The SAM contest shows were tonight and everyone is excite to learn who will be crowned the FISM NACM Champion tomorrow night? Last night's Pennsylvania show made me proud to be a Pennsylvanian- so many people commented it was THE best show they have seen. Everyone is enjoying the lectures, Magic Antique Road Show, SYM activities, and Dealer Riom setup. The Wednesday night Presidents Reception with.Hors d'eorves and open bar was another event to showcase that the SAM Convention is THE friendliest.

Saturday morning we start accepting registrations for Las Vegas Golden Nugget in 2012.

Mark Weidhaas
SAM National President 2010-2011.

Mark,
Having a blast...stayed up way to late the last couple of days. The shows have been on fire. Competition level very high...I can't even give you my favorite because there were so many good acts. I would hate to be a judge here.

Christian

Hey you probably would be as good as the judges they use

Great convention. Congrats to all the people who helped make it possible!

If anyone could report some highlights, winners, etc. to contest I would be grateful.

The convention was amazing, not only the stage and close up competitions over the days, but also a very fun and interesting dealers room with classic dealers like Eddie Ace, Joe Mogar, Mark Mason, Daytona Magic, The always helpful Eric Jones, the first time I met Ed Ellis, and more, The competitions were amazing, but the 3 count em 3 gala shows with Scotty Alexander as MC at one on Thursday night and Michael Close the MC at Friday nights show, and the always fun Shawn Farquhar (I apologize for the spelling, I sat next to his wife and daughter at the Saturday night show.

Just those things would have more than made it worth its value, but toss in the Presidents reception (great contacts made, great people met) heck, great people were met all week long...the round table discussions in the lobby, the lectures by Losander, Jay Alexander, Joshua Jay, and I know I'm missing one....along with rhe tribute to Hank Moorhouse and much much more.

I am reminded (in my brain) of the tag line to one of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethons "Even If you Miss a little, You Miss Alot!

The Saturday night show was the Best lineup at a Magic Convention I have ever seen. Truely Amazing. The Contest finalists who earned a trip to FISM ( top two get FISM Slot) are Close Up - Card Magic 1st -Woddy Aragon (Spain) 2nd Shin Lim USA -- Micro Magic 1st Andost USA 2nd- Pattrick Przysiecki USA, --Parlor Magic 1st Hector Mancha Spain, 2nd Ben Jackson USA --Woddy Aragon wins People Choice -- Hector Mancha wins Silver Medal & Overall Close Up Champion.
Stage General Magic 1st Andost USA 2nd Richard Forget Canada. Manipulation 1st Hyunjoon Kim ( Korea I think) 2nd tie Hiroshi Yamamoto Japan & Lee Young Woo.
Peter Pitchford and Rueben Moreland both USA also received FISM invitations. Peoples Choice and Overall Stage Champion goes to Hyunjoon Kim.
I believe these are correct.

Pattrick did a great job on the Friday night show. Congratulations Pat !

Correct. I talked with him briefly while we were waiting for the elevator. A charming and modest young fellow.
I believe Lee Young Woo is from South Korea as well.
Thanks for posting the list as I was having a hard time remembering the names of all the finalists.

I thought that both Hector Mancha and Woody Aragon were fantastic! What did you think?

Both Hector and Woody were very good, both very fun performances and both of them very approachable and very nice guys

I still think that the Tursday Pennsylvania show beat the great lineup on Saturday. Paul Gertner was the one lecture you missed listing. Paul also did his FISM act as part of the Ohio vs. Pennsylvania closeup show. Marc DeSousa, Ed Ellis and Josh Jay, along with Paul, were on top of their game and provided an amazing show. Glad everyone had fun in our 'Burgh!

Correction on the Card Magic Catagory for FISM at the NACM. The 1st Place winner in Card Magic was Shin Lim, and 2nd Place went to Woody Aragon. I apologiize for the error, it most certainly was not intentional. Thank You.

Patrick, weknow it was not intentional but it was international.

I concur the Thursday night show was stronger. A better blend and mix of types and styles. Saturdays was good but we had two manipulators basically doing cards. By themselves, they are both very strong. But together they both suffer a little.

Richard

Hyunjoon Kim from South Korea was brilliant, but I'm glad Peter also got an invite to FISM with his excellent Cardini themed act, it had more emotion if not the quantity of manipulation.

Some really original stuff in the close up, but my favorites were the Spanish card acts.

Paul.

Hyunjoon Kim blew me away. I could not stop thinking about his style and skill. And I agree with Paul, I am so glad Peter got an invite to FISM.

DeWayne

And the Rhythm of Magic team who energized the stage with their own style of dynamic magic. This was a big hit with my wife. She also really enjoy the acts of the two Spanish gentleman as we'll.

How did the dealers room do especially with an auction going on? Also, how many people were there?

Dealer room was ok. It was hard because we competed with so many events on all the time. The auction was not that big so it did not really interfer too much. I heard about 550 people attended.

There needs to be time when only the dealers are open. Competing with all the events is not good.

Richard