Nicholas, Which book did you purchase? The one on crooked and gambling carnival games is just for that, carnival games. The Police Magician one shows a few routines for con games and other themes. I am working on putting together a manuscript on con games, to include retail scams, paranormal phenomena scams, home scams, street scams, etc. If you are interested, email me and I can give you some routines that are not printed.

Glenn

I purchase "Police Magic"

Nicholas,

If yo want to see some examples. Have a look to http://www.bladeagency.com
For example, some magicians combining magic and motivational speaking:
Dr Steve Bedwell: http://www.bladeagency.com/artist.asp?a_no=5404
Giovani: http://www.bladeagency.com/artist.asp?a_no=936

The website of Dr Steve Bedwell is also instructive: http://www.stevebedwell.com

Not wanting to dig up old arguments but Josh arn't you 21 years old?

You still are in your early 20's.

Steve Bedwell's site is a great resource for those interested in combining magic with education. He has a great keynote speech as well! Read the site for inspiration and to get you off and running with sales letters, sales pitches, etc.

I just got asked to prepare a (free) talk for a local skeptics group on 'the art of deceit'. They want for their members to be able show children how to think more rationally and spot fakes and frauds.

It is a topic I could speak for hours on but I will have to see if I can actually write a TALK on the subject before agreeing!

Nicholas, here is a link you may enjoy. It is the Skeptics Dictionary.

http://skepdic.com/

It has a vast amount of info on different things. I already sent you the info for Professionals Against Confidence Crime and Fraud Tech, two great sites on con games.

Glenn

Thanks Glenn! I found the dictionary via Randi's site also.

I should point out that if anyone wants to know about carnival games, cons etc then Glenn is the guy to speak to. His short book on police magic has a lot of fun ideas for magicians and magical performances but his other notes are a goldmine of useful information about these types of scams.

I highly recommend them!

(even if he does have "Believe It Or Not I'm Walking On Air" playing as he website background music )

Thanks for the promo, Nick. I am glad to assist anyone with info on con games or carnival game fraud. Should anyone else be interested, contact me and I will be more than happy to give you my lecture notes on the 8 hour class I teach officers and members of the general public.

I only wish I could "walk on air". However, I have been called an "air head" at times.

Glenn

Would you rather hear stories about great con artists or how they get away with it?

Hello Gang,

Wow everyone has covered the topic of Motivational Magic so well.

But I had to jump in and offer more information if you are interested.
On my Website is a audio tele-seminar I recorded titled:

"Changes and Trends in the Business of Motivational Magic!"

Listen in for free. Here is the link towards the bottom of this page:
http://www.magic2motivate.com/teleseminar.htm

Enjoy,


Steve Hart

They've offered me $150 for doing the talk...I don't think I should take it though due to my lack of experience.

Nick, I have seen your outline and think it is great. There is no lack of experience on your part. Accept the money and give them the synopsis you showed me. If you want to narrow it down some, ask what specific areas they want you to cover. You can also mention the lies drug dealers and other crooks tell you so they can make their money. This is something that I have found useful for children to know. If you want to deleve deeper for children to know deceit, you can also mention the pediphile and how they pretend to be their friend and envoke confidence in them just to satisfy their own sick pleasures. Deceit comes in many forms and is part of the con game.

Magicians deceive for entertainment purposes. Crooks do it for their own selfish means with no regard for the victim. Nick, you can do it. Give them one hell of a talk.

Glenn

Thanks Glenn!

Posted: Sep 22, 2005 10:32pm
I did a show today for a organisation that deals with government complaints. They asked me to perform a stand up show (no message). When I got introduced, the boss (who didn't read the introduction he was supposed to) said...

"Let me introduce Tricky Nick. He is a con artist and he is going to show you how deception plays a part in your work and he'll teach you how to place those techniques in practice"

HOLY ****!

I performed my show 'as is' but came up with a trite little message at the end of each routine to act as the lesson. The whole thing was VERY well received and the boss was blown away when the booker told him that I was 'just' the entertainment and that I made up the messages on the fly.

I was particularly proud of my "glass walking" as a metaphor for 'dealing with problems'. To walk on glass, like with any problem, you need to be prepared, careful and don't rush into it!

Congratulations. I knew you would blow them away. Messages like yours will entertain and educate the masses. I hate it when they don't read the introduction that was supplied. Kind of hurts the performer in some cases, but you had them spellbound. Great job.

Glenn

Following the success of the previous lecture, I was asked to do several more. One of my agents came along and offered to sell it when I suggeted doing cheap/free talks he said that he has never booked a speaker for less then $2500 and wouldn't book me for less then that!