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How to generate interest in your magic without coming across like a tool

I recently received the following email:

“I would like to perform magic for people without having to ask, “do you want to see a magic trick?”

Do you have any suggestions?”

After some consideration, I believe that there are two options for any magician who wants to perform magic in this situation.

First, the magician can simply direct the watcher to hold something, and then proceed with performing the magic.  This “cold approach” method reflects the approach style of David Blaine or Dynamo.

The second option is for the magician to talk with his spectators about random topics, eventually steering the conversation to where he can then perform magic.

It’s better to just forget about the magic for the time being

With the first approach, the magician should be aware that many unknowing and unsure people may be present, all having no knowledge about what is about to happen. 

Performances on television are never absolute cold calls.  Each spectator has been pre-vetted and filtered for potential reactions and responses, even though they are not aware of the exact method being performed.

The cold approach is certainly the hardest to master, and rightly so.  Ask yourself this question, “If a stranger walked up to me and asked if they could borrow my phone in order to show me something, would I simply hand it over to them?”

Of course not.

Each of us would be very wary, and, most likely, quite resistant to cooperating at all. With that in mind, however, a truly cold approach is not impossible; the spectator simply must first develop a certain amount of trust in the magician.

A good way to develop trust is for the magician to begin performing magic using his own items. Maybe levitate a banknote while sitting at a table, or make an item move without touching it.  Anything that would allow the magician to attract the attention of a spectator.

This way the spectators will be more accepting of the magician, and more likely to allow loaning an item.  They can now trust that the magician isn’t a thief and will, instead, show them something interesting.

To facilitate the cold approach, the magic needs to be strong and visual, and these aspects should speak for themselves.  Instead of performing magic with lots of instructions to follow, a simple “hold this” or “watch this” should suffice.  This minimalistic approach can work wonders, but the magic itself MUST be good or else it’s doomed from the start.

The other approach is to lead spectators up the garden path by chatting about a topic that will enable the magician to steer the conversation in the direction of the magic.  Talk to the spectators first and avoiding jumping into performing magic.  In fact, better to just forget about the magic for the time being.

Chat to them about things that relate to the effect.  A great method for steering a conversation is to first search for a meme on the topic online.  For example,  to perform an item animation, begin by talking about the film “Carrie” and how it has been recently remade.

There is a video meme on the internet of a girl in a coffee shop.  In the meme, she makes a man fly up the side of a wall, makes all the tables move on their own, and finally causes books fly off bookshelves and all the pictures fall off the walls.

This video meme is a perfect prelude to performing animation magic, such as a pen falling off a table, or a fork spinning in the air.

In order to get the most out of either of these approaches, the magician must be confident and comfortable when it comes to people-handling.  If the first approach method fails, don’t loose heart.  KEEP TRYING!!

Approaching someone cold can be very difficult.  It takes guts, confidence and a skilled technique to make it a success!  Just as in the actual magic performance, the approach requires similar practice, technical skill, and rehearsal in order to polish it and make it successful.