Are magic competitions so important, that if you have not won any, you will not get booked, and not become big magician?

RJH

Magic competitions are of negligible effect when it comes to getting booked for shows for the lay public. I would also imagine that there have been many successful magicians who never entered a magic contest. On the other hand, winning a magic competition is certainly an accomplishment one would mention in publicity material.

If only the winners of magic contests got bookings or became "big magicians," there would be very few big name magicians around.

Also, there are "magic competitions" and then there are "MAGIC COMPETITIONS." If you win a contest sponsored by an IBM ring or SAM assembly and play that up in your advertising, chances are the people reading your brochures will be impressed. Of course, you will eventually have to prove yourself if you get booked that way by actually impressing your clients or agent with the quality of your performance.

You might want to consider getting Denny Haney's lecture notes:
http://dennymagic.com/store/denny-and-lee-lecture-notes.html
Read the description of Denny's notes and decide whether you want to give them a try. Denny is one of the most successful working pros in the world and his proteges have also made their marks in professional magic.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

One can also use the event to gather publicity.

This year it got me publicity in both my area newspaper as well as coverage in the nearby larger city. (Olathe Kansas as well as the Greater Kansas City Star Newspaper)

Photo opportunities are also nice. In my case a photo with a coin was caught in mid flight horizontally between my hands.(muscle pass) It appeared on the Neighborhood news in all of Jackson County, Mo. and Johnson County, Ks.

Carl Macan of Ring 129, passed along the information which appeared as the news for the day on I.B.M. portal news.

Harris

I have been taking my planned program for Ring 129's Stage MOY event out for test drives. This afternoon, I will get to do it again.

Over the summer, I had much more opportunity to share my Close up MOY entry out on live audiences. It does make a difference taking it from writing, to practice to rehearsal to the "real world".

My goal for this one on the 12th is just to enjoy sharing fellowship with other magicians and their guest.

It is indeed more about We than Me.

If you are going to be in the Kansas City area on Saturday, you might want to check out links on the Ring 129 website. Saturday night the 12th of January is our MOY stage event.

http://www.ring129.com

I have a few more opportunities to share my Dr. Laugh stuff, this week, before the "Big Event".

In the close up contest last June, I had a very specific set. This time I have parameters and have been going jazz style, with items I pick up on the way to a gig.

It is much more improvisational based, and is both exciting and scary to share.

Harris
still 2 old to know it all

This question was asked in this forum in a different way a while back. I thought you'd find the responses of interest to your question as well.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......&start=0

Let's cite Topas here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjhaFI6oINk

(1:42 Min)

"The most famous magic guys never won a FISM price ..."

:)