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Yesterday I did my first two-hour stint at the Arhritis Research UK shop. I put up my little table in the agreed space, stuck the posters up in the windows and waited for the crowds to come in!

There weren't many takers, but then there weren't that many people in the shop. We think we might move it to a Saturday (the busiest day), and hopefully during the summer holidays it will pick up a bit more. There were four people who came and asked to be amazed, but many more enjoyed watching the magic from the side and the shop assistant seemed to like it very much. I performed all of the tricks listed in my initial post, except for Ring on Rope - I think I might end up scrapping that one, as I'm not hugely confident about it. All of the magic I did perform went down well, and got some donations for the shop. One girl, on discovering she had no change, even bought something specially from the shop just so she could contribute . Result!

All of the tricks went very well. The only bit that almost went awry was in Design for Laughter when I forgot to jog a card when controlling their selection . Luckily, my shuffle was just messy enough to be able to find the place. (I hope that's vague enough not to count as exposure!)

Everyone who saw the magic thought it was great, and I took the opportunity to hand out business cards. One guy said he organises a local Victorian weekend, and I may have a possible booking there. That would be fun - apparently I'd get to dress up and everything!

Most of all, I was surprised at how little nerves I felt. Less than I think I've ever felt, to be honest. I was remarkably comfortable at my little stall, and had a great time showing people wonders. I was confident that I could do it all, so I just did it without worrying and it was fine. And it was really nice to feel that all those prepared lines and bits of business that seem so contrived and false when you say them to yourself in front of a mirror actually work fine in reality.

Overall, then, a brilliant experience. And one to be repeated next week. Which reminds me, I still haven't heard back from Oxfam... I should get on to that....

I will leave you with one of the selection of amusing occurrences that, erm, occurred (as occurrences tend to do). I had just finished my performance of the Linking Rings for one guy. He put a donation in the pot, and just before he went on his way I said "Please feel free to take a card as well." At which point he reached for my deck and tried to pick off one of my playing cards! "No no," I said, "a business card!" What fun.

My good fellow, it sounds to me as if you did supurbly, many congratulations and with the possibility of performing at a weekend of Victoriana, sublime!

Yesterday I had my second 'shift' in the Arthritis Shop (well, the Arthritis Research UK Shop to be precise - we wouldn't want any misunderstandings!) A bit busier than last week, and I had a much greater variety of audiences than last week as well!

There was the young-ish mum who I showed my Ambitious Card to. She put money in the donations pot after one phase, and then after about four or five phases she left because she was so astounded (unless she just got a bit fed-up and acted her way out of it!)

Then there was a young kid who was sent over by his mum. I really hadn't a clue what to do - I've never really been a children's entertainer - so I just did one of my normal tricks and adapted it slightly. It's not easy getting a youngster to pick a card, because they don't realise that they're not meant to show it to you! Anyway, I'm not entirely sure what he made of it. It seemed to keep him happy.

Also, there was a guy who, after the first phase of my linking rings, said "Alright, enough with the linking rings. Show us a card trick." A little taken aback, I obliged, and it was only after doing my whole Ambitious Card routine to him that he revealed he was a bit of a magic enthusiast himself and was in-the-know as to some of the techniques! Anyway, he still enjoyed it and there is a possibility that he might be able to get me a gig at a caravan park or something, where they regularly hire entertainment.

The staff of the shop enjoy the magic very much when they have a spare moment to see it. The manager wants to get balloons and things outside to advertise, and she suggested that if the weather ever improves I could go outside to perform, which would be great for publicity but I would have to be very careful about sudden gusts of wind initiating games of 52 card pickup. She also wants to get a bit put in the local paper, which would be brilliant.

After my stint there, I went off to talk to the Oxfam manager, who I still hadn't heard back from. We organised a date for me to come in next week and try it out there. So overall a very satisfactory few hours!

Excellent stuff keep the updates coming.

Think about learning how to make a dog and sword from modelling balloons. An easy way to keep kids happy and a great excuse for parents to donate to the shop.

Kevin

circuskevin wrote:Think about learning how to make a dog and sword from modelling balloons.

Thanks for the tip! I'm just a little wary because I don't want to get a reputation as a children's entertainer. I really do want to steer away from that sort of thing if I can and concentrate on 'grown-up' magic. Still, it is worth thinking about.

This week I had my usual Arthritis shop stint on Thursday. Once again I had four customers (it seems to be incredibly regular - four or five performances in two hours every week). There were a couple of boys about 12 or 13 years old who both loved Triumph and The Linking Rings. There was a family containing a guy who was probably a bit older than that and who, as I discovered afterwards, was planning to do a show at the Hull Magic Circle (ring any bells, anyone?). I was a little embarrassed at one point when I showed the Coin Through Handkerchief to a kid and his mum, and the kid said afterwards that he knew how it was done because his dad had told him! Mum still enjoyed it though, so my performance must have been fine - I don't suppose you can do anything about a little knowledge here and there. I laughed it off, which seems to be the best response to any mishap , and told the kid not to tell anyone! It didn't help that I followed that routine with my Ambitious Card and managed to fail at the Marlo Tilt (I still can't quite understand how!!!) More laughter and quickly moving on to the next phase solved that one though. There was also the usual selection of unexpected visitors. There was one guy who just came in, not interested in any magic or anything, and just started discussing his arthritis with me. Fair enough. And there was one person who loved talking about bottom dealing and palming and how to do a good business card, but didn't want to see any magic, although he did leave me a promotional book mark for one of his books!

Friday saw me do my first shift at the Oxfam shop. Things got off to a slow start - and I mean very slow. For about the first 45 minutes the only person who I showed magic to was the shop assistant, and even then she still spent more time telling me about all the things she had seen Criss Angel do on T.V. with scorpions and that. I felt a little bit of a disappointment having to say to her "well... I do card tricks..." I felt quite worried, as I do every week, that maybe nobody would take an interest and I would have to walk home at the end having wasted two hours of my time and not contributed anything to the charity shop. But no, all was not lost, and in the last hour and twenty minutes (I overran by 5 minutes) I actually did 7 performances, getting through all of my prepared routines once and entertaining not only the customers but also the shop staff. Phew! The variety of people was a little bit more 'normal' than some of those I got at the Arthritis Shop. The trickiest moment came at the end, when I was showing my coin routine to a guy who had started talking to me when I was just beginning to pack up. He was a bit of a heckler and asked a very awkward question at the end ("Let me see your hand first"). Again, more joking and laughter defused the situation - apparently he has a friend in the Magic Circle who gets just as much stick - and I wrapped up the trick quickly before wishing him a good day. His wife enjoyed the magic and looked a little embarrassed when he gave me that mild heckle. That's the great advantage of multi-phase routines: if your audience doesn't like or sees through one part, then there's always something else there that will interest them. In the end I made around £6 for Oxfam - not to be sniffed at, I think - and handed out more business cards. So, same time next week there then.

I think I might change the sign that I hang on the front of my table. At the moment it just says 'Michael Grant Magician', with the website underneath. It might be more inviting to people if I were to write something like 'Free magic! (but all donations welcome) Just ask'. I think then people will be more inclined to approach me, and hopefully they will still feel compelled to donate once they have seen what I do.

Well, it's been quite a while since I've updated you all on here - doesn't time fly! To be honest, last week wasn't remarkably eventful. I tried using my new sign (see previous post), but it didn't seem to make any real difference so I'm back to the usual one now. I also introduced a new routine last week (Routined Spelling from A Book in English by Woody Aragon), which has gone down very well. I was a little concerned that it might be a bit long, at around ten minutes, but I haven't had problems keeping people's attention and they all are happy to stay through to the end.

This week I came up with a new idea for advertising/marketing. It occurred to me that lots of people might take the business cards I offer them, but not actually look on the website or anything. I know that often when I see an entertainer I make a mental note to look them up afterwards, but never actually get round to it. To solve this (hopefully) I ordered a copy of 'Impuzzibilities' by Jim Steinmeyer. I was quite fortunate in ordering that, because due to a slight mix-up with my last order from Alakazam they had given me around 300 loyalty points as compensation, the end result being that I only had to pay postage for the book. I found a trick that I liked (The King Mystery) and typed out my own set of instructions for people to try it at home. The only thing is, I didn't write down what card they ended up at. Instead, I put down my website address, where they can then find my prediction. So it gives people more incentive to visit my website and hopefully remember me better. Also on the little leaflets I put a photo of myself along with contact details and a little bit about my magic. The other great thing about that is that people who wouldn't normally be interested in taking a business card still get my contact details. Not bad!

Today I had my first repeat customers. They were a couple of guys, a bit older than me, who saw me performing in the Arthritis Shop yesterday and who popped in to Oxfam this afternoon to see a bit more. That was nice.

I also had a slightly amusing moment today. There's a line I like to use in any pick-a-card tricks: "Any one you like - so long as it's the nine of diamonds I don't mind." Just as a joke. And I've been thinking for a while that I should really remove the nine of diamonds from the deck whenever I plan to use that, just to avoid people actually picking it and then getting suspicious. Well today, guess what? Someone actually picked it! I didn't find out until the end of the trick, either, at which point I had to explain to the lovely old lady that it had just been a joke and a coincidence. She still loved the magic and we had a laugh about it, but maybe in future I really should take that card out before I start!

I finished my regular charity shop gigs a while ago now (there wasn't much point once the school holidays had finished), so I thought that I would post a summary of what I have learned from the experience, in the form of a list of advantages and disadvantages to performing in a charity shop. Here it is:

Advantages
* It is very easy to get into. Charity shops are always on the lookout for new ways of attracting customers, and the fact that they'll be getting something for nothing means they can hardly refuse.
* It gives you an opportunity to perform for a wide range of audiences, to try out routines and generally get some experience doing magic for people.
* Unlike a restaurant gig, where you are being paid and there is quite a lot of pressure for you to deliver the goods, charity shops are quite relaxed (again because you are unpaid) and as such provide a gentler start to public performance.
* It's a chance to get noticed, promote yourself and hopefully lead the way to some paid bookings. If you have read my previous posts then you will know that I have had a few potential bookings.

Disadvantages
* You don't get paid.
* You will get mistaken for a shop mannequin. Seriously. All the time. No matter how much you dance around, when you're not performing people will think you're a model.
* You won't get many people taking an interest. For me, a good week would be six or seven tricks in a couple of hours. However, once you do get people interested, others tend to watch from the sidelines. Again, this is gentler than a restaurant gig when you really have to earn your keep.
* You won't make huge amounts of money for the charity. A few quid here, a few quid there... It does mount up slowly, but if you're looking to be really charitable then you should do a sponsored walk or something.
* People will equate you, as a magician, with a children's entertainer. This seems to be a problem with many performance situations, and it's fine if that is what you want to do. But if like me you prefer performing for a more mature audience then you will find it a bit annoying.

That's just about all I can think of for the minute. I hope this thread has been either interesting or helpful in some capacity. And on that note, I bid you good day.

Magician = childrens entertainer. Because the good old british public haven't had as much exposure to Magic as an art form (as opposed to the USA, for example) the main contact they have had is perhaps hiring an entertainer for their childs party. Or perhaps their child has been invited to such a party. It seems to be an age old problem, perhaps some of the members here have some thoughts or ideas to overcome this attitude?