Ok, so in search for how to break through people's defensives when doing magic I looked many places. I've searched on here, started a thread on Talk Magic, and have even gotten a whole book (Win the Crowd, which I didn't particularly care for). None of these sources outlined what causes people to not like magic or why it isn't impressive to them when you preform. About twenty minutes ago I was looking on my bookshelf for an interesting tidbit to read and glanced at Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie (a practical classic from the 1960's). I had read it before and thought it very helpful, but suddenly I wondered if I could apply his concepts to my magic!
I looked in the table of contents and looked for "Making the Talk to Convince" with the thinking that when doing magic we are trying to convince the audience/spectators that what we are doing is real. I just finished the chapter, and lo and behold, all the info he offered was fantastic. Essentially what you are bumping into is people's pride. To avoid it, you have to first knock off your own pride, be enthusiastic about what you are doing, and bring the magic to them so that it doesn't insult their intelligence. I may write more soon as I digest the chapter. Here are the five headings from it: win confidence by deserving it, get a yes-response (try to get people to agree with you from the beginning so that they will be more inclined to keep agreeing with you), speak with contagious enthusiasm, show respect and affection for your audience, and begin in a friendly way (as Paul did with the Athenians on Mars Hill (see chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles)).
So I'm super excited; I've been looking for the answer to this problem for months now and have finally discovered the basic premise that I now can draw specific tips from.
Kristian
I looked in the table of contents and looked for "Making the Talk to Convince" with the thinking that when doing magic we are trying to convince the audience/spectators that what we are doing is real. I just finished the chapter, and lo and behold, all the info he offered was fantastic. Essentially what you are bumping into is people's pride. To avoid it, you have to first knock off your own pride, be enthusiastic about what you are doing, and bring the magic to them so that it doesn't insult their intelligence. I may write more soon as I digest the chapter. Here are the five headings from it: win confidence by deserving it, get a yes-response (try to get people to agree with you from the beginning so that they will be more inclined to keep agreeing with you), speak with contagious enthusiasm, show respect and affection for your audience, and begin in a friendly way (as Paul did with the Athenians on Mars Hill (see chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles)).
So I'm super excited; I've been looking for the answer to this problem for months now and have finally discovered the basic premise that I now can draw specific tips from.
Kristian