Hi Stan, welcome to the Café'. Not so much a question, but a compliment and and comment. You could really write a book on how to run a successful convention. Not just for magic, but for anything. I've attended hundreds of conventions for my various interests Magic, Music, Movies, Comic books, (Yeah, I'm one of those guys) and have NEVER seen anything so impressive as Magic Live. I've performed at dozens and dozens of conventions of other businesses and always see little flubs that make me say, "You know, if Stan were running this, this would never happen." Keep up the great work, and I hope to see you next August for Magic Live.

Whoa, I'm flattered. Of course, there is a lot of work put into a MAGIC Live! by a number of people, not the least is my right-hand guy, Rory Johnston, and my son, Steven. We tend to bounce around what seems to be a million ideas, then come up with fifty or so that we analyze to death. Sometimes we get lucky, and sometimes we don't. When we don't get lucky (which happened a bit in 2007), we go back and analyze some more. We're probably doomed to keep producing Lives! until we get it right! See ya in August!

Pepka -

Sorry to see your chances of ever winning a bowling medal at the WMS go down the drain so quickly! Just remember who goes over the score sheets.

Stan's greatest strength in presenting a magic convention is that he put his ego aside and went out and talked to people. He sought out folks who had been doing magic conventions for years and listened to them and then put it all together and did his own thing. I wish there were more Stans in the world of magic conventions because he presents motivation to those of us who do the "other" conventions. I have never considered Stan as competition - I consider him to be a most welcome challenge. We often compare notes and I believe we share a mutual goal of trying to raise the magic convention bar with every convention whether it be MAGIC LIVE! or World Magic Seminar.

Welcome to the Café Stan - how the hell do you have time to do this?

Bill

Bill's right. Well, he's right that we often compare notes. I'm not sure he's right about wishing "there were more Stans in the world..." That's a bit scary!

Thanks, Bill... Time? That sleeping stuff is highly overrated.

Stan