Using Magic to Teach, Motivate and Inspire Change
Instructional Designer AND Magician
As a magician AND an instructional designer and training developer for more than 30 years, Chuck Jones weaves fun into his training sessions to create meaningful and memorable learning experiences. As a magician, he creates a sense of wonder and awe, touching learners' emotions. By combining the two, he uses magic to reinforce learning and help learners recall course content.
Magic in the Classroom
When Chuck delivered his first face-to-face training session in 1990, he began it with a quick magic trick as a hook to gain the attention of the audience. Since then, he has incorporated magic into his sessions on coaching and mentoring, team building, leadership, strategic and operational planning, and project management - to name just a few. He currently uses magic to explain the benefits of using a managerial cost accounting system and to explain how data moves across systems. He has also used magic as part of two different performance support sessions at a major Focus on Learning conference, and in several live classroom-based training sessions, both in-person and through a virtual training platforms.
Magical Performances
Chuck has performed close-up and stage magic in a variety of venues, both in educational and entertainment settings, including corporate dinners and events. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, he developed and produced his one-hour interactive Zoom show called Magic Among Friends, which he performs weekly. He is currently a student of one of America's top magicians who has appeared on both Masters of Illusion, America's Got Talent and Penn and Teller: Fool Us.
Education
Chuck is a Senior Instructional Advisor with a large federal government agency. Since 1991, he has designed and developed numerous interactive, facilitator led, technology-assisted learning and performance support video solutions. Chuck hold's a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, and a Master of Arts in Education: Curriculum and Instruction, with a Specialization in Adult Education. Chuck started performing magic as a boy and became a professional magician in 2017.
