If this is your first look behind the curtain I highly recommend joining.

Al,
Sorry to hear about your experiences with clubs. Mine were very different I found club members to be very helpful and to coach me along. I now meet almost weekly with a couple of guys from the local club to practice ands are ideas. I have noticed a healthy respect for other's routines - after one night of performing, one of the performers was asked by another club member if they could use their idea. Very respectful. Of course I'm in the Midwest - small market and it would be very uncomfortable if someone was poaching another's gigs or routines. In Philly, I suspect the market is so big that there is a good bit of annonminity and little reprisal for stepping on someone else's toes.

Hudson

It is not where I come from at all, it is my desire to be the best.

I believe it all depends on the people in the club.

I have been a member of several clubs and some are more welcoming than others. However, the first club I joined made a huge difference to me. It was before the internet & DVDs and so it was difficult to get learning materials easily. I found that I learned so much so quickly from the lecturers and members. Even in these days of easier access to learning materials, being in a club easly in your learning will help you on presentation and routining aspects which are not often not well covered in books and dvds.

Organizations such as the IBM and SAM and Kidabra are phenomenal. I believe these
are the major players. The individual groups that belong to these organizations are
a different story. As posted above, you would have to find the group and attend
their meetings a couple of times (notice I said a couple of times not one time) and
see if the group suits you.

The cons in belonging to multiple groups is the costs and time. If you have the
money and time then I think it great. When I first caught the magic bug, I attended
every lecture, workshop, convention, and groups meetings that I could find and that
finances allowed.

The pros, depending on finding the right group are as follows:

• A place to be bad (where you can perform).
  
• A place for camaraderie and networking with people that have the same interest.
  
• A place to learn (lectures, workshops, and sessions).
  
• Monthly periodicals that have wealth of information.
  

Now this list is not inclusive at all; I'm sure it can be expanded.

And since your are in Orlando, there is Bev Bergeron IBM ring out there.

Hope this helps.

Driving home from our last meeting I was talking to my wife about this very thing. There is NO “professional jealousy” (could be called unprofessional pettiness) in our group. They truly want to see others grow in the art. Most of the guys there are workers. For many, it’s their full time occupation. Two are magic shop owners. A couple drive over an hour to get here. They all genuinely love magic.

I know of several “professional referrals groups”; they make it a point to have only one each of doctor, lawyer, realtor, etc, to avoid competition. But in the Ortwein club (Ring 112) that kind of pettiness just doesn’t happen. It’s a great group.

Very interesting & enlightening thread.

I was recently invited to attend a local IBM meeting this month, but my work schedule kept me from it. Luckily I should have the next meeting date off and really look forward to checking it out. As I've only actually been practicing magic for a couple of months it kind of makes me nervous, but I really look forward to actually talking to other magicians that I might be able to learn from firsthand. Reading this thread just makes me want to go even more and work harder to learn what I can!

Also, I was reading on the membership requirements for IBM. It states that one must have at least two years of interest (I believe that was the word used) in magic to join. So that means I'd actually still have to wait almost two years to actually join? Just curious.

It depends on which organization, what your interests in magic are, and what you expect to get out of any organization.
If you are a hobbyist then there are several advantages:
1) Lectures
2) Critique by other more experienced hobbyists.
3) Monthly themed meetings that get you thinking about presentation themes.
4) Flea markets where used magic other magicians have found don't work for them or that they are tired of for sale cheap.
5) Connections with other magicians that may "session" on a regular basis away from the regular meetings.
If you are a pro or aspire to be a pro, these advantages can still be part of the magic club experience. However, for pros there are disadvantages as well. Joel Bauer in His book Hustle, Hustle, mentions some of these including:
1) Amateurs who are more than willing to rip of routines if they get the chance.
2) Getting requests to perform for free at fund raisers the show has booked.
3) Monthly themed meetings that you can't participate in because you don't have any routine that fits the theme or aren't working on at the time.
4) Getting caught up in organizational politics that are distractions to running your business.
Keep in mind that once you make contact with a club some of them let you attend as a guest for a certain number of meetings and almost all of them are willing to let magicians they know attend lectures for a modest charge even if they aren't members.
That being said, I've been a member of several clubs in the past, am currently a member of one. I can confirm that I have found out that all of the above--expecially the politics problem--occurs in all magic clubs.

SD, it’s not always necessary to PERFORM magic to be included, although most do at least try their hand at it. There are definitely more “hobbyists” than professionals, and the “interest” in magic could simply be as a collector or even a “historian”. There is also a requirement for two “sponsors”, but after you’ve attended a couple meetings and let folks get to know you, that won’t be a problem. The main concern with this requirement is that they want only people who are SERIOUS about Magic.

C’mon in. The water’s fine!