The operational checklist every professional stage hypnotist runs before every performance. Not suggestions. The minimum standard.
The pre-show protocol is where all of the knowledge in this program becomes action. The mental safety principles, the physical hazard awareness, the moral guidelines, the legal requirements. They are only useful if they are applied consistently, before every show, regardless of venue size, audience type, or how many times you have performed in that space before. Familiarity is the enemy of protocol. The incidents documented in this program did not happen to new performers in unfamiliar rooms. They happened to working professionals who got comfortable.
Run the protocol. Every time.
The hub page carries the Top 12 as a quick reference. This page is the complete professional reference. Each item expanded with the rationale, technique, and context that make the difference between following a checklist and understanding why it exists.
Always video record your show.
Include a contract stipulation that all shows are video recorded. This is not optional and it is not a courtesy. It is your primary liability protection. A recorded show that documents proper procedure is your strongest defense in any dispute. A volunteer who claims injury, embarrassment, or harm has a much weaker case against a performer who has footage showing exactly what happened and how it was handled.
Video documentation also serves the archive function. You will perform the same routines hundreds of times. The recording tells you what worked, what did not, and how a particular volunteer responded. Over time, your recordings become a training record of your own development as a performer.
Note: The induction itself should also be captured on video where possible. The cautionary warning delivered before volunteers come on stage should always be on camera. More on this in Section 2.
Checklist your stage.
Walk your stage. Check for sharp edges, protrusions, uneven or unstable platforms, electrical hazards, and other obstructions. A jump, run, and skid test is also advised to check for sections of stage, especially important on portable stages, that might not be properly secured.
Portable stages and riser stages common to hotel banquet shows are the highest-risk category. Sections that shift underfoot, edges that are not flush, legs that have not fully locked. All of these become hazards the moment a hypnotized volunteer starts moving. You will not know the stage is unsafe until someone gets hurt, unless you test it yourself before the show.
On older stages, footlights can be problematic. Specific suggestions are necessary to keep volunteers away from footlights, especially if they are on. Railings on stairways leading to the stage can pose a problem when someone drops into trance and slumps into or over one, which can cause injury to the ribs or, in a worst case scenario, the neck and throat.
Remove any cords or obstructions if possible. Use gaffer's tape to secure any cords that cannot be removed.
Every cord on or near the stage is a fall waiting to happen for a volunteer whose spatial awareness is compromised. Remove what can be removed. What cannot be removed gets secured flat to the floor with gaffer's tape and marked.
High-visibility gaffer's tape serves two functions: it secures the hazard and it marks it visually for anyone who needs to move across the stage. In a darkened performance space, bright tape on the floor edge or over a cord is the difference between a volunteer who sees the hazard and one who does not.
Mark stage edges and falloff points. Mark any gap between stage sections. If the stage has a front edge that drops to a floor, that edge gets tape before volunteers sit down.
When calling for volunteers, word your suggestions to avoid anyone currently under medical, psychological, or psychiatric supervision.
This includes pregnant women and infirm individuals, individuals who are actively under the care of a psychiatrist or psychologist, and those with a history of hysterical or seizure disorders. This precaution is for their own safety on stage.
The wording matters. You are not asking people to disclose their conditions publicly. You are giving them the information they need to make a safe decision for themselves. The cautionary warning in Section 2 of this page covers the full pre-volunteer statement, including the specific language around constant daily medication that protects the widest range of at-risk individuals without requiring any individual to identify their condition by name.
People with severe physical conditions, back problems, leg problems, respiratory conditions, asthmatic or seizure disorders, heart conditions, are all high-risk individuals in a stage show. Your wording should give every one of them a clear, face-saving reason not to participate.
Make volunteers aware of stage hazards before they sit.
Call out footlights, electrical floor outlets, speakers, and any other uneven or obstructing object on the stage before the induction begins. Do this as volunteers are finding their seats, before they are in trance, while they can still process and remember what you are telling them.
Marking edges and falloff points with high-visibility gaffer's tape, as noted in item 3, is recommended. But the verbal briefing is not replaced by the tape. Volunteers need to hear it. A volunteer who has been told about the front edge of the stage is a volunteer who is less likely to walk toward it.
Tell all volunteers that they are to use the stairs at all times and to stay on stage unless directly suggested otherwise.
This keeps volunteers from dangerously approaching the edge of the stage or footlights, or from running backstage or offstage left or right. It also covers the exit path. Having someone jump off even a low riser-type stage increases the risk of a slip-and-fall injury or an ankle twist. Stairs only. Reinforce this instruction after the induction with a direct suggestion so that it remains active for the duration of the show.
Use assistants or spotters if available.
Instruct them before the show in how to assist you in all safety issues, and specifically brief them on floppers.
A flopper is a volunteer who drops into total muscular flaccidity in an instant. While impressive to an audience, such people can fall and inadvertently injure themselves. The seatbelt suggestion, covered in item 8, keeps floppers safely in their seats during trance. But during any standing, rapid, instant, or triggering-type induction with someone who has been shown to be a flopper, a spotter should be positioned to stabilize them. Any re-induction via trigger should be done with a known flopper either seated or with a spotter in position.
If you have a spotter available, brief them before the show. They need to know what a flopper looks like, where to stand, and what to do. An unbriefed spotter is a bystander.
Use the seatbelt suggestion or other direct suggestion to prevent people from falling out of their chairs.
Also use suggestions that will ensure that if a volunteer goes into trance while standing, they will remain standing unless otherwise ordered.
These are two distinct suggestions and both are required. The seatbelt suggestion keeps seated volunteers from slumping sideways or forward out of their chairs. The standing stability suggestion prevents a volunteer from buckling at the knees during a standing induction. If you are doing an induction in which the volunteer will end up on the ground, make certain that you can stabilize the volunteer and that they will not simply buckle and fall. If you are ever unsure, seat your volunteer before performing the induction.
For rapid inductions specifically: preface any standing induction with a statement such as "Your legs will remain balanced and stable. You will not fall." This is not optional framing. It is a required safety instruction delivered before the induction begins.
Make your suggestions specific to you.
Carefully choose your wording so that the volunteer responds only to your suggestions, or those of people specifically designated by you, and no one else. The inclusion of a suggestion that your suggestions always override those of anyone else present at the show is also advisable.
This matters in practice more than it might seem. Audience members will sometimes attempt to trigger volunteers using words or phrases they overheard during the show. A volunteer without a right-of-way suggestion is a volunteer who may respond. A volunteer with a properly worded specificity suggestion is protected against inadvertent triggering by anyone in the room who is not you.
Also specify duration. Suggestions that are not given a clear endpoint or condition for removal carry the risk of persisting past the show. Clear all suggestions before dismissing any volunteer from the stage.
Word your suggestions precisely.
Be as clear as possible in the wording of your suggestions so as to avoid any confusion as to the meaning of your suggestions.
Imprecise suggestion language produces unpredictable responses. A suggestion that tells a volunteer what they will feel without specifying what they will do leaves the behavioral outcome open. A suggestion that tells them what they will do without specifying where or how long leaves those variables open as well. The more variables you leave unspecified, the more variables the volunteer's unconscious mind fills in, and that filling-in process does not always go where you intended.
If a suggestion is misunderstood or produces an unexpected response, freeze, rephrase, and if necessary remove the suggestion before continuing. Do not work around a bad suggestion. Remove it and replace it with one that works.
Word your induction to prevent non-responsiveness.
A volunteer who cannot be brought out of trance is a problem that proper induction language prevents.
Non-responsiveness at the end of a show is almost always the result of induction language that gave the volunteer permission to stay under, or failed to give them a clear, unambiguous path out. The classic error is a wake command framed as a consequence: "If you don't emerge at the count of three, you will never be able to be hypnotized again." With some volunteers, that framing functions as permission to stay in trance indefinitely. It gives the unconscious mind a reason to resist.
Test your wake command at the start of the show before any deep work begins. Before you take the committee into any extended trance state, verify that your waking language is working as expected. A volunteer who does not respond to the wake command early in the show is a volunteer you can identify and manage, not one who surprises you at the end of the night.
If a volunteer does not respond to standard waking techniques, options include: positioning the volunteer with arm or leg catalepsy in the air and telling them that when the limb gets tired they will awaken; using a double-bind where you tell the volunteer they will remain in deep trance but will open their eyes and act as though wide awake while still responding to your suggestions; or, as a last resort, allowing the volunteer to remain in trance until after the show and addressing the non-responsiveness then. None of these situations arise when the induction language is built correctly from the start.
The following cautionary warning was developed by the Safe On Stage Advisory Board as a guideline for use in your show. Present it to every audience prior to inviting volunteers onto the stage. Feel free to memorize it and use it verbatim, or pick and choose what you like and create your own patter:
"Ladies and gentlemen, before I invite you to join me on the stage, I must offer a few words of caution. This is a very, very active program. If you come up on the stage, you will be jumping up and you may fall over into the lap of the person that you are sitting next to. You may slip, slide, or fall into what you may consider to be a compromised position, and there is a possibility that you may fall out of your chair and end up on the floor. For these reasons I would ask you not to come up on stage if you have experienced any of the following injuries or conditions at some point in your life: you have suffered from a neck injury or a back injury, or you have had some kind of injury that could be easily re-injured by falling out of your chair; you are wearing an arm cast or a leg brace because you have already hurt yourself; you are taking a constant, daily medication for a condition that you may have; or, ladies if you think that you MAY be pregnant at this time. PLEASE do not come up on stage, as I would not want to aggravate any condition that you may already have."
This statement covers it all. Using terms such as "constant, daily medication" covers a multitude of potential problems, including heart patients, diabetics, and especially people who take dilantin (anti-seizure medication). This brief statement is intended to prevent any volunteers from being on your program and having an adverse reaction to their medications.
Although this warning sounds a bit harsh, remember that you are not saying that these things are going to happen. You are just advising the audience of the possibility that they could happen.
Note: Be sure to include this warning on your video if possible. Including it on your video will protect you from the volunteer who claims that they were not warned of the consequences of participating on the program.
The following items appear in the Safe On Stage checklist as additional professional standards beyond the core checklist. They address specific performance scenarios, content decisions, and audience management practices that the core items do not cover individually. They carry the same weight.
Avoid using highly intoxicated individuals as volunteers.
In venues where alcohol is served, people who have been drinking will come forward. During the pre-talk, discourage participation by anyone who has consumed more than a couple of drinks or has used a mood-altering substance. Once your committee is seated, a member who appears visibly intoxicated or high should be dismissed quietly, escorted off stage before the induction, as their ability to concentrate and follow instructions will be compromised.
If someone on stage turns out to be intoxicated after the induction, monitor their behavior carefully. Do not ask this person to participate in any skit requiring movement out of their seat. Reiterate the seatbelt suggestion. If they become difficult to manage, dismiss them from the stage quietly, with an escort, and provide specific directions for how to exit safely.
There is no scientific evidence that hypnosis intensifies the physiological effects of alcohol or drugs. But an intoxicated volunteer is an unpredictable volunteer, and an unpredictable volunteer is a safety problem.
Avoid phobic-based or fear-based suggestions.
Suggestions such as there are spiders, rats, insects, mice, or snakes crawling on the floor, or other highly phobic suggestions, should be avoided. You do not know the actual history of any volunteer on your stage. A phobic response triggered in a hypnotic state can be intense, distressing, and difficult to manage in a performance context. If the participant could have experienced a painful or traumatic response in the past, avoid that material.
This extends beyond the listed examples. Any suggestion that relies on fear as its mechanism, chase sequences, threat-based scenarios, visceral horror, carries the same risk profile. The goal is comedy and amazement, not distress.
Maintain content at the appropriate age level for the venue.
G, PG, PG-13, R. Know which level your venue and audience require and stay within it. A college show has different parameters than a corporate awards dinner. A grad night has different parameters than a comedy club. Build your show to the level of the room.
Arrange suggestions to prevent blue language in family shows.
If the venue requires clean content, build that requirement into your suggestion language from the start. Do not try to manage it reactively during the show. A properly worded content suggestion given before any material that might produce language issues prevents the problem. A performer who is managing blue language in real time in a family show has already failed on this point.
Always enforce a no hitting, no throwing, no inappropriate touching rule.
Give the committee specific instructions that they will not touch other committee members in ways that could cause injury or embarrassment. This is particularly important during high-energy physical skits and emotional reaction skits where instinctive physical contact is more likely. The concept to convey: stay in your seat and keep your hands to yourself. Do not touch others on stage, and do not touch the hypnotist.
Handle abreactive volunteers off-mike.
An abreactive volunteer is someone who is acting strangely, sometimes upset, sometimes argumentative, and always disruptive to the show. Do not manage an abreactive response through the microphone. Take the volunteer off-mike, handle the situation calmly and quietly, and deal with them directly without making it part of the performance. An abreactive response that is amplified through the PA becomes an audience incident. One handled off-mike stays contained.
Maintain control of your audience and volunteers at all times.
You are responsible for what happens on that stage. If the energy in the room or on the stage is moving in a direction that creates risk, for volunteers, for the audience, or for you, it is your job to redirect it. Know where every volunteer is, what they are doing, and what the audience is responding to. If something is going wrong, catch it early.
Strobe lights: always use an advance warning, and give audience members time to act on it.
Always announce in advance that a strobe light will be used in any show where one is present. Give audience members time enough to either leave or to take actions that will allow them to avoid its effects should they be sensitive to them.
Strobe lights are a documented seizure trigger. Photosensitive epilepsy affects a meaningful portion of the population, and many people are unaware they have it until their first exposure. Seizures triggered by strobe lights have occurred at live performances. This is not a theoretical risk. If you are using a strobe, the warning is not optional, and the time you give the audience to act on it needs to be genuine, not a one-second disclaimer before the effect fires.
If the venue controls the lighting and you do not control whether a strobe is used, make the venue aware of this requirement before the show.
Human Bridge / Full Body Catalepsy
Do not attempt without proper training. This routine is unlikely to be covered by your liability insurer.
The human bridge, suspending a volunteer in full body catalepsy between two supports, has been associated with serious volunteer injuries. Several documented cases exist in which hypnotists using full body catalepsy have caused injuries of varying degrees, some severe. The routine requires a level of control over the volunteer's position, body mechanics, and the physical environment that goes beyond standard stage hypnosis training. If you do not have specific training in this technique, do not perform it. If you do have the training, verify your coverage with your carrier before adding it to your show.