Speaker & Mentalist

Rekindling Wonder

Vinny DePonto is a mentalist and keynote speaker who uses the psychology and wonder to help leadership teams and conference audiences reconnect with curiosity, presence, and each other - creating experiences people talk about long after they leave the room.

The Problem

Most corporate events suffer from the same invisible disease: people show up physically, but check out mentally. Annual conferences feel like obligation. Leadership off-sites produce polished decks that gather dust. Teams return to their desks unchanged.
The root cause isn’t the agenda. It’s the absence of wonder.
Wonder is not a soft concept. It is the neurological state that precedes genuine engagement, creative thinking, and emotional connection. When a room full of leaders experiences real wonder together, something shifts. Walls come down. Presence returns. People remember.
The Solution

Vinny doesn’t just perform at your event. He transforms it.
Through a combination of world-class mentalism and a keynote built on the neuroscience and philosophy of wonder, Vinny creates a shared experience that lingers long after he leaves. Attendees don’t just applaud — they lean into the person next to them and say: did that just happen?
That moment of collective awe is not an accident. It is the product of a lifetime spent studying the mechanics of wonder — and a personal story that begins with a dusty shoebox, a blood-red silk handkerchief, and a grandfather he never met.

The Story Behind the Work

Vinny’s relationship with wonder began at age six, watching as his father unearthed a dusty old shoebox from an upstairs closet. Inside were magic tricks, novelties, and ephemera from the 1940s - belonging to his late grandfather Vinny DePonto Sr., a man who had learned sleight-of-hand to entertain his comrades while stationed in India during World War II.

His father pulled out a wrinkled blood-red silk handkerchief, rolled up his sleeves, and crushed it into his closed fist. With a clunky wave, he opened his hand. Nothing. Gone.

That moment did something irreversible. It revealed that wonder is not about tricks. It is about connection - to a feeling, to a person, to something that isn’t physically there anymore but remains vivid and alive in the minds of those who loved it.

When his father finally revealed the secret weeks later, it was almost comically simple. And that was the deeper lesson: the things that move us most are rarely complicated. They just require someone willing to create the conditions for them.

Vinny has spent his career creating those conditions for others.

The Keynote: The Necessity Of Wonder

Format: 60–90 minute keynote with integrated mentalism - available as a standalone presentation or combined with an interactive welcome/dinner performance.

Audience: Leadership teams, annual conference attendees, corporate retreat participants.

What Audiences Experience

Collective Awe

A shared moment of genuine wonder that bonds a room instantly
Reframed Thinking

The psychology of wonder applied to leadership, creativity, and engagement
Lasting Conversation

Attendees still talking about it days later - not about the tricks, but about the ideas

Core Themes

Why wonder is the missing ingredient in most organizational cultures
How certainty kills creativity — and what to do about it
The neuroscience of awe and its effect on team connection
How leaders can deliberately create conditions for curiosity
The power of not-knowing in a world obsessed with answers

"Vinny was the perfect closing keynote for our annual customer conference. He brought storytelling, magic, and mentalism together to create an extremely engaging session that he also connected back to our company's value proposition and our clients' focus flawlessly. Our attendees were smiling, laughing, in awe of Vinny's talents, and left feeling inspired!"

-Maddie Zingeser - Senior Director, Field Marketing - Wunderkind

You might be the right fit if…

Your team is technically functional but emotionally disconnected
Your annual conference needs an experience, not just a speaker
Your leadership offsite always ends the same way: inspired for a week, then back to default
You want your event to be the one people actually remember this year
Your culture talks about innovation but hasn’t felt genuinely curious in a while

Primary Verticals

Leadership Off-sites — intimate, high-stakes, transformation-focused
Annual Conferences — large-format, memorable keynote anchor
Sales Kickoffs — energy, belief, and reconnection to purpose
Corporate Retreats — full-day or multi-day immersive experiences

What Clients Say

"Vinny was the perfect closing keynote for our annual customer conference. He brought storytelling, magic, and mentalism together to create an extremely engaging session that he also connected back to our company's value proposition and our clients' focus flawlessly. Our attendees were smiling, laughing, in awe of Vinny's talents, and left feeling inspired!"

-Maddie Zingeser - Senior Director, Field Marketing - Wunderkind
“As someone who produces large-scale events for a living, I’m always looking for moments that truly surprise and delight an audience. Vinny DePonto delivered exactly that at SAS Innovate. His performance was incredible — the audience was completely captivated, and the reaction afterward was overwhelming. People were still talking about it days later. Vinny was also a joy to work with: professional, thoughtful, and completely dialed in. He’s also just an incredibly kind and generous person. I would recommend him to any event planner looking to create a genuine ‘wow’ moment.”

-Garrett Putman - Senior Director, Global Events & Executive Briefing Center - SAS
“Our 2026 event theme was Exploring the Outer Limits of Health innovation. The brain is one of the last frontiers of medicine, so much to learn! Vinny was a incredible addition to our esteemed group of thought leaders, pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the mind. Bravo to Vinny for astonishing an audience that is not only brilliant but not easily entertained. It was a moving experience for our guests who personally participated with Vinny. Highly recommend Vinny.

-Gloria Caulfield - Vice President of Strategic Alliances - Tavistock