The trick that wasn't (the power of perception)

[praetoritevong]

Usually when I start a topic, it's sure to be a long one, but not so much this time. I haven't really thought this through at all actually, it's just that I have a small anecdote to share and think it might be interesting.

As a small number of you may know, I live in Sydney, Australia, but for the past 5 months have been traveling around the States. I'm currently in the last few days of my trip, sadly (although I'll be in different parts of Europe for a month very soon), staying in Beverly Hills, CA. So naturally, I wander out each day to see what I can find that interests me.

Today, I spent most of the afternoon in Santa Monica near the beach. And something funny happened, something that impressed me. But more to point, I realised that had it come from a mentalist, it would have been the most astounding effect I'd seen for at least a year.

I walked into Sunglasses Hut, and this is what happened...

Guy: Hello and welcome, how are you this evening?
Me: Fine thank you, how are you going?
Guy: Are you an actor?
Me: Uhh... Why do you ask?
Guy: Well, you have excellent vocal projection, so I thought you must be an actor or maybe a radio DJ or something like that?
Me: Hah, you're spot on actually, I'm impressed!

Now, I thought that was pretty curious. I do in fact work as an actor, and I thought that was honestly really impressive, that the sales assistant was able to pick that out. With that in mind, I was cautious when I first answered him, but I was just so darn impressed. It sounds like something you would see on The Mentalist on TV or something.

Then I thought about it further and I realised that that is basically something like that could, in a different context, be just about the most impressive demonstration of mind-reading imaginable. No cold reading, no hot reading, no lukewarm reading, no reading inside of a dog, nothing.

That's all I've really thought of writing, so far. I guess the conclusion I want to make is just to urge everyone to be aware of people. Remember that you're performing for people, not at people. Remember that each person has their emotions, memories and experiences. These are things to connect to. We as performers spend so long on practicing how to do our classic passes, and so little time on how to actually talk to people (including things like presentation). In other words, if magic is to be considered a performing art, we tend to practice the art, but not the performing. In very few other art forms would you find such irreverence and even ignorance of basic theatrical principles (or the equivalent basic principles of any given art form).

So take the time to just talk to people. And try to actually notice them. Even though this guy in Sunglasses Hut wasn't a mentalist, and he wasn't performing a feat of mindreading, I can definitely say that in the first 5 seconds of meeting him, he impressed me with his personality more than 99% of the people I meet. I'd love to meet more people who do the same. Not only would it make for an interesting effect or revelation (and I suspect the more advanced mentalists around will already be using this whenever possible), but it just makes you that much more memorable. I met this guy for 5 minutes, but I will remember him far longer than the majority of magicians I watch.

 

[RealityOne]

I would guess that he is a good salesman rather than a true mentalist. If you answered no, I suspect he had several flattering responses he could choose from such as "wow, with your [insert trait] you could be." Either way you feel like a celebrity that should buy some expensive sunglasses.

The real key is that he phrased it in a way that you wanted to help him be correct because it reflected positively on you. We can all learn a lot about about handling spectators both in mentalism and magic.

 

[ID4]

This reminds me of a story that James Randi told on one of the Grand Illusions episodes on Discovery in the late 90s. I think he went to one of Joseph Dunniger's shows. He got picked as a volunteer. Joseph said "Young man are you a conjurer". Randi replied that he was just a amateur. Joseph then asked him to sit back down as he didn't want the rest of the spectators to think they were in cahoots. James Randi then tried to figure out why he been asked. He thought to himself how had Joseph known. His explanation was thus "If Joseph was wrong it was just a joke, but if Joseph was right it was a miracle."

 

[S.G]

Sherlock Holmes would have been one heck of a mentalist if he was real.

 

[RickEverhart]

Reality One is correct with his words. People in sales (who happen to be very good) are excellent at doing what you just described. They can read people "spot on" most of the time because that is what they do all day long while trying to sell their hot item. Think about the last time you went in for a new car. I just bought one a month ago and the salesman was AWESOME at getting us on his side right away and seemingly like a friend and truly interested in our careers. I'm sure he could have cared less, but the point is these guys know how to pick us apart by the clothing we wear, by the way we openly talk to them, etc.

 

[Toby]

Well, I tink that you are the 15th guy he said that to that day. Just take into consideration the venue, Beverly Hills CA, many people there are either actors, or trying to become one, so more often than not, he is gonna be right. It would be like working in a store next to basketball court, and then ask a tall guy that walks in if he is a basketball player.
But it is actually something that most of us SHOULD be doing, and increasing our chances of making mental miracles.

 

[praetoritevong]

Reality and Rick, I think you're slightly missing the point. I know he wasn't a mentalist, and I'm perfectly adept at recognising and analysing sales techniques myself. I'm just pointing out your conclusion, Reality, that these are tools that we can use.

ID4 and Toby are also off the mark. It doesn't matter how many people he said it to, or whether or not he was guessing. This is a perfect example of magician thinking. When presented with something that resembles an effect, people instantly scramble to explain "how it is done" rather than realising that it is not the how, but the actual doing that matters. Yes, you can explain how it's done. But when was the last time you actually tried it?

The point is that he was observing, more than most people I meet do, and actually using that talent. When was the last time you met a complete stranger, and your first line was a guess as to their occupation? It's easy to analyse his method, quite something else to have the brass ones to actually do it. I'm sure most of us haven't done that for a long time, and don't do it often, even though you and I both perfectly understand that we have the skills to make the guess. That's where Toby's final line hits the mark. It's something that we should be doing, but don't. That's the power of perception.

 

[RickEverhart]

Prae, I get what you are saying...I just failed to address that part of your thread. Yes, by all means we could be and should be using some of the same techniques / strategies in our line of work because it does come off as mental miracles and makes what we do and how we act that much stronger.