Charmed! Class Acceptance Policy

We look for a variety of topics, at a variety of audience levels. Our selection is generally a reflection of what proposals we receive; we seldom solicit presenters for a specific class because we don’t want to tell people what they should present.

The Call for Proposals usually runs from the beginning of July through November 30th. Classes might be accepted after the deadline but this is at the discretion of the Programming staff. We generally look for several items:

4-hour classes for presentation on Thursday (what used to be called the PreConference). There is no maximum on these, but generally the presenter(s) need to be known to the Programming staff and have some expertise in the topic they propose. If you’re new to presenting, this is probably not the best way to start.

1- and 2-hour classes for Friday – Sunday. There is no specific mix for these; we’ll adjust the schedule to accommodate what we get. Topics are very open (but see below), new presenters are welcomed and encouraged to propose classes.

Evening events of 1-2 hours length. Not specifically “classes”, but the same people schedule them and we use the same system. Generally the best evening activities are things people can drop into and back out of rather than requiring that attendees be present for the whole thing, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. As with classes, anyone can sponsor an evening activity.

Class Topics

Generally, we will take classes on any topic that is erotic hypnosis or BDSM adjacent. There are certain exceptions imposed by our venue or by liability:

Classes involving needle play, fire play, or any other type of play that is prohibited in the dungeon will not be accepted at Charmed!. This is largely a practical consideration; there is no ability to demo or practice such things, which makes it hard to do a class.

Breath play should be discussed with the Programming staff before submitting your proposal. Generally speaking, classes on using hypnosis to control breathing is usually okay; classes on asphyxiating someone or physically blocking breath are not.

Class topics involving trauma should be discussed with the Programming staff before you submit your proposal. It may be accepted if you can convince us that this has value, is not therapy-based, and will not risk triggering your audience. Previous classes have dealt with trauma respectfully.
Classes involving any form of therapy will not be accepted under any circumstances. Charmed! is a recreational hypnosis event, not a professional one. Even though some of our presenters may have professional hypnosis credentials, our liability coverage does not extend to individuals doing therapy of any kind.

If a presenter introduces a forbidden element into an otherwise acceptable class, and we become aware of it, that presenter may be prohibited from teaching again at Charmed!.

Topics we love to host
Fractionation
Induction Creation / Design
Suggestion Crafting
Hypnotic Video Games
Scene Building
Consent Practices
Audio Recording
Improving your own personal trance

Acceptance

The Programming staff has the final say in what classes are accepted every year. It is often a balancing act, and factors in a number of things that are difficult to enumerate. Aside from prohibited topics, classes may be rejected for other reasons that have nothing to do with the presenter or the topic. For instance:

There may be several proposals for similar classes. More than one class on a topic is often good, especially focused on beginners or subjects, but we can’t necessarily take 3 different people’s spins on “Hypnosis 101”.

Presenters list a maximum number of classes they will teach, but can propose more than that maximum. That’s fine, because it lets us reject redundant topics, or let a new presenter take the simpler topics.

Whenever possible, we prefer to take at least two classes from a given presenter. This lets us comp them, where just one class does not. So a second class from one person might take precedence over a third or fourth from another, or over a single.