Magic Speech

Feb 5, 2014
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3
Hey guys! I´ve been performing magic for around seven years, and I love it. So for a NSDA Tournament, I´m going to be giving a speech about magic. We can have props, so I thought to perform several tricks throughout the speech. Can any of you literary geniuses review my speech and give tips on anything to change or add? If its cringeworthy, dont be afraid to tell me! I´d rather fix it now than find out after I perform it. Thanks!https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OiDmEU0_y4GO6TNz8vNqDJyNSB5_w8BUz18Ayxloyt0/edit?usp=sharing
 
Sep 29, 2018
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Hey guys! I´ve been performing magic for around seven years, and I love it. So for a NSDA Tournament, I´m going to be giving a speech about magic. We can have props, so I thought to perform several tricks throughout the speech. Can any of you literary geniuses review my speech and give tips on anything to change or add? If its cringeworthy, dont be afraid to tell me! I´d rather fix it now than find out after I perform it. Thanks!https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OiDmEU0_y4GO6TNz8vNqDJyNSB5_w8BUz18Ayxloyt0/edit?usp=sharing
Read through it.

It...it...

It is AMAZING. Period.

I mean, I might have said some things differently, but really, they are my personal views about magic. So they don't count.
Just include some more humour in. It hits. Hard.

Always remember to PAUSE at suitable places in your speech.

Finally, I have a feeling (correct me if I'm wrong) that you aren't a WORLD RENOWNED MAGICIAN GIVING A HUGE SPEECH!

(Good if you agreed. Neither am I. Now that we have inferiority complex out of the way, let's continue.)

You're just a great magician giving a brilliant speech. People don't look UP to you at this stage, they look at you like an average Joe who has some super amazing talents up his sleeve. Keeping that in mind, remember, the audience is BOUND to switch themselves off at places. Don't worry. Happens even to the presidential candidates. What I'm trying to say is, if you're using a quote (the one which says magicians are the most honest people on the earth), tell the person's name. Now, your audience MIGHT not give a heck as to who Teller is...but if he has a quote, and you remember it and are using it in your speech, this Teller guy must be well known and philosophically sound, right?

That way, people's attention immediately sparks up. They love short and well-directed quotes, I mean, who doesn't? Especially the witty ones.

So tell the person's (Teller's) name first, then the quote. It helps.

Also, make the speech a bit shorter.

But really, it's just me nitpicking. Chill bruh, you've got an amazing speech right there. :)
 
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Oct 19, 2015
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I was blessed with spending over 41 years of my life in business. Over those years I worked my way up from being a mail clerk to being responsible for a very large operation for a global 50 international electronics company. As you would expect over those years speaking to large groups of staff, peers, and management was always required. Over the last twenty years I was expected to do lots of public speaking in trade organizations to help promote our company, therefore learning to give presentations became very important. I only share this detail to give perspective on where I am coming from when I offer a suggestion.

For me, anytime you 'read' a speech, you are not going to have the real impact that you could have, if you have memorized the speech. If you are memorizing this speech, then good for you, and you will 'knock their socks off'! Secondarily, if you are using a teleprompter and you have practiced doing that, then you will have a good impact on the audience also. On the other hand, if you plan to read this speech you will lose much of the audience in the process, regardless of how well written it may be. The worst part of that is that know body will tell you the truth, following your speech...

My recommendation, provided you have not already done this, is memorize the speech! or if you have access, use a teleprompter! ...Like doing magic without a script, if you have a memorized script for each trick, you will knock them dead, provided your technique with the tricks is well practiced. Without a script, not so much!

Good luck….memorizing is not as hard as it sounds....just do a little bit at a time until you have it all! GOOD LUCK!
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
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New Jersey
So to give you a sense of where I'm coming from, I'm an attorney who frequently speaks in front of large groups 200+ and I was a speech communications major in college (although I did debate rather than individual events).

Your speech has two "hooks", the magic trick and the "think of an art form." I'd start with "Think of the performing arts. Singing, dancing, acting even comedy. Nobody ever thinks of magic. That upsets me... because I'm a magician. Why am I a magician? Everyone asks me that... all the time. I've learned to tell them it is because of the money. I can take five dollar bills and turn them into $100 instantly... watch. But you want to know the truth... it was because of a girl."

My second comment is to conserve language. There is a lot of stuff in there that can be deleted without weakening the speech. My first target would be where you step out of the speech into something that is two colloquial. Speeches should be more formal than ordinary language but less formal than writing (academic writing... not the stuff you write in text messages). The phrase "flash back time" isn't necessary. You actually aren't having a flash back and neither is the audience. Don't insult your audience if they don't know who David Blaine is. Don't put in filler words like "anyways." Also, use shorter more direct sentences. When cutting language, THIS:

Flashback time! Imagine this, 11 year old boy, socially awkward, had not lost any of his baby fat yet. It’s a friday night and I am sitting alone (Cause I had no friends) watching television. I turned on a David Blaine magic special. Now if you don’t know who David Blaine is, come out of whatever rock you are hiding in. If you aren’t familiar with him, he’s a magician and stamina artist that does everything from mindreading to holding his breath for 18 minutes straight. Anyways, I was watching him perform an effect where had someone think of a close friend, and without saying a word, he revealed the name was burnt into his skin. Now I thought, “Wow. If I could do that, I could pick up any girl I wanted!”(Wink at nearest female). So I went online, and found out about the most attractive form of magic there is. Card tricks. No. No its not, but I thought it was at the time.​

becomes THIS:

As an 11 year old boy, I was socially awkward. I know that is hard to believe. One Friday night, I was sitting alone... because I had no friends. I turned on the television and there was a David Blaine magic special. I didn't know it then, but David Blaine has done everything from street magic to mindreading, to holding his breath for 18 minutes straight. In the magic special, he performed an effect where had someone think of a close friend. Without saying a word, he revealed the woman's name was burned into the skin on his arm. I thought, “Wow. If I could do that, I could pick up any girl I wanted!”(Wink at nearest female). So I immediately went on the internet and discovered the most exciting form of magic there is: card tricks. OK, I might have been wrong about it being the most exciting, but at least it didn't involve burning a complete stranger's name into my arm.​

And THIS:

Now most boys go through a “magic stage” where they are doing a few tricks, but they all grow out of it. That’s what my mom said at least, yet here I am. Six years later, still doing it. It’s fun to watch mother's disappointment increase the longer I do it!​

becomes THIS:

Most boys go through a magic phase. At least, that is what my mom said. But I stuck with it. Six years later I'm still doing magic. My mother's insistence that I'll grow out of it just seems to increase the longer I do it.​

The introduction has two focuses... how you began magic and the benefits of performing magic. It could work, but it is too long as written. You could try, "Magic didn't help me pick up my Seventh Grade crush, but it did give me the confidence to interact with people and to even give a speech like this." Alternatively, make the benefits a separate point rather than creativity.

I would do history first. Mention Robert-Houdin as the father of modern magic.

Do the effects of magic second. Mention Robert-Houdin's quote about actors not be jugglers but being actors playing the part of magicians. I wouldn't call the principles "disciplines." I'd call them principles or basic effects. Also, move restoration after levitation. You want to start with vanish, appear and transpose because those are the most readily understood.

Send me a message if you want further comments or to discuss further.
 
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