How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

Nervous Doing Magic Tricks? Do You Have Analysis Paralysis?

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Nervous doing magic tricks

By Dominic Reyes

Ah, yes, do come in. Close the door behind you and take a seat.

Now, your test results are back from the lab, and I’m afraid I have some rather bad news for you. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but the results show you are suffering from Analysis Paralysis…’

Question: Do you have any close up magic tricks you constantly practice, but never show anyone? If you perform regularly, do you take a few tricks to most gigs but never perform them?
Here’s a short fable from Aesop:

The fox and the cat.

One day a cat and a fox were having a conversation. The fox, who was a conceited creature, boasted how clever she was. ‘Why, I know at least a hundred tricks to get away from our mutual enemies, the dogs,’ she said.

‘I know only one trick to get away from dogs,’ said the cat. ‘You should teach me some of yours!’

‘Well, maybe some day, when I have the time, I may teach you a few of the simpler ones,’ replied the fox airily.

Just then they heard the barking of a pack of dogs in the distance. The barking grew louder and louder – the dogs were coming in their direction! At once,  the cat ran to the nearest tree and climbed into its branches, well out of reach of any dog. ‘This is the trick I told you about, the only one I know,’ she called down to the fox. ‘Which of your hundred tricks are you going to use?’

The fox sat silently under the tree, wondering which trick she should use. Before she could make up her mind, the dogs arrived. They fell upon the fox and tore her to pieces.

A single plan that works is better than a hundred doubtful plans. – Source

Just like the fox, many magicians find they have too many choices, and spend too long considering or analysing a routine or their performance before first trying it out. They are victims of a common problem called: Analysis Paralysis.

Analysis paralysis happens when we over-thinking a situation or problem. Spending too much time thinking about a trick, practicing and adjusting the trick or routine so that a decision to perform it is never made. The over thinking, in effect, paralyses the performer.

Because a magic routine can easily become over-complicated, with too many performance options, it’s easier to put it on hold, rather than try it out and change any parts of it, should a problem is found.

As we work to become better magicians, we are always striving for the ideal or “perfect” performance. It’s the fear of making any decision which could lead to a bad performance, when some unknown better solution or technique could be found.

Now, if you have explored more posts on this blog, you may well be thinking: ‘Hang on, many of Dominic’s posts urge me to keep practising and to slow down my learning to improve my sleight of hand. ‘ Yes, that’s true, and I still think most magicians would benefit from not rushing to perform a trick within a few days of receiving it. Analysis Paralysis isn’t about rushing to perform. It’s about finally making a decision that a trick is ready.

Chances are you have a few tricks that are already mastered and ready to go, but you keep working on them, practicing and tweaking the presentation in your practice sessions. In reality, they have been ready for months, but you haven’t ‘drawn a line’ and consciously labeled them as ready to go.

If you do have some tricks that are ‘on hold’ like this, unless you commit to trying them out, they will never be completed.

DO THIS: The next time you perform your magic, give one of these tricks a go. At the end of your normal set is usually the best time to try out a new trick. Once you have shown everyone your main tricks, you can relax and revisit groups of spectators that were particularly receptive to the magic. By this time, you have nothing more to prove. The trick’s presentation won’t be as good as it will be after your 100th performance, but it doesn’t need to be.

You are ‘breaking it in’ with a crowd who are already impressed with you, and on your side.

Every show that passes with that trick still in your close-up bag is an opportunity wasted. You know that you will kick yourself later on, when the trick has made it into your core act that you took so long to try it out.

Basic Magicians Skills – Hello and Goodbye to the Clients that Hire You

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Magicians are not Ninjas - Say Goodbye to the cleint that hired you.
 
 
You may not believe this, but there are a few small, easy and painless magicians skills that many magicians simply aren't doing when they attend gigs:

Saying hello and goodbye to the client.

I'm sure you are just as surprised to hear that as me. It seems complete common sense, but many magicians forget all about this simple courtesy, way too often.

The event is in full swing, and it's professional to arrive acting like you know the drill and can get stuck in without any fuss. Trust me, if you ignore this small politeness, you are doing yourself a disservice in the long run. Here's why:

Hello

Your agent is NOT your client.

It doesn't matter that a faceless entertainment agency hired you as one of a dozen magicians performing that evening. Your real employer is the client who booked the magicians.
The agent just helped them choose which magicians to use.

Before you start, always take the time to meet the 'booker' and thank him or her for booking you.

Don't assume the client already knows you have arrived.

Have you ever hosted a party? It's pretty stressful. Chances are you will be arriving just before the client is expecting their first guests to be turning up. They have a hundred things to attend too. Don't think that this means you aren't one of the 'things' that also needs to be 'arranged'.

Clients worry about entertaining their guests. They are thinking about your arrival well before you even started your journey to the event.

They may seem unconcerned about your arrival, but that's only because, by the time you arrive, they are punch drunk on organizing things, and have switched to 'host' mode.

Make sure you meet the client as soon as you arrive so they can 'tick off' that loose end. The cliant can then move on to the next thing that needs to be checked.

Even if the client isn't attending, they may have left instructions.

You might be performing at a massive corporate event, and think that there is no individual client to meet. This is almost never the case. Someone will have been given the job of organising the entertainment. In fact, in these situations it is even more crucial to greet the client. This will be the event planner. They tend to feel even more compulsion to organise you as they are held responsible by their management. Find out, at the time of booking, who is your contact at the event, and make sure you talk with them before you start. They may have been given important instructions to pass on to you. If you fail to do this, you can be sure the blame will be passed on to YOU by the planner, if the client asks them why something that should of happened didn't.

The client may have VIP guests that need special attention.

You know the saying 'who's the most important person in your company?' The answer is usually not the 'boss'. It's the 'customer'. Well, at a gig the most important person usually IS the boss, rather than the person that booked you. Unless you know where the boss or his/her VIP guests are going to be seated, you may  disappoint the client. They DO need to brief you, and if they don't, you should ask to be briefed. It's vital that you work towards supporting the 'goal' of the event. Without knowing what that it, you are providing an inferior service.

Goodbye:

You don't want the client to think you left early.

Some people think the worst of people as default. Often they can be right to do so. You and I know that you are a professional, but the client may have had a miserable experience in the past with an entertainer, or simply not be that trusting a person. Saying goodbye, shows you stayed as long as you were booked to do so, and by implication you went down well and enjoyed working at the event.

If the client did not see you leave, he or she  can only go by the feedback from the people around them, that saw you. What if that person tells the client you were awesome but that they only saw you at their table, at the start of the dinner, what conclusions could the client make? Ensure that the client has no doubt that you completed your contractual obligation to them.

Even if, they are busy, they are expecting you.

Do assume that, just because, the client is dancing in the middle of the dance floor; they are not expecting a goodbye. It's essential that you wait until you can say goodbye. Looking back, the client may forget how swept up in the evening they were, but they will not forget that they didn't see you leave.

The client may be planning a thank you shout out.

Imagine you are getting in your car and driving out of the venue car park. The building is getting smaller and smaller in your rear view mirror.

Meanwhile, in the room the client walks up to a mic and asks for a massive thank you to the magician. The room falls silent as everyone looks around, wondering where you are. Someone laughs at the back of the room, and the client shrugs, makes a joke about you and moves on with the speech, awkwardly.  Don't let this EVER happen.. I was once a guest at an event, when this happened. In fact, I was the person at the back of the room that was a little drunk, and laughed out loud as everyone searched for the magician. The host (an old friend) ended up asking the guests to applaud me as the only magician left in the room.

You get to ask for a testimonial

Saying goodbye isn't just about the client. Getting feedback as you leave is gratifying (Although you should not put too much weight on compliments at a gig). The real benefit to you is a chance to ask for feedback in the form of a testimonial. Also, to ask them to call your agent later in the week and let them know how talented you are.

"Thanks, I had a great time, and I'm glad your guests enjoyed the magic. Listen, it would really help me if you could let my agent know what you thought of me."


Trust me, the result of this short thank you, will do your career as a magician more good than any splurge in a magic shop!

You may be asked for business cards.

There is a darned good chance that the client is extremely proud of you, and has been talking to guests though the evening and soaking up the compliments. In fact, the guests have been spending the evening chatting to the host and complimenting them about how phenomenal the evening is. It's almost a certainty that some have asked where you were found. Some will have also asked for your contact details. Not only to book you, but also to simply flatter the host. The result: The client may very well ask you for some cards to give to their friends. Only a fool would miss out on this opportunity!
 

So in closing, I hope you see that it makes no sense at all to slink off at the end of the evening, without saying goodbye. Equally, it a colossal mistake to arrive, set up and get stuck in to the crowd, without finding the client first. Resist the temptation to do this, and you will find you get more referrals, you will be in demand with more agents, and you will never have left, not knowing that another magician was secretly laughing at the back of the room, and got all your applause!

 

How to Relax and be Less Nervous When Performing Magic Tricks

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Nervous when Performing Magic TricksMatthew writes:

‘I am having difficulty with making my hands and arms look natural when performing. When I perform a magic trick involving showing or holding something, my arms tend to squash up and seem too close together.’

 

No quick fix for that I’m afraid Matthew, but it’s awesome that you have identified it and want to take steps to fix it too.

That’s ‘performing tension’ and is quite common Matthew. You need to learn to relax whilst performing.

One of the biggest causes of stiff arms or hunching up of the body, whilst doing a magic trick, is thinking about what you are doing whilst you are doing it.

It’s an instinctive response from the time when we all lived in caves. When you feel insecure and need to concentrate, your brain thinks it’s in danger. It’s sending signals to your body to get ready to escape. Your body tenses up, like a spring, in case it needs to take sudden emergency action. But how do you get rid of it?

It’s not easy, is it? You have to pay attention to the audience, remember the moves, check you are doing it right,  and say something interesting whilst you are doing all this!

The cure to feeling nervous when performing magic tricks is switching over to routining your magic rather than practicing. That means you need to go through the whole routine, including patter from start to finish. You do this in a slow, natural way, over and over again. Over time, you become very familiar with the WHOLE performance and your body will relax.

Seriously consider filming your performance of the trick to an imaginary audience. Do this 15 times. Don’t stop or tweak the performance mid way through. Pretend the footage is live going out on TV. Afterwards, watch it back and see how much you have relaxed the tension in your arms between the first few full performances and the end ones. That will show you the power of routining rather than practicing just the moves.

Related:
Doing magic tricks with shaky hands?
Finding It’s hard to perform magic in front of a crowd?

Got more suggestions for Matthew to feel less nervous when performing magic tricks? Share your ideas in the comments section below: