Yeah, this is what stumped me a bit. The only way I can see that happening is to fill out one magic square, and then, in a metaphorical sense, switch it for another.

I actually found Harry's version very boring. It was presented as a math trick which is why I hated the magic square for sooooooo long.

I present the magic square doing slam poetry at the same time and it never ceases to amaze.

so what are you presentations guys, I need a bit of input

you personally would benefit much more from creating your own presentation and testing it. If something doesn't work out, figure out why, and how to fix it. It's somewhat unprofessional in my mind to ask another mentalist to tell you how they present something for what seems to be the purpose of copying them. Any mentalist will benefit much more from creating their own character and presenting their effects within their character's style. Some people may tell you how they do things, but in the end it will not help you because they have just told you the process, not how to perform the process. I will say it one more time, the best thing you can do is figure out your own presentation style based on your own created character. Unless of course you meant "how does he do it?" by "what was his presentation?"... in which case, nobody here will tell you.

I didn't see that intention, personally. I also worry that while many long-time mentalists are bemoaning the death of their art and exposure of their methods through poor performances (see them doing it over at the Café), the new generation is being told "Just work it out for yourself". There's a fine line: what you say is true in that one's own handling and character will always (ultimately) be best, there is also great untapped potential in mentoring when it comes to mentalism.

For someone who is more serious in mentalism, I would mentor them. For someone like this person, they need to do more work before mentoring can be considered. Not enough effort has been put into their own style for them to be educated on how to present things. I was never mentored, and I think I worked out okay. But I somewhat agree, lots of people just say "work it out for yourself" but in this case I think it is necessary. Given the fact that I haven't seen a serious contribution to the forums from this person; as well as the fact that he disappears for a while and then comes back when he wants us to help him with something he's struggling with. If he was really contributing, he would be helping others with his experiences as well. Sorry for rambling, but in this case I do believe I have acted as I should.

I wouldn't expect someone to come up with their own style before starting to perform: you begin by using one you have borrowed off others (or possibly even none at all), and as you perform more and more you begin to discover and acquire your own.

Demanding that someone figure out their style ahead of time detracts from the important aspect, which is actually performing the thing.

I didn't mean it that way. What I meant was they need to develop their own style through presenting in order for a mentor to be needed. A mentor can point out things that they are doing that are possibly incorrect (or point out better ways to do it). I didn't mean to suggest at all that they create a character before presenting.

Check out the work of Bill Cushman if you want to do a magic square that IS filled in before the participant thinks of a number.

Yes it is possible and saves the drag of filling in all those boxes.

Anthony
www.headhacking.com