Hello David,

Thanks for taking the time here on the Café, it is greatly appreciated. I feel you truly are one of the best kids show performers. I do a lot of close-up strolling gigs for corporate events but in the last year and a half I have been doing more kids/family shows. I come from a big family and get a lot of my work through word of mouth. And it seems that some of the audience (kids and adults) that I have performed for end up at my next show. I remember reading somewhere that you (I believe it was you) said you always ask the customer before the show if anyone has seen you before. Is this true, so to avoid repeating the same show for kids that may have seen you perform prior to the pending show? Further, do you have different sets/acts, i.e. Kids Show A, Kids Show B etc.., that you have ready so you can just pick and chose if you have to? I understand when you are just starting out you should concentrate on specific tricks/acts so you can master them to the fullest in order to give the best show possible, but as I stated previously, I have been getting some repeat people at my shows since I began and in the short time frame of doing kids/family shows, I am finding it hard to learn/put together another set so quickly when I am still refining my current. I do work full time during the day as a Geologist, so magic is not full time for me (yet!). Thanks for reading this and for any tips you can offer.

Best,
Bob

I do always ask the customer where they saw me before.

Here is a piece of the answer I placed in another thread:
I list all the tricks I do at every show. when a mom says she saw me at Billy's party I know what tricks I did. The changes occur when the kids have seen me before. We know kids love repetition, so you don't have to change the whole show. I change about half the tricks for the second showing, another half for the third. Sometimes I go back to the first A-show on the fourth viewing. Sometimes the moms will try to talk you into changing a lot cause they have seen you before. But that's when the kids complain they didn't see their favorite tricks!

I have my A-show. After that, as I say above, I change half the tricks. The amount of change depends on their ages and how long it has been since they saw me.

But I have to tell you something that is hard for new people to understand. Try not to be a trick junkie. Your show will get great if you do the tricks 100, 300, 500 times. There is an urge for people to always buy new tricks and put them in the show for repeat shows. Try to resist. Do easy, self working if you feel the need for variation. But don't put too many new or unfinished routines in the same show. This is hard to learn and hard to understand. Or try out the new material when you do free shows or practice on your friends before it goes into your show.

Thanks for the response David- much appreciated! And your quote above- SO true! There are always new tricks that appeal to me and I feel that I have to buy them to add. Magic seems to be an addiction! But I am noticing how the flow and comfort of the same tricks that I keep in my show keep getting better with better audience response. Great Advice- I just have to keep the purchasing beast far from me!

Take Care,
Bob

I think everyone should have the same attitude with repetition. It's the act and the magician, and not so much as the trick it self. Just like David says, it's about taking kids for a journey, not just point A to point B. It's what's in the middle that counts. Thank you David for teaching some of us that.