the blog
This blog is really intended as a place for me to express my own personal views on professional magic, if you are a prospective client then I would suggest that the Portfolio page is of more use to you. Please feel free to comment on any of the posts and be aware that these are my opinions at the time of writing and I can change them whenever I feel like it!
18.07.2010
Productivity, Trade Show Magic
So now you’ve got the gig what’s next? Well here are a few points that might help:
1. Meet with the client at least once before the show if there’s time. Make sure you know exactly what they want and talk through script ideas if you have them in place. I would always try to avoid “walking through” a half prepared idea as it may not come across in the office environment. Some people feel that charging for these meetings is worthwhile, personally I see it as part of the service and if you charge a good daily rate for the show then you can afford to be “all inclusive.”
2. Do your homework. Ask for and read everything that the client will have on the stand during the show, (or at least look at it). Even if you don’t remember most of it it will help you understand the current approach your client is taking and which particular products they’re focusing on at the show other than the one (s) your pitching. One of the things that I love about trade show magic is learning about other businesses and how they operate.
3. Pick you position. If you get the opportunity have a look at the stand deign and offer advice as to where you will be best situated. If you can be “built into” the stand that’s even better as it gives you instant kudos and makes attracting people a lot easier.
4. Be heard. Try to get a sound system if you can or “hire” them your own for a small additional fee. Amplification not only saves your voice but it means you can relax the tone of your voice and bottom line it will help you attract a bigger audience.
5. Make it official. Send a contract to the client outlining what style of show you will do and your fee structure.. Are you working continuously or just on the hour? You need to have it signed and sealed so nobody has an unpleasant surprise. It’s important to have a set of terms & conditions that outline what happens if the show is canceled etc. that the client will read before they send a signed copy back to you. Also you it’s a good idea to have the client look over your finished scripts for the show so they know what you’re going to be doing. Obviously only do this if you’re SURE that you will present the routine you’re showing them. If it’s just an idea then don’t sell it a s a certainty.
6. Lead times. If you’re providing “magic gifts” for the client to give away make sure you have enough time to get them produced and delivered. Get them delivered to your own address whenever possible as then you can have a look at the quality for yourself and deal with any problems. Also if you had to over order then you can keep hold of the surplus as examples to show future clients. Send the client some samples but take them to the show yourself – it’s the only way you can be sure they’ll get there.
7. Rehearse your branded pitch! Okay I know it sounds like a no brainer but if you’re unsure about the pitch then I guarantee that by the afternoon of the first day you’ll be doing ambitious card and the branded trick will be consigned to the close-up case. It’s happened to me many times and it will leave you feeling unsatisfied about the show even if the client is happy. Even if you know the trick well you still need to rehearse it with the new, branded script or you could find yourself slipping into your normal routines. You should also rehearse your “build” routines and lines, which will help you attract a crowd. “What brings you to the show today?” is a standard “open” trade show question – surely we can be a bit more creative.
8. Book you car parking in advance! Boring I know, but it will save you quite a bit of money, (especially at shows at ECO in London). If you can get a extra bit of cash for accommodation instead letting the client sort it out, then do. Firstly you will normally be able to book cheaper and closer than the hotel the client is using and secondly the client will probably want a few drinks in the evening which isn’t always the best idea. If you’re in a different hotel you can make your excuses and leave at a reasonable time.
9. An old favorite. If you have new shoes wear them in before the show. The same goes for new shirts – wash them before the show. Trust me 3 days on your feet is tough in the best conditions why make it tougher.
10. Arrive safely and on time. If you can travel to your hotel the day before the event even if it’s only a couple of hours from where you live. Getting up at 5 is not impossible but a long day just got a hell of a lot longer.
So there you go, not exactly rocket science but hopefully useful. If you have any tips of your own or any comments I’d love to hear them.
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10.07.2010
Creativity, Performance, Productivity
Earlier in the week I posted a request on Twitter for professional magicians to give what they considered to be the best advice they could give a newcomer to the profession. I’ve listed some of the responses at the bottom of this post and as this is my blog I have commented on the general themes. I’ll break it down into three key areas, (it’s the engineer in me):
The Foundations.
Personal Approach
Business Approach
The Foundations:
This has to be the best starting point for every performer – develop your skill set. This doesn’t mean learn a thousand tricks and then get your business cards printed, it’s more about quality than quantity. You need the core routines that you can build your career on. For me it was the cups and balls. That one trick has allowed me to get thousands of performance hours in front of real people and it is still the bedrock of my professional repertoire, (some people think it’s the only trick I know!) The truth is that I now have a substantial body of material but without that foundation I would have spread myself too thinly and that would have made progress very difficult. If you have a desire to perform close-up then 5 solid tricks will allow you to work drinks receptions and dinners, but they must be SOLID, PROFESSIONAL ROUTINES, not shoddy pieces of crap that you think “will do.” The time you spend performing these tricks in front of a live audience will benefit you far more than the hours you could waste learning new material that will probably never see the light of day. Until you start performing you’re always practicing. Your confidence will grow and so will your reputation as a worker and that as they say is priceless. Too many magicians “buy” their careers and then try to grow into it but if you take the time to get the basics right you will be successful – it’s a universal in any business! So I don’t care if you can cut the cards twenty different ways with your teeth your still not a magician until you can stand up in front of an ambivalent crowd and entertain them with a top-change. So get the f**k off YouTube and get in front of some real people with a trick that doesn’t work itself. You’ll thank me for it!
Personal Approach:
The advice you will often hear is “be yourself.” Well I think that’s only part of the message. It needs to be broken down into more manageable chunks. I mean how can you be yourself if you have no idea who you are in the first place? I wrote about this in
my last post. You need to define for yourself what it is about you that want to convey in your performances before you can be yourself. This doesn’t mean going on a retreat and taking a swim in “lake you”, it simply means that you must be comfortable with who you are and that is something that only comes with time. Confidence and arrogance are very similar in tone but are a world apart in the way they are perceived. Pat Page once called me arrogant and looking back on it he may have been right. I was close to finding my confidence on stage but I hadn’t quite crossed that line when he made that comment about me 15 years ago. I was in a part of my life as a performer that found me moving from the street into the “corporate magic” world – on the street I was confident but on stage I wasn’t and so I compensated with arrogance, not intentionally but by default. I don’t want to sound like the journeyman but it does take time and the less experience you have the more carefully you have to control your “confidence.” It doesn’t work for everyone, some people are just arrogant and all the time in world won’t change it. Which brings me onto my next point
“Be yourself” is too wide a window of opportunity, it allows you to get lazy. No-one has to work at “being them self.” You are you regardless of the effort you put in. What you should try to be is the best of yourself – always.
Business Approach:
Do you have one? What is your marketing strategy? Do you have a CRM system? Do you issue contracts with a full set of T&C’s attached? What was the last business book you read? Are you using social media to boost your profile? You get the picture.
Being a professional magician is about magic 20% of the time, about business 80% of the time and a job all the time. I’m obsessive about business (but that doesn’t mean I’m any good at it), and I’m always learning. I am far more in awe of magicians who demonstrate an aptitude for business and a true entrepreneurial spirit than a good faro shuffle. Some have both skills and I try to make them my friends. I’m shallow like that. You should approach the business of magic with the same passion that you approach the magic itself. The first will enable you to exceed your expectations in the second. I don’t believe that you have to be a starving artist to be truly creative, in fact the more on top of the day to day running of your business you are the more time and space you will have to spend on your artistic projects. Nothing kills creativity like a VAT return! And the business side of things really feeds the artistic side. To create good marketing material you need to fully understand what it is you do. Creating good sales copy that doesn’t read like a yellow pages ad is hard and a creative challenge, it forces you to focus on what it is that makes you unique. Business starts in the same way as your magic with strong foundations. A few really good clients are worth more than a hundred nameless faces who book you once. Again it’s quality not quantity. If you know Paretos principle then you’ll understand that 20% of your clients will bring you 80% of your work, so it’s important to build relationships and try not to piss too many people off. Business is about people and so is being a magician. They go very well together.
So there it is. Easy isn’t it? Get good, be nice and always answer the phone.
Here are some of the responses I got from my initial request, feel free to add your own comments, actually I insist.
Buy Michael Ammar’s card miracles 1 & 2 and Mark Wilson’s book of magic!
Get on stage. Work for free. Pay to work. The more stage time you get the better you’ll be.
As woody allen said – ”99% of success is turning up”.
Be yourself. And if that doesn’t work. Be someone else.
Try not to do to much magic ,it only upsets people.
Also remember to pay some attention to the ugly women
The tricks aren’t important, you and your interaction with audience are.
Smile
Take ur wallet with you on stage/performing
Remember your job is to entertain.
Don’t neglect the business side of showbiz!
You can’t beat getting in front of people. I joined an amateur variety group when I was 15 and did regular charity gigs. Helped me hone routines in the early days.
Don’t always listen to advice from family and friends. They’ll usually say you’re great when you’re not necessarily.
Believe in what you’re doing. Believe what you’re doing. If so, they will believe too. Your target is to enjoy, you and your audience.
Jugglers will hate you – mimes won’t talk to you – and it doesn’t matter if David Copperfield bought Claudia, Kate Moss still prefers magicians.
Buy “Marketing for Dummies” and anything by Seth Godin and read each twice. Finally, don’t copy what others are doing.
Learning to sell and market yourself is 100 x more important than learning card tricks.
Distinguish between magic and tricks! Understand rapport and confidence. Overcome fear!
Be yourself and if you think something works have the courage to do it, even if most disgree, who’s to say that they are right.
20.06.2010
Creativity, Performance, Productivity, Street Performing
As a street performer I became very familiar with edges. Your edge is defined as the front of your audience and it’s vital you get it right if your show is to succeed. Some performers would lay down rope or draw a chalk circle, others, magicians normally, would start working at the edge and then back away leaving the spectators in the perfect position. Over the years I tried all of these in my attempts to set the perfect edge. On the street learning to create an edge was crucial.
So why is it so important?
Edges outlined your performance area but they also outlined your intentions to perform and attracted interest. The act of building the edge was the method as well as the outcome. Your edge also determined the scope of your performance. Set your edge to far away and you’ll not be able to create the energy you need to fill the show, too close and you cut off sight lines and therefore vital income streams. Creating the boundary also built your “4th wall” , an osmotic layer that provided a means of filtering what came in and what left the performance. Shows could not risk being a two way street, with equal input from either side of the wall. Control was always needed to prevent things being taken over by the masses. The edge contained the energy of the show – if the wall was breached and holes appeared then energy would be sucked out of your show faster than you could create it . Skilled performers will plug the gap as fast as possible stopping the show until they have.
Boundaries and edges are essential. They are a force field that provide identity and focus.
If you don’t spend time outlining your boundaries and intentions then you can’t expect others to understand what your place in the world is. You may well be ignored or taken for a ride. Without your boundaries clearly stated you are more exposed to ridicule and criticism by people who just don’t “get it”.
You need to know where your boundaries lie or you can’t ever know how far you can go in pursuit of your goals. Boundaries act as guide lines that have a bearing on all the decisions you make. If you set them too far away you’ll never be able to fill the space and you’ll eventually be lost in the crowd. Set them too close and you’ll never extend your grasp, you’ll feel hemmed in and your performance will be crushed.
If your edge isn’t defined then it becomes difficult to know what was you and what wasn’t. Your ideas and thoughts will become mixed with those of other people and again you’ll lose yourself in the crowd. You run the risk of pursuing someone else’s dream and not your own, of becoming a second rate version of someone else and not a first rate version of yourself, (to paraphrase Judy Garland). Performers are often told to “be yourself” but without boundaries who is that? Hey it’s easier to be someone else, someone who has clearly defined who and what they are already – but that’s a sure route to deep dissatisfaction.
As performers we offer ourselves up as a finished product but the truth can be very different. We are often ill-defined parodies of others, fuzzy and blurred around the edges with only a packet of cards separating us from the people we’re performing to. A magician, a corporate entertainer, a mindreader, a magical entertainer, close-up magician, blah, bah, blah. What is it that make you unique? Where is your edge? Have you set your boundaries?
Go ahead draw a chalk circle that says exactly who you are and then work that edge. Use it to create interest, build on it and take control of your performance before you lose yourself in the crowd.
14.06.2010
Creativity, Productivity
I have been looking at the results of a short survey that I did and I wanted to share the results with you.
But first thank you to everyone who took the time to get involved. Also thank you to the people who left so much positive feedback about the blog. So here are the results:
Performance Interest
Performance Skills – 70%
Act development – 85%
Technique – 37%
Effects & Routines – 65%
Non Performance Interest
Sales & Marketing – 57%
Web & Print Design – 30%
Business Development – 57%
Personal Development – 57%
Preferred Format
PDF – 12%
Video – 43%
Blog – 50%
Live Presentation – 65%
Now to be fair it wasn’t a great survey on my part and I probably didn’t think it through as well as I should have but the results were interesting. So here is my take on it:
It was good to see that many of you are intent on improving as performers which is something I want to blog more about. I will also be releasing a few effects and routines over the next few months when I get round to it. The biggest concern you all had was act development and so I will try to give as much valuable input as I can and will use my own progress as an example. It’s easy to build an act but very difficult to build a good one that people will pay to see.
Business and personal development didn’t rate as highly as I wanted but then this is a blog for magicians! I will keep writing about these however as it is important and there was enough interest to justify it. I promise not to give any design advice – probably best.
The last bit is a little confusing as you want live presentations but no video – difficult on-line but all I can assume is that you meant you preferred Live generally for information and not just from me. Like I said bad questionnaire. I am planning a number of online video presentations and will hopefully have some of those out before the autumn.
So I will finish with one last question: What do you want – If you could have me build the ideal “product” for you, related to magic and the business of magic, what would it be? Answers in the comments box please.
31.05.2010
Creativity
So I’ve just posted some lecture notes that you can download – (click on the picture to go to the correct page), and I know for a fact that some people will take pleasure in knocking them. Why am I so sure? Well to start with they’re not finished, infact they are properly incomplete. There are no pictures, references, and proper credits are few and far between. But you see they are a good idea in the making and that’s what throws people. Most people want to see the finished , shiny product or they struggle to see the potential, but I’m not like that. I like the fact that ideas develop and I like to share the process. It does mean however that people will critcise, but I’d rather they do that now and not wait until I’ve spent hours of sweat and tears producing the finished article, which by the way some people will still criticise.
Good ideas (as I kind of said in this post), don’t always run a smooth course. In fact the best ideas are always going to piss some people off so they will always be criticsed – if they didn’t they would be average, bland ideas and there’s enough of those around. But don’t confuse pissing people off with a good idea, the two don’t always go hand in hand – it could just be a bad idea, but you’ll never know if you don’t try it or at least talk about it.
Your best ideas are at their most vunerable before they even see the light of day, a simple comment from someone can plant a seed of doubt that will cause you to ditch an idea long before it has even had a chance to splutter into life. If someone says your idea won’t work ask if they have any good reasons before you question the idea itself. There’s a pretty good chance they won’t have any real reason other than the fact they can’t see what you see. Just because someone doesn’t “like” an idea doesn’t mean it wont work, it simply means they have a different view of the world to you. You have to keep reminding yourself of the feeling you had when the idea first popped into your head – carry that with you . Other people’s opinions are just that , opinions – feel free to ignore them or file them away for future reference, it’s your idea not theirs.
Have you ever had a routine or effect that you have shown to someone and they’ve not responded in the way you wanted them to? But you knew, deep down you knew that it was a good routine, so you persisted. If the negative response of one person is enough to make you waver then maybe you don’t have the commitment needed to make the idea work, maybe because it’s a bad idea.
Good ideas are like good books, you just can’t bring yourself to throw them away.
Please download the notes, share them, read them, criticise them if you want but let me know why or we’ll never get any better.
27.05.2010
Creativity
I have a few ideas for “stuff” that people might find interesting or maybe they won’t – who knows?. So to try and cut through the confusion I’d like to ask you what you want and so here’s a little survey. It should take you about 30 seconds to fill in which isn’t too bad. Thanks in advance, hopefully something good will come out of it.
17.05.2010
Creativity, Productivity, Trade Show Magic
I recently performed magic at a Trade Show for a regular client of mine, the difference this time was that I sold in the idea of doing a big box trick as opposed to just the close-up magic. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The initial response to the idea was very good, when I described it in the pre-show meetings it sounded great, but then like all good ideas the reality of implementation took over. As I drove across country to pick up the illusion the shine seemed to fade a bit. Loading the illusion into my car in the snow and then unloading it into my over filled garage, well the shine faded even more. The process of re-furbing the illusion so that it was fit for purpose really started to fade the greatness of this great idea and finally delivering the dam thing to my client and building it in their offices for them to look not at all impressed made me think perhaps this was a mistake.
Move on a few weeks. The illusion arrives at the show the day before we open with the graphics that had been designed by the client now on the box. I built the box on the stand but I still hadn’t had a chance to run through my presentation with the prop itself. That I’m told will have to happen on the day the show opens – now if there’s a reason to be concerned….
Day one: The girl who is getting in the box is an actress booked by the client, (budget driven outcome), and has never been in an illusion before, oh and by the way she’s not arriving until 09:30, the same time that the show opens. My great idea has become a source of internal panic but I can’t show that to the client and in the back of my mind there is still a glimmer of the original concept keeping me positive. When my accidental assistant arrives she does a great job, but we realise that there’s a sight line problem and spectators can see certain things I don’t want them to see. (Keep thinking about the concept!!!) I perform the illusion about 6 times on day one with mixed feedback from the client and have to stay after the show to make some alterations.
Day two: I make sure that we perform the illusion immediately so that we get over the inertia that can set in if you don’t “just do it”. The show isn’t as busy as hoped so I find that at times I’m having to run through the presentation to literally no-one, but that doesn’t matter, I’m starting to see the concept and the messaging take shape. The client is more positive about the whole thing, I think they can see it too.
Day three: It’s working – the messaging is right on target and we are getting larger crowds. To be honest I’m not sure everyone is “fooled” by the illusion but a lot of people are making positive comments about the way the presentation worked as a whole and that to me is the main thing with Trade Show Magic.
Ideas have a tendency to fade in their glory over time and the hard work necessary to make them a reality can kill them dead. With any kind of performance a negative comment or a less than perfect reaction can lead to you ditching the whole thing way too soon. Seth Godin calls this phase
“The Dip” and if your idea is going to succeed you need to push through this or make a decision to stop.
A decision not a submission. If an idea has legs it will keep running even over the most difficult terrain and you need to keep reminding yourself of your original concept to help maintain momentum.
How many ideas or routines have you “conceptualised” but then allowed to fail because of the level of difficulty or the pain involved in bringing it to life? No-one said it was meant to be easy but it is usually worthwhile.
03.05.2010
Performance, Productivity
There are a number of ways to make yourself feel better about yourself and the work that you do. One of the simplest is a method used a great deal in the entertainment industry is to knock the other guy. I mean if you see someone performing you can easily slag off their performance and by doing that you will lift yourself above what they have done and hence you feel better. Even more impressive is to criticise their performance and then build yourself up as the expert by stating how you would have done it differently. That will increase the gap between you and them – you’ll look really good then. Just go on YouTube and look at the comments that people leave – very often it just condemns or insults the person who has posted and that can only have the effect of making the individual who left the comment feeling powerful. Maybe the tone of the comment can suggest that you are the expert, slightly patronising, all knowing. Yeah that’s the way. I do it, you do it. The reality is that unless your comment is going to improve the performance or help then you should probably shut up! Oh and if you are “the expert” lift people up to your level, don’t cling on to your knowledge, share it and share it freely. Anyone who is putting themselves in the line of fire deserves a degree of respect and isn’t necessarily a sitting duck for ridicule, you don’t become the smartest person in the class by throwing stones at the poor sod whose struggling, especially in the glasshouse that we’re in. There’s merit it pretty much every sincere attempt to deliver a performance regardless of the end result.
Alternatively you could just focus on making yourself a better performer than you are at the moment and forget about where that puts you in the grand scheme of things. You could look forward and towards those people who have something to teach you and stop looking back at the ones you feel a degree of superiority over waiting for an opportunity to stick the boot in. You can stand on the shoulders of giants because they have shoulders broad enough but if you stand on the weak you will more than likely crush them and the problem with that is that you will be at the same height you were when you started, and you’ll have all kinds of shit on your boots.
Like I said, I’ve done it more than once and it’s never made me a better performer. So if I’ve ever slagged you off, ridiculed your performance or knocked you when you were down – I apologise. I’m no expert but if I can help make you a better performer then I will. All you have to do is ask.
21.04.2010
Productivity
It’s been more than too long since I posted but I won’t make any apologies as that’s just the way things are.
I made a lot of BIG promises regarding this blog and my other projects at the beginning of the year and have not really matched up to my own expectations. which is frustrating but not fatal. I still intend to continue with this blog and will eventually get the second project moving, but I hit a wall. Two months ago I was deep in the process of writing a keynote speech that became 9000 words long and required serious editing. I’m not naturally prolific when it comes to writing, but you’ve probably figured that out, and the whole thing left me feeling pretty exhausted and like the morning after a big party – FLAT.
That’s not to say I haven’t achieved anything, the last 3 weeks have been busy, busy , busy. Just not writing.
I’ve been obsessing about, (not writing about), my desire to eliminate large amounts of “stuff” from my life and this has resulted in me finally making the move to get rid of my garage and return it to the green, green grass of home. This has meant emptying nearly 60 cubic meters worth of stuff so that the whole thing can be taken down, which is happening in 2 days time! The process has been exhausting, but physically not mentally. Mentally it has been one of the most refreshing things I’ve done in a long time. I still have a long way to go with regards eliminating the useless from my life but I feel I’m making moves in the right direction. I can already feel the fresh air I’ve created by making space, and it feels good.
I’ve been running again, (not writing), after a period of really not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. I need exercise in my life and not doing it is fatal for my mental well being. I must have an endorphin fix at least 4 times a week and the good weather has made the 5:30 am starts a little easier.
I’ve been reading more, NOT writing. The direction of the keynote speech and the new website has meant that I felt the need, and desire to read more about self development and motivation. (The irony isn’t lost on me.) I’ve always been geared towards personal improvement, and as I head towards a probable mid-life crisis it seems that I am beginning to focus in on those aspects of my life that I have always wanted to be something that they’re not at the moment. It’s quite a refreshing feeling to realise that I don’t know nearly as much as I thought I did, infact there’s quite a lot of empty space here as well.
So this hasn’t really been a post about much, even the title is misleading. I stopped doing something because I had other things to do and that’s about it. I have a really busy few months ahead and I want to write again. I’ll just have to wait and see….
