Ok, I am here to present to you a very useful technique to making unique presentations for your tricks. It's a very simple exercise which i learned at Tannens Magic Camp and i would like to share it with you. I will try to describe it as simply as I can. Each step will be in a separate paragraph. Keep in mind this is a technique for creating presentations for already existing effects, this wont help you create actual new effects.
To begin, get a piece of lines paper. Fold it in half hamburger style.
One the top half, write down 5 of your hobbies or interests other than magic. This can include sports, other hobbies (stamp collecting, horseback riding, model rocket building, etc.), or any other interests that you have. You can also put common things like listening to music, playing video games, or hanging with friends, etc. Just make sure these things are not magic related. Dont put flourishing or mentalism as a hobby cuz that's not gonna help much.
On the bottom half, write down 5 effects that you perform the most. These have to be effects that you know inside out and can do it without even thinking about it. It's very crucial that you choose effects that you have experience performing. If you're still hesitating during the middle of that trick you're working on, dont write it down.
Here's a sample list:
(Top half)
Basketball
Golf
Psychology
Video Games
Music
(Bottom Half)
Ambitious Card Routine
Ultimate Transpo
Biddle Trick
Coins Across
Crazy Man's Handcuffs
Now here comes the fun part. Cut out 5 small pieces of paper and write your hobbies on them. Cut out another 5 pieces and write down those 5 effects that you perform the most. Turn all the pieces face down and make 2 piles (one for hobbies and one for effects).
Close your eyes. Mix up each of these piles and pull a piece of paper out from each of them.
Now take the hobby that you picked and try to figure out a presentation based on that hobby for the effect that you picked. For example, lets say you picked out Basketball and Coins Across. Try to make a basketball presentation for the Coins Across. Maybe you can say you shoot the coins from one hand to another like basketball or something. It's ok if it's corny, that's the point of this exercise.
If it's too hard to correlate the hobby witht he trick, then put them back and try again. Keep doing this and eventually you will find a combination that works.
Here's my personal example: I did this and got "psychology" as the hobby and "biddle trick" as the trick. So this is my presentation. I have them pick a card, and i talked about different aspects of psychology. I talk about how a person's eye movements can let you predict a lot of things about that person. I lose the card into the deck and spread through the deck slowly, while i analyze his eyes to see if they move differently in reaction to a single card. I lower the odds down to five cards. I count out the five cards, again analyzing his eyes. After i think i know what his card is, i talk about misdirection. I talk about how the main conscious cannot focus on more than one thing at one time. So i point to different places saying that if they look over there, they may not see my hands which gives me time to take your card out of the 5 cards and slip it back into the deck.
BAM! There's a brand new presentation for ya. This method really works, lemme tell ya. The above trick, i did it for my psychology class as part of my presentation, and it absolutely killed (plus, i got an A+).
Using this technique i have made lots of unique presentations for various effects. I'm not saying you HAVE to use this technique, but i encourage all of you to try it out. If you dont like it, then dont use it. But i just wanted to share this all with you because it has helped me alot in creating different presentations effectively.
Also, if you want, you can try to do 10 interests and 10 effects to give the technique more variety. Experiment with this and i'm sure you'll come up with at least one or two good ideas for presentations.
Try it out and lemme know what you think.
Thanks!
To begin, get a piece of lines paper. Fold it in half hamburger style.
One the top half, write down 5 of your hobbies or interests other than magic. This can include sports, other hobbies (stamp collecting, horseback riding, model rocket building, etc.), or any other interests that you have. You can also put common things like listening to music, playing video games, or hanging with friends, etc. Just make sure these things are not magic related. Dont put flourishing or mentalism as a hobby cuz that's not gonna help much.
On the bottom half, write down 5 effects that you perform the most. These have to be effects that you know inside out and can do it without even thinking about it. It's very crucial that you choose effects that you have experience performing. If you're still hesitating during the middle of that trick you're working on, dont write it down.
Here's a sample list:
(Top half)
Basketball
Golf
Psychology
Video Games
Music
(Bottom Half)
Ambitious Card Routine
Ultimate Transpo
Biddle Trick
Coins Across
Crazy Man's Handcuffs
Now here comes the fun part. Cut out 5 small pieces of paper and write your hobbies on them. Cut out another 5 pieces and write down those 5 effects that you perform the most. Turn all the pieces face down and make 2 piles (one for hobbies and one for effects).
Close your eyes. Mix up each of these piles and pull a piece of paper out from each of them.
Now take the hobby that you picked and try to figure out a presentation based on that hobby for the effect that you picked. For example, lets say you picked out Basketball and Coins Across. Try to make a basketball presentation for the Coins Across. Maybe you can say you shoot the coins from one hand to another like basketball or something. It's ok if it's corny, that's the point of this exercise.
If it's too hard to correlate the hobby witht he trick, then put them back and try again. Keep doing this and eventually you will find a combination that works.
Here's my personal example: I did this and got "psychology" as the hobby and "biddle trick" as the trick. So this is my presentation. I have them pick a card, and i talked about different aspects of psychology. I talk about how a person's eye movements can let you predict a lot of things about that person. I lose the card into the deck and spread through the deck slowly, while i analyze his eyes to see if they move differently in reaction to a single card. I lower the odds down to five cards. I count out the five cards, again analyzing his eyes. After i think i know what his card is, i talk about misdirection. I talk about how the main conscious cannot focus on more than one thing at one time. So i point to different places saying that if they look over there, they may not see my hands which gives me time to take your card out of the 5 cards and slip it back into the deck.
BAM! There's a brand new presentation for ya. This method really works, lemme tell ya. The above trick, i did it for my psychology class as part of my presentation, and it absolutely killed (plus, i got an A+).
Using this technique i have made lots of unique presentations for various effects. I'm not saying you HAVE to use this technique, but i encourage all of you to try it out. If you dont like it, then dont use it. But i just wanted to share this all with you because it has helped me alot in creating different presentations effectively.
Also, if you want, you can try to do 10 interests and 10 effects to give the technique more variety. Experiment with this and i'm sure you'll come up with at least one or two good ideas for presentations.
Try it out and lemme know what you think.
Thanks!
grreaat post! Thankz so much dude!
