Welcome to PsiFest 2023, sponsored by the International Remote Viewing Association and the Monroe Institute. Our organizations have come together to celebrate a shared history and present-time objectives focused on advancing exploration into human consciousness and fostering discoveries into our intuitive potential. Both organizations have strived to do this by carrying forth the work of our founders who driven by personal experiences and a need for answers, crafted careful scientific practices to develop tools, techniques, philosophies, approaches and methods that could be passed to, and improved upon, by generation after generation of inquiring minds.

While both organizations share similar interests with other parapsychological and psychical organizations, together they depart in their duel focus of providing education and opportunities for members and the public to engage in direct practices that can both enhance an individual’s personal life and also be utilized for practical, real-life purposes. While IRVA is more singularly focused on the specific discipline of remote viewing, the Monroe Institute has a broader mission of helping people to understand better and mediate states of consciousness. The latter holds many benefits including the enhancement of remote viewing and other psi-based practices.

During this very special 3.5 day event, researchers, instructors, practitioners, applied project managers and historians will come together offering an eclectic program designed to help participants move out of their present “reality boxes” (to quote a term from Ingo Swann, who coined the term “remote viewing”). These talks have been chosen for their relevancy and because they reflect current practices and advances in the scientific exploration of, and the state of the art of remote viewing. At the same time, they both honor and remind us of a not-too-distant past where our founders and their mentors and collogues collectively put in tens of thousands of hours of work and practice, and sacrifices to build the foundation upon which we stand today. It is vital that we remember the lessons they learned so we can move the knowledge forward, rather than at ground zero.  With any discipline, particularly ones that move away from the mainstream, there are challenges and controversies, and we will not shy away from these at PsiFest, but instead will uncover and address these in a creative, safe, and even fun way. Finally, we see this special weekend as a way to celebrate our shared heritage, but even more importantly, to foster both old and new relationships. Designing a program that is appealing to a newer audience and at the same time engaging and paradigm-shifting for experts is not easy but we are confident we have done just that.

Our robust hybrid programs reflect a philosophy that made IRVA’s last year conference one of its best – that our online participants and experience should not be an afterthought – but instead, they should be made active participants in the overall program that reflects their needs and interests – while at the same time recognizing that if people are going to come all this way to attend an in-person conference, they should be encouraged to spend as much time getting to experience and enjoy each other’s company, in person – rather than sitting there watching a screen.

We are very excited about our extracurricular activities which include an RV themed game night on Thursday, a talent show—open mic night on Friday, and a debate of relevant topics set within a court room drama theatrical setting on Saturday. Equally compelling will be the Monroe Experiential Room and the RV Experimental Booth. We will also have our favorite bookseller back to offer a wide selection of books, audio products and conference souvineers. On Sunday we will be traveling over to the Monroe Institute campus for a tour, additional optional progroms begin at the Monroe Institute, while our online audience get to attend a special sunday program of events.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Debra Lynne Katz, Ph.D.
IRVA President and Conference Manager

While we’d love to see you in person, we understand not everyone can make the trip. IRVA’s online conference was hugely successful last year because we believe that an online conference cannot just be an afterthought – it has to be an event unto itself. 

All in-person speakers for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday programs will be broadcasted into the Zoom call and online attendees will have a chance to ask them questions. Attendees will have opportunities to interact with each other to make this experience as social as possible. 

Further, on Sunday afternoon from 1 pm to 5 pm, there will be a special online program with a lineup of speakers and guest MCs who will just be on Zoom. In-person attendees will be on tour at this time, but they can watch the program during the recording later.

Note: The conference video will be available to all those registered online at no additional charge following the conference. The video series will cost significantly more than the online conference fee, so even if you can’t be there the whole time you may consider registering.