This morning I was getting the cat his food.  Every step I took he was right there to trip me.  He really wanted his food.  I got to thinking how is that he knows where I am going to step.  It is by observing me.  Using all his senses to know where I am at.

I took it to another step and I think he is a great observer.  Most of the time I have thought of our smug little feline as one who thinks he runs the castle but what if he just isn't sitting there but is observing and learning how each person in the home acts and reacts.

This can be applied to how we interact and communicate with our audience.  To have a great show we need to communicate well with our audience.  It is not just they come sit down and you perform your show.  This is what I thought when I started performing back in the 1980's.  

I have started asking questions to fulfill two on going goals.  The first goal is to perform a better magic show and the second is to grow my business.  

I was thinking that first of all it is important to not just be on time to your show but to be early.  Give yourself time to set up your props and give yourself time to, like my cat, observe the audience.  Who do you want to use as helpers?  Who don't you want to use?

Have a great Day,

Steven Dickinson

Mr D the Magician

One of the first ways you connect with your audience is by what they first see when they walk into the room or auditorium, and, by what they see when you do the actual performance.

Without going into much detail, I would like to ask the question how does your props and magic tricks look?  Are they falling apart with chipped painted? Are your silks & cloths pressed and looking snappy?  

For the actual performance how does the sense of sight play out in connecting with your audience?  If your playing for children,  bright colors will always win out over a dull black and white magic show.  

How does your costume look?  Do you look professional? If you are trying to represent a certain type of character, for example a hobo clown, is anything you are wearing out of place for the part you are acting?  

It is important that your costume compliment your show not distract.  David Ginn had a great recommendation that if you are using bright color magic tricks than your suit or costume, tables, backdrop should not be so bright that your tricks just blend in and get lost in the surroundings.  Rather, it should contrast so your audience knows exactly where to look.

Another area to consider is moving around during your magic show.  Your table is not a ball and chain (or is it).  Make sure your gestures are grand and big.  Do some research and find out what clowns, mimes, actors do to help keep the attention of their audience.  

Lastly, remember to make eye contact with each of your audience members to the best of your ability.  Even if you are behind bright stage lights you want to give the appearance that you are looking right at them.  Each one of them is an honored guest and they are there to watch you.

What are your thoughts in these areas?  I would love to hear what you think.

Have a great day,

Steven Dickinson

Source URL: 

Connecting With Your Audience - Introduction

As performers it is very important to connect with performance.  If you don't connect,  you will probably be out of business in the near future.

Connecting with your audience in the way that is you.  Don't copy someone else...be you!  Even if you purchase a routine and use the routine given in the package be sure to make it your own. Tweak it to fit your personality and passion.

In the next few posts on The Thinking Magician I'm going to be chewing on using all five senses to connect with the audience. Please feel free to add your suggestions and comments.

Tomorrow's post will start with number one then go down the list. I've given some basic ideas that I will be looking at in each area to help get your thinking going.

Please feel free to leave your comments. 

Have a great day,

Steven Dickinson

Zoomalata Magic

You are an actor not a magician.

I was just listening to a report from Jack Turk on how to improve your birthday party shows.  Here is the link if you want to listen to it.  It is worth your time.

He was talking about how we are not magicians but we are actors playing the part of a magician.  It got me to start thinking about this idea and how we need to improve our skills as actors and not just in magic.

It is very important to perform your magic tricks well but is equally (if not more important) to entertain the children.  The kids do not care how many moves it took you make a ball disappear and reappear. 

It is all about creating wonder and astonishment, laughter and fun!  What are you doing to improve your acting ability?  This past year I bought 2 great books to help me improve my acting. One is on method acting and the other is on being a mime.  

It is time for me to pick those books up again and work on the excercises in them.  If you would like to read them the titles are, "On Method Acting" by Edward Dwight Easty  and "The Mime Book" by Claude Kipnis.

"The Mime Book" is a great manual on how the body moves and looks when it does certain actions.  It delivers more of the "how to" and "why" you would move a certain way instead of teaching moves that a mime may do.  

Before I go here is a cute video with Robert DeNiro and Elmo showing how an actor pretends to be someone he is not.

Have a great day,

Steven Dickinson

I hope your doing well as we close the first week of 2010.  There is only 350 shopping days left until Christmas 2010 but who's counting?

I want to thank all my customers and fellow magicians for helping to make 2009 a successful year for Mr D the Magician and Zoomalata Magic.  Once again we surpassed the previous years total in number of shows.  

The Christmas season was especially a blast. The calendar was full.  Here are some clips from one of my shows:

As you can see we had a lot of fun.  Throughout the year I performed for various scouts, summer picnics and lots of birthday parties. 

I performed at the Appleton Old Car Show & Swap Meet.  What a hoot to perform among all those wonderful old cars.  

This year was also a learning experience in  regards to marketing Zoomalata Magic. A big thanks to the Magicians at The Magic Cafe and recently I had joined The Magic Mastermind led by Eric Paul, magician and  speaker.  

Just after Christmas Eric Paul passed away.  He will be truly missed.  I only knew him a short time but I learned a lot from him.  He left a legacy that will be passed on through people and fellow magicians that he touched.

Click Here to read "Battling Bloggers Block".

Don't forget to leave comments below if you have a trick or action that you do to help battle writers block.

Have a great day,

Steven Dickinson

Mr D the Magician

Zoomalata Magic

Source URL: http://www.problogger.net/battling-bloggers-block/

I've been thinking about sharing vs shining.

I had been signed up to receive Jeff Stone's emails but never really went to his web site much to read until he had a contest over the summer.  Then I got hooked.  Through Jeff I heard about Jay Sankey.   I recently just watched an excellent webinar of Jays. While I enjoy learning and practicing their magic tricks it is the extras that they teach throughout their videos and writings that help me to build a stronger program..

Both gentlemen teach that when we perform magic it is not just about the performance. It is about connecting and sharing with your audience.   Anyone can show a magic trick but not everyone is connecting.   "Remember astonishment over moves," is what Jeff Stone wrote to me in my copy of his book Stone Cold Magic.   Your audience is there to have you create a moment that they will never forget.   They don't care how many moves it took for you to get there.

Sharing vs shining.   I just finished my first time watching through a Jay Sankay DVD and he brought up that we are sharing with the person (or people) in front of us not merely performing.   So the question I ask myself is, am I sharing with my audience or just shining.  By shining I mean, am I just trying to boost my ego to make me feel better?  

I have been a children's magician every since I was 14 years old and astonished the kids in my neighborhood. (http://www.zoomalata.com/images/wonder_of_magic_w4v8.jpg) This link will take you to a picture of a boy who was amazed at my tricks.  There was a connection there and I have been trying to duplicate this reaction and others ever since.  

The past couple years (especially this year) I have been wanting to diversify by adding in close-up and strolling magic.  I never thought that this wanting to astonish kids would be taken to another level. I am learning that in sharing time with my audience members they can have more than just astonishment.   Sometimes it's through mouths dropped open with big wows other times it could be just in silence as they think through what just happened.  

The idea is treat them as I would want to be treated.  Make their day.  When we approach a person we don't know what has been going on in their life.  We may be the one ray of light they need for that day.  

Have a Great Day Everyone,

Steven Dickinson

Mr D the Magician

Zoomalata Magic

Now on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/zoomalata

Here is a good lesson on keeping your magic performance logical. This was passed on to me through From Aaron Jones through Facebook.