Which trick on penguin magic will really knock em Dead?!
Which trick is just an all time amazing effect?
Presentation
These are all questions from people who believe magic is about the trick itself.
I have been talking to several really great magicians (ie: oz pearlman, brian styles, jeff mcbride, and jay sankey) and I think I've come to a conclusion
It is sorta like that football phrase:
Magic is 20% the trick, 80% Presentation.
PERIOD.
It is not about what the bestest most expensive trick you can buy....you can buy the sphinx magical block (Penny to dime) and make that trick just so amazingly magical with the right presentation.
today...it is all about how you present yourself as a magician.
Professionalism
Another VERY important factor of being a magician is to be professional with ANY client you talk to. in emails, write clearly and don't abbreviate. When talking, talk clearly and understandable. he person who is wearing raggety jeans and a ripped up t shirt IS NO going to get the show when there is someone else in a black suit and tie. hink about it....it makes sense.

A Tip From Nick On Marketing:
For all those who like to "Do it themselves" such as when it comes to your business card: It isn't about how big you can get your company logo on the top of the card...or how big you can get your name on there without it bleeding off the edges....its all about what YOU can do for the client....how many problems you can solve for them. Its called solutions marketing.
People don't care if they will "Experience a night they will never forget" or something cheesy like that....sure the spectators do...but the person booking the show sure doesn't. what they ARE looking for is:
A stress free event
Assurance of quality
Hassle free - easy to work with entertainer.
ALL these qualities make up one good magician. and one magician that WILL get the show.
How many problems CAN you solve for the client! thats all they care about! I learned a lot of this from Dean hankey who has guided me.

Thank you for reading!.........Nick

COMMENTS/CRITISISM?

No Critisism?

Well written. Its unfortunate that we magicians these days need to be reminded of that. It shouldn't be that way. We should be the ones living that, not learning it.

dude if you want your little essays to be taken seriously try proofreading next time

lol, yeah some part were kind of hard to understand, but okay

good essay

-Anik

thanks guys...sry about that...sometimes i write the way i talk....kinda of like a habit. But i hope its not to hard to understand.....thanks....nick

I personally feel it goes a step beyond presentation.

I feel that it all starts with you and your persona. Your personal magnetism and rapport with the spectators. If you do not have that to begin with and they do not like you for you, then the world's greatest presentation will not do you justification.

in order to be the best you must suround yourself with the best

that is THE quote i live my magic career on...

there are FAR better lesser known magicians... if you want a MASTER of presentation check out tommy wonder

So have I, there are much better ones out there you should be talking to as well. Also you should always capitalize anyone's name.

Ok you lost me already, what is bestest? I never heard that word before.

Today? It has been like that for many centuries actually, and even more so in the past than it has been "today."



Ok, I will "hink" about it intently. I hope that was some type of joke, I really do. But if you are communicating to your clients in this manner, it is YOU who will be "NO going to get the show." I hope you are practicing what you are trying to preach.



Well when my GF, and her 15 sorority sisters told me that if I came over for one of their all night drinking parties that I would experience a night that I would never forget, I cared. In fact I was ecstatic. Although it was not a completely stress free environment, the quality assurance of the merchandise was very pleasing, most of the clothes were hassle free, and the majority of the girls were easy to work with for the most part.

So I agree with you there. In fact we all worked together in order to solve both of our problems, and at the same time which is always a plus. Oh yes, they guided me well also.



Not a bad attempt at what I am hoping is your first essay, but work on the grammar, and content a little more if you want others to take you seriously. Practice what you preach, especially when trying to tell others to speak clearly, be sure to speak clearly yourself.

Don't throw stones if you are living in a glass house, as this will set you up for major public ridicule. Also provide more "original" content, as opposed to posting what are direct quotes that others have made, and some people here have heard before. Do not try to pass off what others have said as your own work, quote them. Other than that, not bad for your first attempt, keep working.....

It will help but you have to do the work for yourself. Again, the encouraging environment will help your excel once you do the work.
That is why I have very few posts on this forum, so I do understand your quote.

Excellent quote!

What does a post count on a specific forum have to do with anything? I "put in the work," in fact 22 years of work before I even found this forum, so I tend to share my own insight now a little more, as opposed to being reclusive, and introverted with my knowledge. Just because one has a low post count on one forum does not prove he is doing anything outside the net.

Also I have never surrounded myself with the best, as there are no "best," or even more than two magicians within a 60-100 mile radius of my local area. Although as stated by Mike, it will not hurt, but it is also not a precursor of success, or skill either for that matter. But I have not had any problems learning, growing, achieving, nor any problems earning a living from my own secluded studies. So that theory has some holes in it, although it does sound appealing.

Although I cannot surround myself with others that share the same interests as me frequently, I do surround myself with the best learning resources by some of the best. You make yourself proficient, others can guide you, but they can't make you, they can only encourage, and direct.

Sirbrad,
The more posts of yours I read, the more I believe that you have very low self-esteem and that you create a fantasy world for yourself in order to invoke envy from other board members.

In your world...
You have the ability to go for days, weeks, months maybe, without sleep. That is how you are able to perform so many shows yet still have the time to accumulate over 4,277 posts on this forum alone.

You also apparently have an incredible sex appeal, causing countless sorority girls to be uncontrolably drawn to you. Even if it were true that you somehow ended up with 16 college chicks in one night, what is the point of posting it in a magic forum, other than an attempt to make others jealous.

You have 24 year+ of magic experience. Maybe this one is true, but do we have to hear about it in every other post of yours??

You study martial arts. Again, it may be true, but give it a rest, we get it. You are tough.

You are an unparalleled essay writer, revealing so much truth and deep thinking into the world of magic. Well, some of your stuff may be alright, but at times it can seem like a desperate attempt at justifying yourself.

To sum it up, you are an experienced magic-ninja who sleeps with countless young ladies and needs no sleep to write flawless and mind-blowing essays. Right?

First off I thought the whole essay was very common sense, nothing earth shattering.
Beesflirtn may want to take notes on it nonetheless. If that was his resume for a job.. he wouldn't get it.

Ditto to all Pangea said.

Actually sirbrad....the reason why i wrote Hink instead of think with the t is because i cant make capital t's. my key board is broken. notice how it every word that starts with a capital t isnt there. Second....this isnt my resume. i was helping some magicians with a few tips i wanted to share. i don't have a resume...i have a business card.

thrid stop picking out peoples grammer...i know how to spell...i am a fast typist and thats it. hey are all honest to god mistakes. I am sure i helped at least a few magicians who read that. I wasnt speaking to all you professional magicians out there who know all this already...SLUGGO.....and pangea and sirbrad.....this IS common sense to you...i am talking to all the beginner magicians who could use a few good tips here and there.

thanks for the critisism.....and sirbrad.....just stop please....why are you picking on me? I can take the heat but this is enough already...thanks...nick

Pangea, you are one very astute individual. You have just summed up almost 50% of my life with your keen observations. No I do not attempt to brag about my lifestyle, otherwise I would include many other miraculous feats that I have been able to accomplish in life as well. Accomplishments including BMX freestyle, golf, tennis, chess, success through extreme adversity, and several other astounding feats I have pulled off in my life... But I do not feel the need to justify those, as they do not relate to the conversation at hand.

Everything I state is factual, but perhaps being that I have posted mostly serious in nature in the past, you have failed to distinguish when I was converting to sarcasm, which is understandable due to the circumstances. Sometimes self-indulgence, and humor is the only way one can continue to post here. You are correct about the sleep issue.

For some strange reason I have never needed a lot of sleep, and never could get more than about 3 hours tops at one time. Perhaps because my mind was being overwhelmed with all my interests, and all the thoughts cycling through my mind constantly, as well a strong desire to achieve.

You could say that all the hard work that I have put into my life has started to pay dividends. I share my experiences when it becomes relevant to do so, or humorously fits into the scenario, hence the present case. In fact I have nothing but high self-esteem, a product of my martial arts training, and as I also stated many times before, something I began before magic. But I have not always been this way, hence the overcoming extreme "adversity" statement.

Yes I live in a college town with a 12-2 girl to guy ratio, so you do the math. But with unbalanced ratios such as that, it is not uncommon to be preyed upon, nor is it uncommon to see a lot of girls holding hands, and making out around town daily. I am sorry if you have become overly annoyed by my amazing life of "voluptuous promiscuity." Although I may not sleep with all the sorority girls I meet, and believe me there is no shortage of willing subjects in my town, I do enjoy having the opportunities that I have gotten.

Some here may have a difficult time trying to distinguish between my projected humor/sarcasm because I asI stated previously, I was always a serious poster, and one who only posted in depth magic discussion for the most part. So maybe this is the issue that creates confusion at times. Unfortunately this forum tends to bring the worst out of many, as opposed to the best. So it is a tough prospect to try and find a compromise day in and day out. Quality discussion gets buried under garbage here on a daily basis, so sometimes I simply ask, why bother?

Again though, I am not bragging, nor am I over-embellishing, in fact most would call me a genuinely modest guy most of the time. True I do have a college gf, and she is a member of a sorority, and she does live with 8 girls directly, and 8 girls on the other side. But how many of them I have been involved with is not important. What is important is how many of them I have been involved with at the same time. Ok I think you now get the point. Maybe.....