Last year, Luis de Matos, Marco Tempest and others blazed a major trail by creating the Essential Magic Conference. Completely online, the conference brought dizzying magic, brilliant theory and excellent presentations to thousands of members worldwide through the comfort of their own Internet connections. The conference removed the travel and distance barrier, and brought many of us closer together. It taught some powerful effects (lookin’ at you, Dani DaOrtiz’ marked card routine and Max Maven’s Res-Cue) and covered some powerful theory to developing your own tricks (lookin’ at you, Guy Hollingsworth and your packet trick).

Of course they are doing it again. It’d be a tragedy if they DIDN’T.

This year’s Essential Magic Conference, like last year’s, will be packed with magic experts and legends. Names include Akira Fujii, Dani DaOrtiz, the Bucks, David Berglas, Rene Lavand, Lennart Green and more. Special guest David Copperfield (you may know him as one of your main influences in magic) will give a special presentation that includes answering questions from convention members. All in all, 33 speakers are part of this year’s conference.

More info is coming. In the meantime, get registered now for three days of powerful magic education. Registration is $90, and includes access to all sessions. As a bonus, you’ll receive DVD copies of all the sessions.

If you didn’t attend last year’s session, you can get access to all the sessions and this year’s conference for $135.

Maybe someone should tell the guys at the Essential Magic Conference” that the first online magic meetup of its kind is over. Has been for more than two days now.

On second thought, NO ONE should tell them, because the EMC guys keep putting out great videos and pictures, such as the wrapup pic above (tip of the thumb tip to Dodd Vickers of Magic Newswire for snaring it). We’ve found vids of Cyril Takayama learning De’vo’s Cobra cut, Barry and Stuart explaining a nefarious conspiracy and all sorts of other goodies on the conference’s Facebook page. And organizers continue to update the videos portion of their site with their magic interviews.

For those of you who attended, there’s some new information about upcoming members-only vids on the EMC blog. In a nutshell: The sessions are getting uploaded, they will be in high def and full DVDs will go out before the end of the year. Make sure your profile is updated with your current mailing address.

And in case you missed it, the dates for EMC 2011 have been set: July 7-9. We were proud to be involved in this outstanding inaugural event, and can’t wait to see what Marco, Luis and all the others cook up for next year.

What an incredible event the Essential Magic Conference has been. If you didn’t get registered, the guys have a present for you: You can watch the final session for free.

The session features performances by Gazzo, Mike Caveney, Luis de Matos and Ton Onosaka and a talk from William Kalush, co-author of “The Secret Life of Houdini,” discussing “The Secret Way to Secrets.”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FINAL SESSION. It starts at 4:30 p.m. Eastern (U.S.).

Please tell us you’ve registered for the Essential Magic Conference. If you have, then you know how awesome the frog in a box was. If not, you still can. And remember that when you register, you get to choose a free Ellusionist download.

Up for later today: Max Maven will talk about the first close-up magician, De’vo vom Shattenreich, Dani DaOrtiz and Cyril Takayama will perform and Paul Kieve will break down five tricks you’d never see in a magic show.

If you still need convincing, forum Moderator RealityOne found this video of Jeff McBride, president and founder of the Mystery Magic School, speaking for the conference.

It’ll really be here next week, won’t it?

The Essential Magic Conference will be held from July 15-17. You already know you have to be there: 33 speakers for $75? You kiddin’ me? On top of that, Ellusionist is sending a free download to EMC registrants. When you register before the deadline, you’ll get instructions on how to download your free video.

Here’s the latest two videos from EMC, featuring two incredible magicians:

Cyril Takayama:

Paul Draper: