So I'm getting ready to go out and hit the streets again but I wanted to get the take of some of the people on the board. What do you consider a good amount of material to be armed with when you are going out to do street magic? How do you break it up between styles and tricks? In effect in what ways do you get ready for this type of performance?

With me it all depends on the person your doin magic to and remember do your strongest material.
If you completely blow them away on the first effect that you do then your gonna find it a struggle on the second effect as you will have to something equally as strong.
so I guess what I'm saying is do a routine of 3 or 4 effects and try and knock em dead on your finale and keep it audiance participated make them look like theres not a single move and its them doing the magic.
If the spectator I'm using isn't very impressed by the end of the first one I just leave it at that and choose somebody else.

this is just my ways of thinking

hope this helps

How did you do it when you did the streets before?

I take my table, pouch with loads and my cups and balls, a couple of decks, my rope, and I hope, eventually, my rings (other than the table, everything is in a small duffle bag.) I plan to do three to five effects for a show

I stroll when I perform so they've got to be things that can be done standing up. Three to four tricks per audience seems ideal. I don't really set what the tricks are going to be for each audience but go impromptu depending on the reactions I'm getting. For instance, for the skeptical/heckling sort of crowd I'm obviously not going to do the Balducci. I like building towards some sort of mentalist trick like the center tear or something like that. Mentalism seems to make a good cap to a performance, especially if the audience is already taking that all important leap of faith in your show.

'Lo Grimm,

First off, you need to decide whether you are going to go to the people, or whether you're trying to entice the people to come to you. (ideally, you should be gaffed for both options)
If you want then to approach you....that's not terribly tough, just do something they can't possibly HELP but stop & notice. An IT floatation effect works nicely, I like the impossible hank. The idea is to get attention, and once they stop, you go into your routine, loudly so as to attract more people. Also, get the first stoppers to applaud early, 'cause NUTHIN attracts people like applause. Another cool attention-grabbing trick I like is the "sign bait". Have a cardboard sign with you which reads "I.I T.Y.W.T.M.W.Y.W.M.D.A M.T." Sooner or later someone will inquire as to the sign's meaning, and you reply "If I tell you what this means will you watch me do a magic trick?" Usualy theyll say "Yes" (hey, if they were curious enough to ask about the sign, then...) and away you go! After the act, the first spectator will probably still be standing there expectantly, and if they ask for the sign's meaning, tell them "I already told you!" Point to each letter as you repeat "If I Tell You What This Means Will You Watch Me Do A Magic Trick" BOING!!!

As for the tricks themselves, I like to do 3-4 routines per crowd, each routine consisting of 2-4 tricks of the same genre (cards, coins, etc.), but if you only do 3-4 TRICKS per crowd, then I'd suggest:
Invisible deck
Pen-thru-bill
Magician's nightmare
Linking rings
...............Basicly, going from small to big.