On 2012-07-15 22:37, Gr8gorilla wrote:
I agree that I have learned a lot, part of my earlier statement was meant to convey that I seriously review what went wrong each day on the pitch. Why was the crowd not into the show, what was filler, what was too long, where did I screw up with the hat lines, did I use hat lines, how did I interact with the crowd, did I personalize the experience by using their names, did I educate them during the show so passing the hat was not a shock? The list goes on and on. Now I am seriously evaluating the actual entertainment value of my show. The lines, the reactions, the ride I take the audience on. The show is working but I know it can be better.

The reason I have done away with the rings is because people like it when I do the first link and unlink, but after that they pretty much lose interest. When I can find a way to do just that and work in enough actual entertainment to make a crowd like it I may bring them back, I like the Rings, I always have, I just don't think it is one of the more entertaining effects as far as street crowds are concerned.

Each aspect of the show I perform is evaluated based on audience reaction. If the reaction is poor, the effect either gets cut or modified. If I am trying something new, I may attempt different versions of it, some of which I create in between performances in an attempt to get the audience reaction that I want. If the audience isn't reacting well to your material you cannot expect the hats to be very impressive. If you go out to the street and perform your show and people don't react correctly it probably isn't the trick or your mastery of it (this is possible, but if you put in sufficient practice it isn't likely). It is most likely to be your performance or your entertainment value. Each of your effects has a time limit, if you exceed that limit you get walk-aways, bored spectators, and ultimately smaller hats. You will find that you do much better when you cut all the extra crap. A prime example is my rope routine. I started out doing Professor's Nightmare, Fiber Optics style. The thing is a street audience has a short attention span. After you stretch the ropes, count the ropes, restore the rope to a long one, cut it, and restore it again, they are amazed. If you do this for 10 more minutes they get bored. Why? Because you are doing the same thing over and over again. I pretty much cut out all of the fancy Sanders moves. The "it's static" bit, the end switch, the slide down ends, the different end throw on's. I got rid of them because, to a lay person it is all the same, to another magician it is cool or to someone into magic it may be cool, but the average person on the street is like, "OK, how many times is this guy going to cut the rope with his fingers and put it back together anyway, it was cool the 4th time, but the 45th time, not so much." Also people on the street are trying to figure out your tricks. They didn't pay to see a magic show, at least not until the end, so anything that gives them a chance to figure out your trick or even to think that they figured it out, is going to lessen your credibility and in turn lessen your hat.

The audience that goes away thinking "WOW, that guy was awesome, I have no idea how he did any of that." is going to tip way bigger than the audience who thinks, "He did that trick with magnets, or whatever...." even though you didn't and they really have no idea what happened, you performed the trick long enough that they created an explanation and now they found you out and your not mysterious, and you don't deserve their $5, now you get the Sacajawea $1 coin instead. All of these things are things that you can only from the street, actually performing your show for crowds and seeing what you can do that pulls in the big hats. What works for me may not and probably won't work for you. You have to adapt your performance to your personality and you have to do it based on audience reactions.