How do you guys to get into performing trick in casual gathering with friends and family members?

Any particular opener or reason of performing you use?

Or start a topic about uri geller and perform the spoon bending trick?

Start a topic a card cheat you meet recently and show them what the card cheat teach you?

Any natural way to perform?

Lastly, do you perform magic on every lunch or dinner with friends?

How you bring your prop? and how much to bring?

Looking forward to hear some great advise from Café member.

Hi Charlie,

Try and slot it in if it comes up in conversation or you can try and move the conversation round to. I would suggest you don't do it all the time. I always have a deck of cards to practice with so I am always prepared. I wouldn't try and do it every time you go to lunch or dinner with friends otherwise you will end up eating alone. Imagine you had a friend who was learning the guitar and everytime you saw him he tried to play a song to you. It would be nice at first but I bet you would get pretty tired of it after a while especially if he whipped his guitar out every time you went out for dinner.

Though I can pretty much guess you have the magic bug and are hanging out to show people not everyone has the same passion about magic as we do so I find it best to keep it to a minumum. Show them one trick and no more. If they react well you know you can show them another one at a later date. Always keep them in expectation and don't show them all your material at once otherwise you have to repeat your tricks too often.

Naturally performing will come with time. I used to shake like a leaf and now you wouldn't notice anything

Bring small stuff. Coins and cards or a TT. That way if you don't get to perform you haven't stuffed your pockets full of tricks for nothing

Just my two cents

Ha charlie
yes I do perform at work usally at lunch or break.
they love it so much if I don't bring anything.
they ask me did you bring anything today?
theres no special way do magic for friends or family.
just ask them would they like to see something special.
or would you like to see a trick.after you do this
a few times it will come naturely for you.and your style
of doing it will also come naturely.just go out there and
do it.the reward you get is a tremendous feeling.
todd

The less you do, the greater the impact. Don't do magic every chance you get - you will build a reputation, but not the one you want. Make it special, but always be prepared. Done one great trick once and they will remember it forever. Less is more.

Hudson

Have you been doing magic long?

This is how it was for me. For family I would simply ask and say I am working on a new trick and I would be really grateful for their feedback.

Friends knew I was doing magic and would ask how it was going - so I would show a trick or two.

But after a while my phase of desiring to mug people with magic faded. I still like to do tricks, but not on every occasion. I think my friends appreciate my not bringing the cards out at EVERY occasion too.

If you can diversify your audiences. Joshua Jay (American magician) used to do children's parties. His business card said best 12 year old magician in Chicago! (He was also the only 12 yo magician in Chicago) so he got to try the same tricks on different audiences. Hospitals might also be good.

btw the age and location (12 and Chicago are probably wrong but the concept is correct).

Danny

For my part nothing really new I am an "amateur" magician so I perform only on casual gathering.

Close family members are my main beta tester for new tricks, I openly ask if I can show them, and to be as critic as they can be.
I also have always a few tricks ready for family reunions, because I love to do small ones to children,like the coin from the ear, I do not even call that magic , but most of the time they or their parents ask for more and then I can practice some more serious stuff.

Friends, as they know I'm learning magic, they ask me to show them regularly the new tricks I learned, and even if it is once a year Halloween is always a great time for a seance or some bizarre tricks on that particular occasion I build a real show for my friends that is part of the Halloween party.

At work I usually do not perform or only with coworkers that I know for so many times that they fall in the friend category .

So I would say that apart from close family or children I wait that someone ask me to do some tricks.

How many tricks I bring ? it depends...

If it is a family reunion or a friend ( or friend's child ) birthday party, I know that there would surely have someone asking me to do a show, so have an old doctor leather bag that I prepare in advance with enough to do a complete show of 30-40 minutes. But I always try to act if it were totally impromptu .

For other occasions with my friends I do not have much stuff on me apart from my wallet, a deck of cards and some coins. If I am learning a new trick I may have on me what is needed to perform it.

I try to always save my new tricks for one-one-one situations with friends. I've learned that when I flub up a trick, its best if only one friend sees it I also generally also start the conversation like this "Hey, I'll buy you a coffee if ya watch this new trick". Most people don't turn down free coffee and a show.

If you show only your best tricks, show them selectively, and make your friends feel special by showing it to them one-on-one, people will start to think of you as less of a hobbiest and more of a magician. Once they got that notion, then occasionally at outings and parties They ask you, instead of the other way around.

I think in magic that a little bit of something miraculous is a lot better than a whole bunch of mediocre.

Just my 2 元

Teng Lun

Hudson is right on the money with this. I am very cautious today. Some people are NOT into magic tricks and will attempt to make a fool out of you, if you insist on performing. I have found that out the hard way so many times...it's a tough lesson to learn.

One lesson I learned is, always leave when they want to see MORE!

Doug

My advice would be: wait to be asked, and even then, make sure they genuinely want to see some magic, and they're not just being polite because they know you want to perform, or even worse, they can tell that you're dying to break out that deck of cards. Few things are more annoying than a needy magician. There is really no polite way to say "no" if someone asks "Can I show you a magic trick?", so don't put people in the position to have to sit through something they have no interest in seeing.

But, I also understand the need and desire to perform as much as possible, especially for magicians like you or I, who don't have a regular performing venue; most often, friends, coworkers, and strangers in bars is the audience we get...

What you can do, perhaps, is have somebody be your pimp, so to speak... Let me explain: this happened to me, it's not something I've set up on purpose. My boss loves to see me do magic, and so every time we are out for a business lunch or dinner, or any social situation of that kind, he will invariably pick someone who is "new" and hasn't seen me perform, and ask: "Say, so-and-so, do you like magic?" and when they say yes, ask me if I wouldn't mind showing something. What's nice about this is that I don't come off as a needy performer, and since there is no context to the question, it allows people to bow out gracefully, since at that point it's just a hypothetical question.

Maybe you can set up a similar dynamic if you often hang out with a supportive friend who's willing to be the initiator on your behalf. In my opinion, it makes a big difference in the expectations it sets up...

Cheers,
Luigi

Learn to do some magic with objects that might be found in the various environments you're in. If it's in an office for instance, learn to do something with paper clips or post-it notes. Come up with an intrigueing line or interesting story that can set the stage. Draw people it.