Had a different experience tonight. A friend hired me to do magic for his granddaughter's birthday dinner at a restaurant. I got there early and informed the server what our plans were. After they placed their order I would approach the table and do magic until their food arrived.

It went well, but was kind of awkward as well.

First of all, it was an L shaped table of 12 people. The birthday girl (21st bd) was seated opposite me against a wall near the corner of the L. So right away we needed her to move down to the end of the table where she could take part. The plan was for her to be at the head of the table initially, but she had insisted on sitting in the L. Not difficult to fix- my friend had her get up and move by saying I was taking their picture. Then I introduced myself and told her why I was there.

I was disappointed in the fact that most of the table got to see nothing of the magic. My friend informed me prior to coming not to worry about this, that he just wanted me to make the night special for her, but it felt awkward to me as a performer to exclude so many people from what I was doing. If we had tried to work with where she had been sitting, then others would have had to move. It was just kind of quirky.

Then there was the kid that came and had to sit in her lap. And take off with the sponge bunny and try to grab "his" ambitious card. lol little cutie

And then there was the lady who clapped and told me thank you for coming when I was only halfway through my set.

:lol: All that and I still say it went well. She was amazed, which is what my friend wanted.

Some great learning experience for me too.

I sympathise with you, I have a regular gig that has that dreaded room configuration. Fortunately I can just move around the L shape but it still has people standing up trying to see whats going on in the part they are not in. Oh well, rough with the smooth and all that.

Theodore sounds as if you were there to to make your friend happy by making the grand daughter happy. By the sounds you nailed it. When in that situation its easy to go to pieces and lose the plot. One thing I think you avoid was moving every one so they could see causing loads of disruption when the truth of the matter is no one minds missing out.

L shapes are awkward. I don't know if its possible but standing in between the two ends and having every one on the closest side turn round. also once you did your show do little bits of close up for interested pepole.

My last comment is all possible tool for the further and not critisum. Sounds as if you nailed it.

Congrats on the success of this event. Circumstances don't always allow for it, but the longer I perform the more comfortable I'm getting with taking control of the situation. That means, I don't hesitate to move furniture, or ask someone to move a little closer, turn on more lights, or whatever I reasonable things I need to do to create the best experience possible for those I'm hired to entertain.

I just worked a company Christmas Party at a country club. I did all the right things....I communicated with the client to inquire of the time/ my set-up needs/ my time of performance etc. ///// I then traveled to the country club a few days ahead of time to see the private room and the surroundings so there would be no surprises......The manager would not let me into the room to look around because there was some other event/meeting going on. She apologized...Oh well...and it was about a 45 minute drive. (I guess I have to wing it)

I get to the venue, EARLY, only to find I have absolutely NO ROOM to set up. The room was small just large enough to accommodate a 14 person board room table with 2 Christmas Trees and an adjacent room that was set up for hor dourves and drinks. We had agreed upon a parlor style show..... Can you say PANIC???

What to do? I had already prepared the show in advance and left my close-up case at home. ( not a good idea-//lesson learned)
I got a hold of the waiter who was going to be servicing the party and explained my dilemma... He couldn't believe the management handled the situation the way they did.......To my delight...he notified the wait staff and a team of about 6 came and moved the hor dourves tables to another area in close proximity. I brought my Magic Backdrop and set it up in the doorway of the adjacent room and was able to do the show as prepared. The client that hired me was none the wiser of the changes that went on behind the scenes.

When the show was over I did a little jig behind the curtain chanting "I'm done.. I'm done, I'm done". The owner and manager of the company came back to the room, shook my hand, and thanked me for a great show...Little did they know what I was thinking prior to the show..

Moral of the story...Expect the best prepare for the worst...

Wow- Thanks for all the great replies. You guys are great friends to have for discussion. I've learned a lot from you all.

Thanks for the encouragement too!

It seems you did meet your objective of making the Birthday Girl happy. I have learned to always expect the unexpected. Definitely Guerilla Magic at it's best. Congratulations.

Ray

Thanks Ray

The thing is this sort of experience is common. Good for making it work.

I appreciate that comment Danny- knowing that it is common will help me grow as a magician and further prepare me for restaurant work.

I still haven't approached any restaurants as my schedule makes it difficult, especially with the holidays. But I'm glad I had this experience before I set out.