I'm brand new to giving readings and would like to incorporate them in my q&a routine.
Ideally, I'm looking for something that wouldn�t use any props and could potentially be used at a distance (on stage).
Does anyone have any recommendations that helped them become confident in this area?

Please dm your reply if you feel that�s more fitting.

Thanks

Here is some material I have studied as I have tried to learn more about readings:
Jermay's Mind (DVD / Download from Vanishing Inc)
Jermay - Premise & Premonition (DVD / Download from Vanishing Inc)
Phedon Bilek - Sibyl
Gerry McCambridge - Penguin Act
Bob Cassidy - Q&A Masterclass
Brad Henderson - The Dance

In Jermay's Mind he goes through an overview of several "systematic" readings that are out there, and his own personal combination of them. I found a lot of his insights to be useful, and in terms of video content, I would start there. You get a sense of how to build your own way of approaching a reading. Also, the fact that he has studied several different approaches, oracles, etc, and combined them into his approach is a roadmap for finding your way.

Readings are a very personal thing, and the only way to really find your path is to DO THEM. Something I need to do more of

I think a nice way to build on that is to try to incorporate readings into everything you are doing if you perform on stage. For me, this has been a nice saftey-net to getting into them. No matter what mentalism routine I am performing, I can take a moment to "pick up on some things" about the person. The nice thing is that I can pivot back to the routine and a surefire reveal when I need to. These small readings are often some of the most impactful moments, and allow for much more of a connection.

Curious to hear what others have to say...

Jermay is excellent. No question.

Additionally, Paul Voodini’s lecture on Q&A, in which he covers half a dozen methods he has used was really valuable.

Patrick

Bob Cassidy wrote, what I consider to be, the most helpful beginner's resource: The Real Work of Cold Reading. It helped me gain some much needed guidance on what I needed to develop to strengthen my readings.
I agree with Chollet, the best way to practice is to get comfortable reading people in the moment casually. When you meet someone for the first time, tell them a positive impression you get off of them, it can't hurt and people seldom correct you when you say something nice about them.

Now, I'm by no means an expert at Q&A, but I perform it every now and then in casual settings. Here are some of the other materials I've found extremely helpful:

- Theo Annemann's One Man Psychic Routine - Telepathy Plus, this is a great starting point, historically.
- Bob Cassidy's Q&A - he goes into a good amount of detail on giving readings off the cuff.
- Marc Paul's Alakazam lecture ACTS of Mentalism has several variations, but not much in the way of reading advice.
- Lewis Le Val's Art of Knowing (I or II) has some good thoughts on quick reads and a bit of graphology for the basis of a reading
- Lee Earle's The Gentel Art of Cold Reading, this has some good examples of Forer statements that are a great generic foundation for a reading and some expanding statements for positive and negative hits.

Learn how to characterize people into 3 or 4 positive generic adjectives (tenacious, optimistic, passionate, etc), and expand on each one based on the positive or negative feedback in their tone or body language.

I hope that's helpful!

Happy Reading and Answering!

You'll find a variety of helpful advice in my free online reference to cold reading resources.

Cold reading is a very specialized topic. It is an allied art to mentalism, and so you will have no trouble finding mentalists who have opinions on the topic. Few mentalists are effective cold readers, however, so take their recommendations with an appropriate quantity of salt.

As just one example, you will find a recommendation in the above replies of Bob Cassidy's Real Work on Cold Reading. Now Bob was without question one of history's greatest developers and performers of mentalism. He was not, however, a reader. This book was hastily compiled at a time (February, 2004, to be precise) when Bob needed to generate cash, and churned out a great number of short writings on a diversity of topics. This particular book (it was originally released on a CD-ROM) has some useful ideas in it, but is mostly a decrying of various other people's ideas on cold reading, a debunking of a number of pseudo-scientific claims, an offering of some pseudo-scientific claims of his own, and some mentalism methods that relate to cold reading. There's little of notable value, and nothing that isn't covered better in some of the true cold-reading classics.

Wow! Well, I was not aware of all of that, but Doug definitely knows his stuff so I tend to defer to him on these types of things. I agree Cassidy was not the most prolific reader, but he had some good thoughts on development and practice. It certainly helped me get the ball rolling, but I mostly just used it as a jumping off point to start.
Actually, I highly recommend Doug's articles, they offer some amazingly detailed insights into the facets of our craft. His article on Stacked Decks is essential reading for those considering trying one out! Thanks for all your contributions to this art!