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I did a performance tonight, I was terrible.

I warmed up with "magic square" (soduku)
I thought it would be good the if spec I chose to work with wrote the numbers down... first she couldn't find her glasses, then she added the totals up wrong.

I then moved on to Kioku, the spec didn't notice their memory appeared on one of the cards so my calculations were out.

I decided to go with "you be the mind reader" next (Ted Lesley). The spec dropped the cards everywhere while shuffling.

I finished up with the ID (my own "mind reading" presentation) which turned out to be the only thing that worked without a hitch.

However, I did learn some valuable lessons that will help me in the future. As experienced performers who contribute to TM often say, spectator management can be as important to the presentation as the effect itself. Tonite mine was poor but I am better for the experience (I hope).

Any tips for handling specs in cases like these?

"I need a volenteer, preferebly one who can count, and see."

she lied!

Think you were just damn unlucky. Good old I.D. saves the day again huh?

She even said she does soduku every morning in the news paper. Later I asked her husband if that was true. He said "yeh, takes her all day to work it out... she's bad at Math".

I laughed.

Sounds like you're very new to performing. I cringe just thinking of handing someone a pencil and having them add things up. Are you kidding?

Why not start with some items that don't require this sort of thing and work others in as you build up experience.

No matter how little you involve the spectators you still need to learn spectator management. Each trick will have its own issues.
Each type of personality will have its own issues. Each venue. This is a big combination of things to go wrong.

If 3 things went wrong in a row, you were NOT unlucky. You were unprepared.

You did learn a good lesson. Did you take notes? Or just laugh it off?
If you didn't take notes you'll make them again.

Write down exactly what happened and what you'd do next time to prevent it.

Or repeat the same mistakes, add a few jokes and wear a fez hat!

Strep wrote:Or repeat the same mistakes, add a few jokes and wear a fez hat!

... just like that!

fstarsinic wrote:If 3 things went wrong in a row, you were NOT unlucky. You were unprepared.

How can you say that? Assuming you read how things went wrong you'll know that all the eff-ups were down to the specs. If you hand out a deck to be shuffled and the spec drops all the cards, how is that the fault of the performer who is "unprepared"?

As for the messing up of Kioku, he clearly stated that the spectator was absent minded and didn't notice what she was supposed to be looking for on one of the cards. Again, how is that the fault of the magician?

If you give clear instruction to a cretin, they will still ruin it for you.

Agreed. Absolutely anyone can have a bad night... experience will lower the amount of times these things happen, but I don't care who you are - Greg Wilson, David Stone, the ghost of Houdini himself - you'll still have the occasional night when nothing seems to go to plan.

Also, if "add a number" routines were such a terrible, cringe-worthy idea, why do so many of them exist?

What's important BC is that you pick yourself up, learn from any mistakes you made and do what you can to avoid them happening again. In this instance (and this might not be correct, I'm second guessing from the info given) you have given 2 hints that these spectators were having a bit of a wild time, maybe had a few to drink etc... not being able to add up, not paying enough attention to the cards which might suggest they were doing it a bit half heartedly, and perhaps even dropping the cards...

What it sounds like (and again, second guessing) is it wasn't so much about spectator management as spectator or effect selection. If people are having a night on the town, a run of all mentalism tricks where they have to concentrate - adding things up, reading a series of little cards - was perhaps not the correct choice. These things are suited to spectators and situations where you really do have people's attention, i.e. they're not chatting to their friends in the mean time, and when they've not had much to drink.

Could you tell us more about what sort of performance it was?

In future open with the ID. With regard to the magic square it is not an opening trick and I don't care if mumbling Marc Salem opens with it. I am MARK LEWIS and my opinion is gospel in these matters. In fact the magic square may well be a closing trick.

I have no idea what went wrong without seeing your show and just as importantly the conditions that you were working under and the type of audience you were working too.

As a general rule however here is a good formula for a 4 trick act. It can also be used as a basis for a longer act too.

Your first trick should be something that gets the attention of the audience
The second one is one in which you get to gain a rapport with the audience. An intimate effect or one in which you involve people.

At this point if you have more than four tricks do what you want for the middle effects using common sense as to what is suitable.

Your third trick should be your best one. No. Not the last trick-the second last one. I can't be bothered explaining why. Take my word for it.

Your last trick should be something to bring the act to a definite conclusion.

None of the above is my own idea. It comes from the brain of Roy Benson. For the reasoning I would recommend the Roy Benson book called "Magic by Starlight"

fstarsinic wrote:Sounds like you're very new to performing. I cringe just thinking of handing someone a pencil and having them add things up. Are you kidding?

Yeah, that Max Maven knows sweet FA... (he has the same problem with a spectator in 'Nothing'). Oh, and a different spectator messes up another trick in the same performance. I look forward to you telling Max that he's a newbie!

Incidentally, Sudoku have nothing to do with maths skills. They are logic problems. You can have Sudoku with letters, colours, shapes, different animals, and the principles are the same. That lady just happened to be bad at maths as well!

Good advice from QoS, Farlsborough and Mark Lewis. Sometimes the things you learn are what not to say, or who not to choose. For example, if those people were 'of a certain age', look for someone who's already wearing glasses to do some reading or writing. Of course, on a night like the one you were having, they'd probably have forgotten their reading glasses!

If there's a couple, ask which one of them handles the bills. You should (maybe) get the one who's better at maths, or at least is competent. And then you'll find out he's left his glasses at home.

You're leaving a lot to chance doing those tricks in a row, which you can see based on what happened.

I'll bet Max has some responses ready to dish out if the addition was wrong, if the deck drops, etc. that keep him looking like a pro instead of a hack. That's the difference between a pro and a hack. The things you do when something goes amiss.

So what did you do when these things happened? Were you prepared with a line, gag, silly prop to keep you looking like a pro? Did you have something written in your notes for the math trick for what to do when that happened? And you MUST have known that it was highly probable thru your study of this type of trick.

Having people logic puzzles and add numbers on the spot in front of other people is MUCH more difficult than you are expecting. people freeze up even if it's just a few people watching. you're putting them on the spot.

I just bought a DVD a month or two ago and on the DVD this exact thing happened. The addition was incorrect. But the guy knew how to handle it perfectly and it was no problem.

I'm just saying...

fstarsinic wrote:I'm just saying...

its not what you say, its the way that you say it...

we try to encourage one another on here y'see...you could of said all that you did in a more positive manner...

I'm just saying...

Everybody has bad nights. I HATE bad nights and beat myself up about them for days. Usually though the audience tend to have a good time even when you think you were rubbish. Worst performance of my life was when I got a drunken volunteer on stage who fancied himself as a comedian. It was awful.

However the audience loved it and thought he was part of the act in a Tommy Cooper kind of way.

To repeat - everybody has bad nights. Learn any lessons that need to be learnt, then file it away under "never to be thought of again".

Onwards and upwards old chap.