Spectators always figure out Omni deck. Help?

[TheDerpsterKoder]

Hello
I have been playing around with a omni deck recently, I 've tried several different patters (using it as an ending of an ACR, or just as a stand alone trick etc).
But no matter how I present it or try to manage the audience, after the initial reaction has lowered a bit, 9 out of 10 times someone will ask for a card or pick up one from a previous trick and place it on the omni deck and say something like "look, that's how he did it! the sides are special and look like a deck when a card's on top! he must of switched it at some point."

How can I fix this? Is there some patter I should try to try and play off this fact? (the sides of the omni deck looking like a normal deck I mean)

Thanks

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Without seeing the performance, and the context of the performance, I have to make some guesses and assumptions.

First - they're clearly not engaged. If all they are doing is trying to figure out how you're doing it, then something in the way you are performing is either A) telling them that they are supposed to try to figure it out, B) making yourself out to be smarter than them, so they feel the need to bring you down a peg, or C) it's just not interesting (sorry).

Second - are you positive you're pulling off the sleights correctly? Because when done correctly it is extremely deceiving. When Shawn Farquhar did the routine for his lecture in Fresno, I was the volunteer. I didn't see -anything- of that switch, even if I knew logically it had to have happened.

Generally speaking most audiences actually want to be at least fooled. That's more fun for them when it's done in a way that doesn't make them feel like they're being made fun of or insinuating that they are stupid for not knowing how it's done. People enjoy the feeling they get when a magic trick is done well. So if the audience is actively figuring out methods, then something about how you are performing is telling them that figuring out the method is more satisfying than just enjoying the performance.

The best fix for that is a better performance.

 

[renhor]

Could the moderator please delete the rough draft of my message above? Thanks.

I just do card tricks for friends in bars and there are people that like everything and even if I half screw it up, they still like it. Then there are other people who will actively try to sabotage a trick and want to examine cards, ect. So some people I just don't do tricks for, unless it is really full proof. I try to pick the right spectators for different ones.

I don't know how Omni deck works, other than I saw the video of Neil Patrick Harris doing it on national television.

I know there are some things that I have been shocked that people don't ask to examine everything. I got one of those "branded" gimmicks you use with a lighter. I've done it several times now and each time I had a duplicate lighter in my pocket just in case, but never needed it. But I also targeted people for the trick that I thought were least likely to want to investigate the props.

As a very general trend, women are more likely to want to be fooled and men are more likely to try to figure it out. Maybe your doing the trick for too many engineers who are naturally going to take it as a challenge to try to figure out how it is done.

When people ask me how I did something, I just say "a lot of practice." I find that people take that at face value. In some cases it is true, in some it is practice but also a gimmick that made it much easier.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I have been shocked that people don't ask to examine everything.

In my experience very few laymen actually want to examine things, if the performance is at least kind of good.

Unless you're performing for magicians, or performing for the same people all the time, it's unlikely you'll ever have to deal with people trying to examine things.

 

[TheDerpsterKoder]

Second - are you positive you're pulling off the sleights correctly? Because when done correctly it is extremely deceiving. When Shawn Farquhar did the routine for his lecture in Fresno, I was the volunteer. I didn't see -anything- of that switch, even if I knew logically it had to have happened.

Yeah I attended Shawn's lecture last year and he showed how he did it, and I've tried to mimic his timing to switch the deck or do his jacket switch, but I guess I just need to work on it all a bit more. Thanks for the advice

 

[Ch1nmqy]

Alright so, there's this thing I refer to, as the "zone". Once you perform around 2-3 routines, the spectators will slowly start to enjoy the trick and not point out anything even if you accidentally flash, etc. They want you to succeed at this time. If you keep getting shut down on the Omni Deck, then wait until you get to the zone(you'll know when this has happened), and then perform it.

 

[RealityOne]

I don't remember if the way I performed it was the standard performance. Nonetheless, the omni deck always ended up in their hands with them doing some unexpected magic when I asked them to "focus on your card and just blank out all the other cards in the deck." I'd reach in their hands and pull out their card and then have them look at the rest of the deck. I'd pick the omni deck up from their hands and show it around focusing attention on the clear part of the deck and keeping it in motion. I'd play it off as something unexpected and then say something like, "well, I guess that's it for the card tricks" and put the deck back in the box.

 

[Spaz]

This trick requires to keep the spectator busy looking at you.
It also helps to have 2-4 cards on top of the prop.