hey does anyone have advice on crowd controll and please dont suggest art of krowd keeping i have already ordered it and still waiting for it since its still pre order

advice? practice. A book may help you learn the basics but the way I see it the only way you will become proficient at crowd control is to perform as much as possible and become comfortable. When you are comfortable in front a group, a certain level of crowd control comes naturally. Also, when you are comfortable and natural in front of an audience, they will like you more, which means they are more likely to be on your side. If you are very friendly to your audience in general, then they will, for a large part, control each other. If you have a group of spectators who love you, and a heckler appears, half the time your good spectators will shut him up for you. But once you get that book, study it. Couple that with performance experience, and you're abilities to control a crowd will start increasing quite quickly. good luck with it.

Crowd control - Keep the audience engaged and entertained, PERIOD! I know that sounds rather simple BUT it is. If you have dead spots in your show, boring spots in the show or anything that is not engaging the audience they will get restless and will squirm and you will lose them. You have to win them over in your first 30 seconds and if you do, you need to keep that up for the time you are on stage, as long as you do you are performing your job and will not lose them.

PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat

when dealing with a crowd, always remember to be in control of the situation. that is very important to be in control. just be confident. and sometimes dont just put all the focus just on the tricks or illusions ur doing. from time to time just talk to the specs casually. it makes a connection with u and the spec and therefore allowing u to cooperate with the specs effectively.

One thing that almost always works for me is where your eyes are looking. For the most part if you are speaking and looking at your spectator in the eyes, they will be looking back at your eyes. Its a great way to keep their eyes off the deck and on to your face. If you are doing the trick to multiple people at once. Pay more attention to whoever is likely to try to bust you. Face them more directly and look at them more directly. When your attention is on the spectator the spectator's attention will be on you. When your attention is on what you're doing with your hands, then the spectator's attention will be on what you're doing with your hands.

The most important thing is look them in the eye and keep looking them in the eye until they look you in the eye. A lot of people won't keep looking you in the eye because you are a magician and they're afraid you'll do something and they won't catch it, which is probably true, but they will feel like they must look you in the eye so they'll at least keep glancing at your eyes. If you have a group you can't look them all in the eyes obviously, so hand motions help there. Look someone in the eye for a few moments, then someone else, and keep doing that. If you notice some people are looking where you don't want them to casually wave your left hand in the air like you might normally do when talking with someone, and they'll probably follow your hand or either look you in the eye then. If it is possible have some kind of division between you and your audience, like a raised platform or table or counter or something like that make sure you take advantage of that. The people watching won't try to search you or take your props then. And get the audience to like you too, that way they won't be so determined to "prove" how you do your tricks. Thats my advice to you, so good luck

yea good good... but one important thing is to also make conversation. rather then let a whole lot of ppl paying attention to ur eye's. its also better to strike an interesting conversation that may include humor. it really distracts audiences, and if all else fails at least everyone will have fun. ofcourse not all of us like to include jokes or humor in our performances. but a simple conversation like introducing urself personally, it creates a friendly enviroment between u and ur spec.

most of the times, ppl tend to forget that im performing when i talk, but thats ok, it gives me a chance to yet again create another first impression or at least a fresh start.

85093853 r whatever ur name is, I kind of agree but I also disagree partially. Talking and making jokes is good because it is friendly and helps spectators to enjoy themselves, but they won't be distracted by it. They use it as a chance to watch your hands or inspect props or whatever. Its good advice for stage but not always good advice for street. If you don't use gimmicks then talk and make jokes, but if you use gimmicks talk and make jokes during the performance of an illusion, not before, after, or inbetween tricks. And with controlling a crowd in a street setting eye contact is key along with controlling conversation. It doesn't need to sound controlling, you just need to direct the conversation. You want people to think about what you just said, not think of a question like does it use magnets or crap like that cause then they're controlling the direction of the conversation. You should say things during your performance of the trick if they say something to you, but don't stop in a street setting with gimmicks or a trick that will need you to be preparing for(like switching cards or putting one in a pocket, etc). Without gimmicks or preparation for the next trick, do stop and talk. Then they'll enjoy it more, and there is nothing for them to find.

Just be a good quality entertainer. It works, and the crowd will stay and let you perform.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that you are in control. You choose before hand the size of crowd you're comfortable with. Is it 5-10, or 25+? Are you comfortable totally surrounded, or do you prefer a more intimate setting?

If you are doing street work, and the crowd starts getting larger than your comfort level, finish with a killer effect, then pass the hat with your ending lines: "Thank you ladies and gentlemen, and if you liked what you saw, I'm James Jay and please put a dollar in the hat. If you didn't like what you saw, then I'm (insert famous magician's name here), and put two dollars in the hat. The next show begins in ten minutes."

Then take a break, move on, and the crowd almost natually disperses. There will be a few who hang on, but that's okay. The hat passing is a signal to most that it's time to pay up for their entertainment and move along........

What kind a magic do you perform?
Each has it's on methods.

nevertheless, u cant say cracking jokes and adding humor into ur performance is wrong. its really ur choice of what kind of performance u want. like some other guy said in the thread, when ur frenly , sometimes ur specs will cooperate more, and thus the possibility of hecklers go down. but hey, i just like to have fun with the audience u know? kinda like a two way thing. but stick with whatever suits u.