Creating Non-Awkward Patter for Magic Tricks.

Taylor writes:

Hi Dominic! I wanted to definitely mention that your site is amazing as I’ve already downloaded 3 books you offered for free on magic. I’m still a bit of a novice but I really prefer card and up close magic, and I perform in front of friends a lot (already read your help on that by the way). I struggle creating non-awkward patter through my tricks.

Thanks for the kind words about the site. I’m glad it’s helping you. Unless you are performing to complete strangers, a great deal of ‘patter’ can come across as awkward because it seems to the audience that you are changing yourself.

For family and friends, it’s essential that your presentational style is authentic. It has to present a version of YOU that the audience already recognises. It you appear to change into someone else, it’s very difficult for people close to you, to take you seriously. The change in tone and personality shouts ‘fake’ and it pulls them out of the performance.

You need your presentation to be ‘authentic’…natural.. an extension of your real personality.

Imagine you are simply chatting with your family. You would be relaxed, open, and yourself. That’s how you should present your tricks.. If you are performing to family and friends you HAVE to be yourself. They already know and love a version of you, so you can’t change that.

You should still practice a presentation, but it has to be in your everyday style.

That’s one of the big differences between performing socially or commercially. Once you have an audience of the general public, that’s when you can use an alternative persona.

I hope this helps you

Dominic Reyes

This is More Important Than Magic Tricks

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

There's a skill that magicians should master that can be more important than their magic tricks.

As magicians, we all want to find the perfect magic tricks that will impress our spectators, but is that all there is to it? Does our success as a performer depend on the magic tricks we perform?

Dominic Reyes took a bit of time out at a gig, to record this video on the subject:

Why people book YOU as their magician

People tend to book magicians from two main sources:

1) They have found out about you from advertising.

2) They have heard about you from other people.

The first source depends on your marketing skills and the amount of effort/money you are prepared to invest in promotion. It has very little to do with your skills as a magician or the quality of the services you will actually offer. Anyone can pitch themselves as a brilliant entertainer and 'sell their services'. The second source (what people think about you) is far more important for your long term career in magic, because it brings in many times more work. If you give great service and people spread the word about you, you get new gigs through their advertising, but you also get REPEAT BOOKINGS.

You can't advertise your way out of bad past experiences.

It doesn't matter how great your website is, or how big your advertising spend can be, if you didn't impress a client when they hired you, they won't book you again. If you didn't stand out amongst the other entertainers, they have used in the past, you won't be their instant choice of the magician to hire.

Average doesn't cut it

So how do you make sure you stand out in the minds of your clients? I'll let you into a secret:

IT'S NOT THE MAGIC TRICKS YOU PERFORM

Most working magicians tend to do very similar tricks. They all have their own presentations and styles, but on the whole there is often little to tell one magician from another with the average material being performed nightly by close up workers. Tricks come into fashion and become the 'latest craze'. Classic magic tricks continue to be used because they are, well, classics. So what's the difference that sets one magician apart from the others and makes some a success, whilst others continue to plod along? I think the secret extra 'something' is this:

HOW THE MAGICIAN MAKES PEOPLE FEEL

It's not the magic tricks that take a magician above the average, it's the performer's personality. It's how they talk to the spectators, how they communicate. Most importantly, it's about making spectators feel good about themselves and performer. When a skilled magician leaves the event, the people are sad to see him or her leave. They then look forward to seeing the magician again, because they felt good when he or she was there.

Learning to make people like you

Some people are naturally great at talking to people, whilst others find it a challenge or even a complete mystery. Are you a likeable, social person? You need to ask yourself that, even if it's uncomfortable to do so. If you think you are not very good at this sort of thing, not all is lost. It's a skill that some people have, naturally, but it's also a skill that can be learned over time.

The first step is to stop and actually look at how you come across. Should you spend a little less time learning moves and magic tricks, and instead work on your character and conversation skills?

If you want to develop in this area, invest in a few good books on communication. There's loads of them out there, mainly aimed at sales and business.

The traditional classic is: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It's a bit dated now, but the lessons it will give you are timeless. A modern book that will give you a LOAD of practical advice to put into practice is: How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes

Magicians and Superheroes – Finding Magic That Suits You

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Can magicians and superheroes work together?

By Mark Henderson

I have recently been looking to develop my performing style, into something more unique than "just another standard magician." Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be famous and have people accost me in the street, but I would like to stand out from the crowd and have my own niche. Understanding your character, and having a unique style is absolutely necessary if you wish to rise to the top of your industry. There are thousands of corporate and wedding magicians that all have a similar performing style. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful following the crowd. However, 95% of magicians that tour the world and earn huge sums of money are unique and have spent countless hours crafting their own character.

Superhero magicians

Up to this point I have mostly performed card magic, but that sets me on a level playing field with every other card magician around. I want to go beyond that, so that is exactly what I am doing.

Anyone who knows me, will know how much I love comic books, and after having a very short think, I realised that I know so much magic that resembles the superpowers I read about daily.

My favourite character, without hesitation, is Wolverine. He has the ability to heal instantly from any wound and this got me thinking, “how can I present my magic to tie in with this theme?”

I could talk about Wolverine’s ability to heal then proceed to push a needle through my arm and remove it without being harmed, or I could perform a torn and restored card trick using Wolverine in my patter. To really boost the trick, the torn and restored magic trick could be performed with a photograph of Wolverine instead.

Within the realm of comic books there is scope to perform amazing feats of magic using the relevant story lines. For example, I could freeze the air with my breath into a solid lump of ice like Superman, levitate a coin or bend metal like Magneto, or even ignite a match magically in reference to The Human Torch.

What are your interests and strengths?

These are a few of the ideas I have considered that suit my performance style and personality, hopefully they will inspire you to begin thinking about your own likes and strengths, and adapt your magical performance to suit you as an individual. With a little bit of tweaking and some careful consideration, you can really tailor your patter and performances to reflect exactly who you are.