Post by Chris Martin on Aug 3, 2005 3:29:31 GMT -5
Crowd Control (Confidence and Techniques)
Controlling your crowd is almost as important as the tricks you perform. Think about it, if you have great tricks but your crowd is crazy and terrible to you, they won’t care about your tricks. In my opinion there are four steps to controlling your crowd. I will cover these in this essay of sorts.
Step One: Confidence
To control a crowd, you must have one first. This is one of the hardest parts of controlling your crowd. Confidence isn’t something you can exactly teach, its mostly personal experience, and a little bit of research. Some tips for getting your confidence up and ready are to just do it. Perform for your friends first because if you mess up to them, they won’t really care. They will say oh well and still be your friend. Once you feel confident with the performances you gave given to them, you can then move on to people you don’t know. That’s where it becomes personal experience. When I started I just thought, well I did it to everyone else, I know I can perform well, so why don’t I just do it? And I did, and it worked really well. Once I started to perform, I felt much more comfortable and relaxed. It was fun. People make too much of a build up about it, when you should just relax and do it
Step Two: Disarming them
As taught in any book or movie related to magic, to amaze them, you must disarm them. This may be repetitive but still is something to keep in mind. People always have their guards up and are reluctant to experience something new that could change their immediate reality. Do something quick and to the point to get them into it. Some that I use are ShapeShifter, Revolution (or any vanish), and the Stealth Pen. These are quick and highly visual. They get the audience very interested and wanting more. Once you disarm them, you will be able to control them more, and get the reactions you want and deserve.
Step Three: Maintaining Control
Once you have established control with your audience you need to keep it. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people struggle with this. (Not just in magic but in other aspects like music etc.) When you get it you have to keep it. The key once again, is confidence. You basically just have to own the crowd, for lack of a better statement. You have already disarmed them. Now comes the good part. Enjoy your magic and they will too! Relax and if someone is acting out, single them out for a trick. Let them be the center of attention as they badly want. This will most likely shut them up and create a fun atmosphere. (I know that’s a little bit of a controversial topic on what to do there, but when I single them out I do it with respect and with no intention of humiliating them. I find that this works well.) You should also respect your crowd. Brings you back to that golden rule we all learned while we were youngins, meaning kindergarten. Treat them with respect, and they will treat you with it too. Finish your routine strong to further get the reactions you deserve.
Step Four: Leaving The Crowd
When you’re done with your magic and their begging for more, you have done your job. You’ve thoroughly amazed them beyond anything they knew and they will do just about anything to see some more. But there always has to be a time to end it. Just do it with class. Politely say no I have somewhere to be and I need to get on my way. I just saw you guys and thought hey they would be great to perform too or something along those lines. If you are performing at a restaurant, just say, well I would but others need to see this too! Just be polite and courteous throughout the entire time and you will get the reactions you want and deserve. This cant be mastered in a few tries. It takes a little bit of time as most things do in magic. You just need to get out there and perform. Get some experience under your belt and find out what works specifically for you and what your audience wants. Remember, if you enjoy it and are having fun, your audience will look to you doing your thing and relax also. Have fun with it!
Controlling your crowd is almost as important as the tricks you perform. Think about it, if you have great tricks but your crowd is crazy and terrible to you, they won’t care about your tricks. In my opinion there are four steps to controlling your crowd. I will cover these in this essay of sorts.
Step One: Confidence
To control a crowd, you must have one first. This is one of the hardest parts of controlling your crowd. Confidence isn’t something you can exactly teach, its mostly personal experience, and a little bit of research. Some tips for getting your confidence up and ready are to just do it. Perform for your friends first because if you mess up to them, they won’t really care. They will say oh well and still be your friend. Once you feel confident with the performances you gave given to them, you can then move on to people you don’t know. That’s where it becomes personal experience. When I started I just thought, well I did it to everyone else, I know I can perform well, so why don’t I just do it? And I did, and it worked really well. Once I started to perform, I felt much more comfortable and relaxed. It was fun. People make too much of a build up about it, when you should just relax and do it
Step Two: Disarming them
As taught in any book or movie related to magic, to amaze them, you must disarm them. This may be repetitive but still is something to keep in mind. People always have their guards up and are reluctant to experience something new that could change their immediate reality. Do something quick and to the point to get them into it. Some that I use are ShapeShifter, Revolution (or any vanish), and the Stealth Pen. These are quick and highly visual. They get the audience very interested and wanting more. Once you disarm them, you will be able to control them more, and get the reactions you want and deserve.
Step Three: Maintaining Control
Once you have established control with your audience you need to keep it. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people struggle with this. (Not just in magic but in other aspects like music etc.) When you get it you have to keep it. The key once again, is confidence. You basically just have to own the crowd, for lack of a better statement. You have already disarmed them. Now comes the good part. Enjoy your magic and they will too! Relax and if someone is acting out, single them out for a trick. Let them be the center of attention as they badly want. This will most likely shut them up and create a fun atmosphere. (I know that’s a little bit of a controversial topic on what to do there, but when I single them out I do it with respect and with no intention of humiliating them. I find that this works well.) You should also respect your crowd. Brings you back to that golden rule we all learned while we were youngins, meaning kindergarten. Treat them with respect, and they will treat you with it too. Finish your routine strong to further get the reactions you deserve.
Step Four: Leaving The Crowd
When you’re done with your magic and their begging for more, you have done your job. You’ve thoroughly amazed them beyond anything they knew and they will do just about anything to see some more. But there always has to be a time to end it. Just do it with class. Politely say no I have somewhere to be and I need to get on my way. I just saw you guys and thought hey they would be great to perform too or something along those lines. If you are performing at a restaurant, just say, well I would but others need to see this too! Just be polite and courteous throughout the entire time and you will get the reactions you want and deserve. This cant be mastered in a few tries. It takes a little bit of time as most things do in magic. You just need to get out there and perform. Get some experience under your belt and find out what works specifically for you and what your audience wants. Remember, if you enjoy it and are having fun, your audience will look to you doing your thing and relax also. Have fun with it!