Looking for Tips to Improve

[Karo-K54]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I'm already seeing significant improvement just by telling a story with my tricks.

It doesn't even have to be a story; it could be any introduction related to the trick. A quick piece of advice is to watch some magicians perform, and learn from their performances. Some good magicians that I think perform well are Jay Sankey, Penn & Teller, Kostya Kimlat, Paul Gertner, Shawn Farquhar, Michael Ammar and Lennart Green. All of the mentioned magicians do close up (although Penn & Teller do mainly do stage) since I discern that you perform to your friends and family.
Also, if you watch some of the shows of the mentioned magicians, you'll see that some don't even give an introduction sometimes, but their presentation is still pleasing. That's because it's not just about introduction, it's about keeping that presentation along with the trick. You don't tell the story and then do the trick; you tell the story as you do the trick.

 

[obrienmagic]

It doesn't even have to be a story; it could be any introduction related to the trick. A quick piece of advice is to watch some magicians perform, and learn from their performances. Some good magicians that I think perform well are Jay Sankey, Penn & Teller, Kostya Kimlat, Paul Gertner, Shawn Farquhar, Michael Ammar and Lennart Green. All of the mentioned magicians do close up (although Penn & Teller do mainly do stage) since I discern that you perform to your friends and family.
Also, if you watch some of the shows of the mentioned magicians, you'll see that some don't even give an introduction sometimes, but their presentation is still pleasing. That's because it's not just about introduction, it's about keeping that presentation along with the trick. You don't tell the story and then do the trick; you tell the story as you do the trick.

To add on to this, consider why you are doing the trick at all. You should be using the cards as a story telling device to move the story or plot forward rather than just doing a trick. That is why people heckle because if it is just a trick then it is just something to figure out. But if you tell a story then the trick itself is just a visual aid.

And when I say “tell a story” it doesn’t have to necessarily be something made up. It can be a real life thing. For example, I do magic with my wedding band. I explain that I will do something magical with the most magical object I own. This automatically creates interest. I then joke about how my ring always jumps back on to my finger (my wife’s favorite part ) and people just listen and have fun. No one tries to figure it out because they are more interested in how I will do something special with my ring rather than what I did and try to figure it out.