DVD or CD, including those where the participants tried out the techniques taught under supervision, I also know of several speakers/workshop leaders who choose not to offer recordings of their workshops. The only way to learn the material is to attend in person. This has a way of keeping the content exclusive to those who paid a higher price (willingness to take time off, incur travel expenses, plus pay the seminar fee) and also virtually eliminates that possibility the workshop recordings will be pirated - because there aren't any.

On the flip side, many workshop leaders do offer audio or video recordings of their events, and some even offer full transcripts or a book with more detail. Ray Hyman's Cold Reading Workshop, for example, was recorded and, thanks to Professor Hyman and the James Randi Foundation, is available for free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US2SMkqdEEg

I was fortunately enough to attend a previous iteration of his Psychic Reading Workshop and Applied Cold Reading (now called Cold Reading for Business) classes a couple years back. I would urge anyone that is able to go, to go.

Ian practices exactly what he preaches, and is one of the most knowledgeable and professional people I have ever met, in magic or otherwise.

I can't speak for Ian, but I'm confident no recording of the workshops will ever be released. One of the reasons the workshops were so valuable was the fact that each participant got plenty of opportunities to practice, and participants are often put on the spot and expected to apply what was taught. Ian and other classmates would then give instant feedback. I think Ian would agree that this is what makes the workshops effective. That's not to say that a recording wouldn't be effective in teaching the information, it certainly would, but it pales in comparison to having there in person.

If the location is a problem, I know for a fact that Ian is willing do teach the courses via Skype.