We discuss how to build your magic tricks into magic sets that flow together. Constructing a magic act.

One of the most common questions our magicians get asked is how to order magic tricks into sets for performing to the public. Let’s look at the types of magic tricks that can be built into working magic sets, and how to order them into your act to get the best results.

Getting ready.

The first step is to understand what kind of magician you are. Do you enjoy comedy magic? Perhaps you prefer a more serious style, featuring hard hitting mentalism? Your magic style should dictate the shape and style the magic sets, and how you will be perceived by your audience. Take time to decide exactly which style of presentation would suit you best. Choose tricks that compliment and communicate the ‘style of magician’ you want to be.

Once you have a style, it’s time to build magic sets. We will build 3 magic sets, each containing 3 magic tricks. The three sets will each have a different pace, designed for specific parts of an event, and types of spectator.

Set one: The approach.

Magic Trick 1) The Impression.

The first magic trick will be your opener. This is the trick you will use when you join the first group of the evening. It needs to be quick, with a goal of capturing the attention. The magic trick must show that you are professional and skilled. When you join your first group, they may not know that a magician has been booked, so may not have anticipation of the magic they are going to see. Choose a magic trick that requires little initial attention. Think quick, fast, and impressive! A simple coin routine works well in this position, especially a 3 fly coins across. Perhaps a colour change card trick with a little flourish built in? If you use comedy, make sure you get a laugh with a strong line. The aim is to make everyone notice, and focus on the magic as quickly as possible.

Magic Trick 2) The Build.

After your opener magic trick, you will have the group engaged with your magic. This is the time to perform a longer trick that will stand up to focused attention. You are now interacting with the group. Start using spectators names, and get them involved. It’s this point that will most often have new spectators joining the group to see what is going on. Open up the circle if you can. Involve a few spectators, and look for magic that takes place in their hands. This could be a strong card routine, an expanded sponge balls set, chop cup routine. The aim is to relate to the group and expand it.

Magic Trick 3) The Shout Out.

Your final magic trick in this set should cause people to freak out. The aim is to have people getting noisy about what they have just seen. The goal is to capture the attention of other people in the room. Go for a magic trick that blows people away, and gets a round of applause, or some high fives. A bill in lemon, an omni deck, a bottle through table. This trick is a closer, so should end in an applause cue stance, with your arms open.

Keep it to three.

Each set should contain maybe 3 tricks. You want people to remain hungry for more. Explain that you need to visit everyone, but will show them more later.

Set Two : The group next door.

This set follows set 1 as you move to a group nearby. It may be the case that some of the first group will follow you as they want to see more. The new group may have watched a little of you magic from a distance as they heard the reactions form the first group. You now need a new set of magic tricks to perform for the new group.

Magic Trick 1) Moving house.

You are already warmed up, and the reactions you have been getting from your first set, will have been notices around the room. This first magic trick also needs to be quick and capture the attention. This magic set doesn't need to demonstrate your abilities as much as the first trick in set 1. A three card monte works well in this position, or an ambitious card routine. Short, punchy, and lots of climaxes and the secret to opener tricks. Your aim here is to move to the new group and get them engaged quickly to keep the buzz about you going from the first groups reactions.

Magic Trick 2) The Meat.

Now is the perfect position for a more meaty routine. Perhaps some mind reading, metal bending or a levitation routine. Play to the whole group and expand it. Card magic works well here as you could do a multiple selection routine such as the MRD deck by Liam Montier.

Magic Trick 3) The Big One.

To end the second set, we recommend that you hit them hard with a signature piece that will cause a stir. Ring flight, ring in walnut, bottle through body. Something that makes everyone applaud and freak out.

Set Three) The Circus.

You’re in the middle of the room and at a point where a large group is all around you. Most of the people have already seen your magic from sets 1 and 2. This set is almost like a theatre show.

Magic Trick 1) Helpers.

Use 2 or 3 helpers for a routine and bring them into the center of the group. In the hands chop cup routine, a rope routine like fiber optics extended, or a mind reading routine may be perfect here.

Magic Trick 2) Comedy.

Look for a magic trick that allows a few of the spectators to be comic if their personalities suit this. A street hypnosis routine, or an arm bend/twist routine would work well here.

Magic Trick 3) The Closer.

To end The circus set, you need your most dramatic closer. Something that gets 3-4 people joining you to help. Bring in some interaction from tables near you as well, and address the whole room. At the end, go for an applause stance. If you are performing to a single table, have the guests stand during the trick as this is a feature effect and should aim to be as visible as possible.

It's about pace.

So there you have three sets of magic tricks. Each set designed to be used at a different point in an event. You repeat sets 1 and 2 around the room, working towards the middle of the room, stage, or towards a top table. If you have the whole rooms attention, set 3 brings everything to a climax.

The pace for each set is different. Building from fast and flashy, to engaged and interactive.

Once you understand the flow and goal of your magic sets, it becomes much easier to choose new magic tricks to include, and to be able to order the magic tricks you already know, to be positioned within your sets to get the most out of them.

The Magicians Secret Room – Performing Magic Tricks to Small Groups

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

Professional London magician Alan Hudson recently published a great presentation idea for working magicians: The Secret Room.

Close up magicians don't tend to like very small parties. Most walk around magicians have a small range of working magic tricks that have been carefully built into well crafted and paced 'sets'. The magician mixes with the guests and works through a set with each small group. This works well for table magic, or strolling through a large number of people that are gathered together in groups. However, it's a different story when a walk-around magician needs to work with a small party. Here's a few problems that often occur with small guest counts:

All the guests may be together in one large circle, or banquet table.
There are so few guests that everyone sees the magic at the same time.
The guests mix groups continually, so each group contains people that have already seen you perform.
The event has a lot of interruptions, awards, speeches or games planned to run through the whole event.
This new way of presenting your magic is a great way to fix many of the issues that small groups throw at close up magicians.

What is a Magicians Secret Room?

The Secret room is a great way to offer something unique to a client hosting a small party that has less than 100 guests. A private room is allocated as The Secret Room. Alternatively, a special small marquee is set up as The Secret Room. Throughout the event, small groups of guests are invited to enter The Secret Room and discover it's secret. Either the client picks people through the event, or everyone gets a ticket with their allocated time to enter.

The guests are not told what they will find in the Secret Room. This builds excitement, anticipation and curiosity, three things that really help create a buzz, and talking point.

Inside The Secret Room.

At their allocated time, a small group of guests (Between 4-12 depending on the size of the guest list) enter the Secret Room and discover a magician waiting for them inside.

They then receive a 10-15 minute close up magic show just for them. This would be an expanded set that the magician would normally perform during close up walk around magic. However, due to the controlled conditions and lack of interruption, the set can contain magic tricks that would not normally be ideal to perform strolling. The magic is performed in a perfect setting, free from interruptions, noise, and distraction. The experience is much more exciting for the spectators and liberating for the magician. It's like a mini magic theatre set up in the party venue.

After the show, the guests are asked to keep the secret, and not tell anyone about what they found inside the room. That's great fun for the guests, creates a buzz and a surprise for the rest of the guests.

Why The Secret Room works so well.

The guests receive a private and unique show.
All the guests take part, so everyone gets to see the magic.
The magician has control of the situation and can perform magic tricks without the restrictions of pocket space, lighting, sound levels and large group dynamics.
The magic doesn't get interrupted by guests suddenly joining or leaving the group.
The client can build a buzz about the feature event. A secret room pushes the magician as the feature event of the evening.

Building magic packages.

Alan Hudson's idea of the Secret Room is an excellent example of thinking outside the box about the way you present your magic commercially. The Secret room can be marketed to cleints that might otherwise struggle to build magic into their event. The room can be a conference room at a hotel, the dinning room in a private house, or even a custom tent supplied by the magician. It can be a bolt on service supplied by an agent, or a feature marketing package for independent magicians. Most magicians constantly search for magic tricks that will fit their working conditions, rather than looking at ways to change the conditions instead. Alan has taken all of the disadvantages of walk-around close up magic and found a way to remove them. He has an entertaining way of defining his own working conditions for his magic tricks. The Secret Room combines mix and mingle magic with a parlor show, in a package that can be marketed to almost any event. It's a great example of the ingenuity magicians mainly apply to creating magic tricks, being turned onto the commercial presentation of magic to the public.

Do This.

Make a list of all the 'problems' you face when you perform magic to the public. What aspects of performance in the real world do you dislike, or feel could be improved? Think about ways to present the magic in new formats that would solve those issues. Could these new ways of presenting magic be appealing commercially? By changing how you present your magic, could you solve problems that both yourself as a performer, and your client face together?

About Alan Hudson

Alan Hudson is one of the UK's leading close magicians for both corporate and private events. As well as close up magic, he offers a great stand up comedy cabaret show featuring mind reading, magic and stand up comedy. Find out more about Alan and read his excellent blog here

Magicians Testimonials – How to Ask for Feedback

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

What's the most effective way for magicians to get testimonials from people that hire them?

You did a great job performing magic at the show. The crowd loved you and you are finished for the night. Before you pack up your magic props and leave the venue, there is an inportant step to take: Set up your magicians testimonials!

Dominic Reyes recorded a short video for the blog whilst at a magic gig. He talks about how he gets feedback when people hire him to perform magic.

Before you leave your magic gig, make sure you speak to the client and ASK FOR FEEDBACK. It's fine to ask for a magicians testimonials because it shows that you care.

Follow up a week or so later. Send a letter, or ask your agent to contact the cleint and get feedback.

Ask for a copy of any photographs that were taken of you performing your magic.

Ask for a copy of the raw video footage of your magic performance. Ask the client as well as the videographer as that will greatly increase your chances of getting the footage. Video companies get very busy, so unless it's specified from the client, it can often be forgotten.

Send the client some business cards with your follow up letter. They may have been approached after the event and can send them on. It also gived client another reason to contact some of the guests at the event, which is valuable to them if the event was a networking exercise.

Remember to publish your magicians testimonials on your magicians website or in a performers blog. Don't just file them away, they are valuable content that gives social proof to your claims.

If you can, take a friend to a few gigs and ask them to record video testimonials from guests outside of the event or in the outer bar area.Ask permission for this, and it will usually be granted. Your video testimonials don't need to look perfect, they should look real, raw and unedited feedback from people that have just seen you perform.

Taking the time to get feedback is one of the most effective ways you can build up your marketing as a magician. Don't feel shy about asking. Most people love giving their opinion, and will be happy to help.