2011 SEMINARS ANNOUNCED

Eleven knowledgeable presenters from across the professional wrestling spectrum.  Seven seminars, loaded with valuable information, and a chance at each to pose your own questions.  A great learning opportunity for young wrestlers, promoters and referees to add to their knowledge, courtesy of CAC members who stand ready to share their accumulated knowledge. 

That’s the story of this year’s CAC seminars, to be held on Tuesday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 20 at the 2011 Reunion.  The seminars are free to all CAC members — just show your badge on the way into the seminar room, Salon D, located just around the corner from our hospitality and display centre on the Gold Coast convention floor.  Each lasts about an hour, with the final segment devoted to a question-and-answer forum.  Our presenters are also glad to speak with individuals after the seminar, time permitting.

Make your picks from the listing below, or take in all seven seminars — the choice is yours.

Faces, Heels and Turns: The Psychology (two sessions)
Tuesday, April 19, 9:00 a.m. — J. J. Dillon and Dr. Dave Reiss
Wednesday, April 20, 9:00 a.m. — Ted DiBiase and Dr. Dave Reiss

Dave Reiss is a practicing psychiatrist with over 25 years experience, who has evaluated over 10,000 individuals.  He’s also been a keen observer of pro wrestling and has concentrated on the psychology of fans’ reactions since his medical school days.  J. J. Dillon has been a wrestler, a renowned manager, and an executive and creative powerhouse for WWF for eight years. His many years in wrestling have equipped him well to provide keen insights into fan reaction and how to make it

happen, especially on the heel side.  Ted DiBiase has spent a lifetime in wrestling, from being raised in a wrestling family all the way to his wildly-successful Million Dollar Man persona.  He’s been a face, a heel and has done the turns, and he knows what works and what doesn’t on both sides of the emotional fence.    

Dave will lead a no-nonsense, jargon-free discussion of the art and science of getting into the fan’s head and heart by understanding the intense emotional passion that can be generated by wrestling characters and action.   He’ll provide a

psychologically sophisticated but down-to-earth understanding of the emotional “view from the seats” of faces, heels and turns.  J.J. and Ted will describe the ring actions and attitudes that lead fans to care (with admiration and/or revulsion) about the characters they are meeting and the events they are viewing.  In total, these two sessions will help you to understand why professional wrestling goes far beyond “cheering the good-guy and jeering the bad-guy” to be a true art-form, with a powerful and passionate emotional connection to the viewing public.

Beyond Wrestling: The Road to Hollywood
Acting, Commercials, Stuntwork and More
Tuesday, April 19, 1:00 p.m. — Al “Mr. Outrageous” Burke

Chances are you’ve seen Al Burke perform in movies, commercials, TV shows or music videos, and never known it.  He’s not a star, but he is important to the content of all these vehicles.  Al has done 140 of them over the past 14 years, after a 25-year wrestling career, and he knows the ropes when it comes to getting on the road to a solid sideline or second career.

Al will tell you how he figured out the system that leads to this type of work.  He’ll discuss making it in Hollywood, and since we don’t all live there, making it wherever you live since these productions are often filmed elsewhere.  “Mr. Outrageous” will go into detail on how wrestling compares to acting and stuntwork, and how to find an agent or manager who will get you into the right situations.  And to wind up, he’ll talk about what it takes to be successful in this line of work.

Facebook: Branding, Building, Networking
Tuesday, April 19, 3:00 p.m. — Angelina “Little Egypt” Altishin

Remember GLOW — the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling?  Then you should remember Little Egypt, one of the major players in the troupe that brought an entire new dimension to TV  wrestling and went into syndication for a total of 14 years.  Little Egypt — Angelina Altishin — after suffering a career-ending injury, became a realtor and then a real estate investor in Las Vegas.  She has also become highly knowledgeable in the uses of Facebook, and will show you how it can be used effectively to promote your wrestling career.

Drawing on her wide experience with Facebook, in the context of both her real estate endeavors and in helping to create fan and character pages for former GLOW girls, Angelina will use a PowerPoint presentation in this seminar.  Content will range from basic do’s and don’t's in using the medium effectively to marketing yourself, building a character and developing a fan base.  The social media is there to be used, and Angelina can help to show you the way.      

Promoters’ View: The Promo Package That Sells You
Wednesday, April 20, 10:30 a.m. — Karl Lauer, Michelle Starr, Jason Deadrich, Dan Mirade

You only get once chance to make a first impression, and for many young workers, that all-important impression will be made by their promo package. 

How to make the approach? 
What to include? 
What to exclude? 
What’s too much and too little? 
What to cover in the video?

You’ll have a golden opportunity at this seminar to be coached by people who have seen hundreds of promo packages, and know what they’re looking for in them. 

This quartet has more than 60 years of promotional experience behind them, and one of the most important ingredients in their formulas for success is recognizing the promising talent that’s right for their promotion.

Karl Lauer has over 20 years’ experience promoting in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Missouri. 

Michelle Starr — Mark Vellios — has wrestled for some 23 years, and promoted for almost as long. 

Jason Deadrich is the promotional mind behind ChickFight, which runs events in the U.S. and U.K. featuring all-female talent. 

Dan Mirade is the guiding light of  MWF, the Millennium Wrestling Federation, in partnership with John Cena Sr., out of Massachusetts. 

As a group, they have a formidable range of knowledge and they’ll be here to pass it along to the young wrestlers attending the reunion.

Promote Yourself to the World
Wednesday, April 20, 1:00 p.m. — The Honky Tonk Man

He started out as Wayne Farris in 1978, just another wrestler, and he wound up The Greatest Intercontinntal Champion of All Time, The Honky Tonk Man of WWF fame.  Even more than 20 years since regularly appearing on television, when someone introduces “The Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time” only one name comes to mind. HTM  continues to be one of professional wrestling’s most popular attractions internationally, and it’s no accident.
 HTM is one of the very best self-promoters wrestling has seen.  He’s still in the public eye continually, thanks to his one-man publicity machine.  You’ll have the opportunity to glean pearls of wisdom from a man who continues to maintain an aggressive schedule of matches and public appearances around the world.  You’ll learn about developing and promoting your product, the importance of merchandising, using tools such as the internet to work to your advantage, and the importance of building relationships with promoters and event organizers in a positive way to encourage repeat business. All this and more will be covered in the inimitable and entertaining style of one of wrestling’s all time most colorful characters.

Promote Yourself Within the Organization
Wednesday, April 20, 3:00 p.m. — Vance Nevada

Vance Nevada has wrestled professionally for eighteen years, one of the few wrestlers of his generation to appear in every Canadian province except Quebec. He has headlined tours and shows for most every promotion where he’s wrestled, often sharing top billing with internationally reocgnized stars. Vance is a lifetime CAC member, a published author and the 2010 James C. Melby award winner.

Vance’s experiences in dealing with politically sensitive environments provide a number of areas for discussion and learning for up and comers who are ambitious enough to make their mark on the industry but just need to be pointed in the right direction. One’s ability to sell themselves within an organization and present ideas which show financial promise to the company as well as the individual is very valuable in a wrestling environment. Wrestling is an individual, incentive-driven business unlike professional team sports, and one’s skills in getting and keeping the ear of promoters is often a key to success. How do you do this the right way?  How do you pitch your ideas for the greatest likelihood of success?  How do you sidestep the negative stigma surrounding wrestlers who are successful in being heavily promoted?  Vance Nevada has some answers you need to hear.