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I have worked a card routine down to where I can perform it very well, I have no problems mesmerizing friends with it.

But tonight I met a girl who I wanted to impress, so I pulled out a deck of cards, and as soon as I was about to begin i started shaking with nervousness and anxiety. I couldnt even DL a card...
I know most of you are far more professional magicians, so what do you do to deal with this anxiety?

Normally I don't get mervous or anxious when performing, although I do a little bit sometimes before a stage show. But as soon as I am on stage and getting into my act, everythig is fine. My home is on stage.

Michael Kras wrote:Normally I don't get mervous or anxious when performing, although I do a little bit sometimes before a stage show. But as soon as I am on stage and getting into my act, everythig is fine. My home is on stage.

Nice help Michael.

The thing that really helped me was (and I know it's cliché) practice. The more people (especially ladies) I performed for, the more confident I got. Your friends are a safety audience. Try going up to strangers. It will build your confidence.

I am nervous right now, two shows to do today and I have had little practice time this week. Sitting here running through my routines to get the feel for them properly again. Last time I did some of this stuff was way back last friday.

I think the main reason you got nervous in this case is that you say you wanted to impress.

Nobel when putting together a routine, and in practice, development of patter etc. But when it comes to performance it is only the specs enjoyment that counts. Hope you can see the difference. Who cares in reality if you drop your cards, ropes etc we will still be here tommorow,
the fact is if they enjoyed what you did then you did great.

Your not there to impress but to entertain, Yes it's nice if they get blown away by your carfully selected tricks and presentation. But I can do this and make the spec think "great trick but what an ar*e".

You obviously are not as bad as this as your freinds are mesmorised by your stuff, so forget this bad day and remember next time your smileing freinds and the enjoyment you gave them just before you do your tricks to anyone else.

Hope this has helped you. I feel a lot better myself now

Nerves are entirely normal. It's human nature.

However, what you need to get over is the fact that when you are on stage, YOU are the star.

Analyse it: YOU are the focus, the attention, the hero. It is YOU people are coming to see. It is YOU they will be talking about afterwards.

And because of this, just do your best. Be as good as you can... practice, train, study, whatever, but just put EVERYTHING into it and enjoy it.

Something I learned ages back was when I got nervous is to focus on just one person, the person who seems to be smiling and receptive. Without obviously directing the whole performance at them specifically, you should focus on this one person and give them the show.

I found this not only beneficial for magic, but for stage dramatics as well.

And now, more recently, I find it invaluable when I am giving seminars, presentations and even just de-briefings.

Mostly, the nerves vanish within the first few minutes of performing. Once you've broken the 'wall' down between you and the spectators, you'll really enjoy it. And you'll wonder why you ever worried at all!

Its the same with anything where you have to speak or perform in front of groups of people. The more you do it, the easier it gets. If you had to give your opinions on something in front of friends, it would be a doddle, but if you had to speak in front of a room full of strangers it wouldn't (at first). Just keep doing it.
Try having a really strong self working effect as your opening effect. You can then stop worrying about screwing up. This may give you a bit of confidence, and by then you will be in the flow of things.

Michael Kras wrote:Normally I don't get mervous or anxious when performing, although I do a little bit sometimes before a stage show. But as soon as I am on stage and getting into my act, everythig is fine. My home is on stage.

Well done.

Kenneth I have just started doing gigs, and my nerves are terrible. I actually think they help though, as you don't come across too cocky and people do empathise with you more.

You will find that the more you do magic to random strangers the easier it will get

Kenneth wrote:I have worked a card routine down to where I can perform it very well, I have no problems mesmerizing friends with it.

But tonight I met a girl who I wanted to impress, so I pulled out a deck of cards, and as soon as I was about to begin i started shaking with nervousness and anxiety. I couldnt even D/L a card...
I know most of you are far more professional magicians, so what do you do to deal with this anxiety?

Ah. The reason it was different with this girl is because of the meaning the performance had for you. Nerves are good. I still get a rush of adrenaline and that stomach churning thing as I'm about to deliver the first line, but I also know I'm the one in control. Remember that and it'll get easier.

Just to echo Tomo you are in control in a way I know it is a cliché but you are inviting them in to your world and all that sickly stuff about its your magic and you choose to share it with them.

Control is an interesting thing. I done a FD for my brothers friend who happens to be a police officer and we was discussing social conditioning. As my hand that was suspose to have the coin moved and I followed it with my eyes he followed it to. Misdirection is control. On the other hand there are people you cant control and the best advice is move on.

Nerves are a good thing. I wonder how nervous you would have been if you wasn’t trying to impress then girl? You was probably more nervous about that then the actual magic.

A lot of people also mistake the adrenal dump as fear. But it is where we get the extra push from take see it more as a boost to what you doing rather then a fear. I wouldn’t go out and think I am going to overly impress rather I would have the mind set that everything I do will. Next time think of the foxy lass as incidental to the trick rather then someone who the trick must work for or your life will be over.

I think it's just practice, I used to get really shaky even just performing to my friends, but now it's getting to be less and less of a problem. Although I got a bit nervous last night and things started going wrong. Lost a couple of cards in the deck, then I was doing designed for laughter and when I showed her the third packet with her card on the bottom, instead of giving no indication she burst out laughing and said it was her card, and although I finished the trick it really wasnt as "wow" as it should have been". So I gave up and showed them jason latimers laser magic on youtube instead and they were suitably impressed

I must also add I was quite drunk which probably contributed quite a lot to the losing of the cards

Just breathe, and rehearse the trick once or twice quickly before approaching the table. Then you know you will be ready.

Michael Kras wrote:and rehearse the trick once or twice quickly before approaching the table.

although most serious magician will suggest your practise amount be at least in 3 figures, unless you frequent ellusionist perhaps.

I find that a couple of pints really settles any nerves, and if you do practice enough then you should still be able to perform just as well after a couple of drinks.
i also think i am a better performer after some drinks; while my sleights may not be so tight, my patter/personality is sometimes SO much better just because I'm so much more relaxed, and not reciting a script which just makes things sound more personal.
it does not help my TM rantings though (i am drunk)

Just to echo what has been said before: it gets easier the more you do it. Like most things.

It might seem impossible right now that you could ever perform in front of strangers without shaking hands/crippling nerves/anxiety etc. But it will come in time - honest.

Kenneth Update:
I was at my mums house helping her, and she asked to see a magic trick, I showed her a few classic ones, then i went to perform the latest trick I've learned, ( the same one I wanted to show the girl ) and the same thing happened- Perhaps it's just anxiety with the new performance-I've only spent a month doing this trick, so that might be the case-

Good advice all! Especially Micheal

Try saying you just want to show them something. Don't mention magic. They won't know what to expect and in return you won't feel like their eyes are burning holes in your hands.