I just came back from a birthday party (age of 8 30 kids-only girls)
And I have some questions
Just to mention; I start my act with 8 minutes cardballs manipulation+silks and flowers(the kids were fine)
Then I follow with tricks that involved the kids

The kids were very very noisy! It was really hard to work

What they did : *when I ask someone to help me few kids came to me and insist that I will use them too…it was hard to make them return to their place
*a girl insist for a couple of minutes that I produce a dove from a change bag(I was in the middle of silk routine)
*when I asked someone to check that the bag is empty few kids tried to check it them self….

I think you got the idea…!

What I did: *I ask them nicely to behave well
*I said goodbye and started to walk away( helped but not for long)
*I ignored the girls that “heckled” me

Its easy for me to blame the kids but I am always looking what I AM DOING wrong

I think I need to do something to grab their attention from my first sentence!

I would like to hear your thoughtsideas for those kinds of problems
thanks

Without actually having seen the show for myself (an audience is a living thing, and needs to be observed to be understood) I can venture some guesses.

8-year-olds ... started with 8 minutes of manipulation? They got bored after 1 minute, and besides, you lost them from the start. You need to interact immediately, make them feel like they have a relationship with you (quite the opposite of "I'm out here and that guy is up there and when does this end?") and that everybody is going to have fun ("When is he gonna quit pulling candles out of his sleeve and give us some laughs?") - "a girl insist for a couple of minutes that I produce a dove from a change bag(I was in the middle of silk routine)" You're stuck in the middle of a silent routine and of course the girl won't stop until you acknowledge her - that's the peril of a silent routine for young audiences. If you had a chance to say "A dove? Let me see ... there's a rabbit ... two unicorns ... a bowl of spaghetti and ... that looks like one of your teachers in there, but no dove. We'll get to that a little bit later, OK?"

Noisy? Where were the other adults during all this? You can't do a show and be a babysitter too. Often, Mommy's mere presence will keep order pretty well.

"when I ask someone to help me few kids came to me and insist that I will use them too…" - Did you ask a specific person, or did you ask "I need someone to help me"? Find a way to ask someone you've identified to come up ("I need someone like that young lady right there") - Then the moment anyone else stood up, instead of begging "won't you others please sit down?" you need to remember who's the boss ... "I'm working with Alison right now, so if you want to help we need you to sit down and raise your hands next time." And if you have to, (make sure everybody hears you) "We're going to stop the show and wait for everybody but Alison to sit out there where they can see, and we can have some more fun when we're all in our places." And then put your props down and stop. "If I have to do any more of that, we're going to run out of time and I'll have to leave out a trick."

"I ignored the girls that “heckled” me" - If they're saying "you stink!" that's heckling. If they're shouting out what they want, or just trying to talk to you, they're telling you they are interested in what you are doing (and that's good) but you have to let them know it's not "I'm the guy up here on stage and you're to be down there making no noise at all." Find some ways to let them know you have heard them - "We just might do that, you never know what's next." - "You had a rabbit? What's your name? Doris? Was the rabbit named Doris too?" (I know that invites a little more talk, but sometimes you need to let them get it out) - You gotta BE THERE WITH THEM psychologically, not way up there apart from them.

As I said, it's impossible to offer you very good suggestions without having seen exactly where the interaction went astray.

Cardima

Just to repeat what Ross said...8 minutes is too long and yes....you lost their attention and interest by stretching it too long at the start. Start with something shorter, but with a wow factor, and keep the show flowing. They'll pay more attention as they will expect to see more and don't want to miss anything.

John

DITO to what Ross said. 8 mins to much. In fact on my 8 yr old parties I start by telling them that I am going to teach them some magic tricks at the end of the show. This seems to get there attention. 8 yr olds can be tuff. more times that not it is a drop off party and the only people there are mom and dad of the BD child.

Ken

The silk routine is not a silent routine at all...just the routine with change bag silks and other stuff but its far from being silent...

anyway...so you are saying its not good to open with short manipulation act...i will consider this... and your other points, Rose!
but I would like to hear more thoughts about "open with manipulation act"(because usually it looks like the kids are really enjoy it)

Buy and take to bed Open Sesame and read the first chapter. Ok - and a bit more. Forget the tricks.

The basics of entertaining never change. Only the applications.

Read, understand and then apply.

Welcome to kids B'day parties!

You'll get the hang of it.

Buy some DVD on the subject.

Go to some magic convention and ask some questions.

Good luck,

Nez

I believe that you must knock their socks off with your first trick, which will establish their respect for you. To be honest with you I have not found 8 year old girls to be an especially tough audience. Now 8 year old boys are a whole nother question.
MY OPINION
Al Angello

Cardima, from reading your post, it sounds like you just start the show w/your manipulation act. Here's something for you to consider, if you're not already doing this, start with an intro and a warm up which helps to bond you with the kids. It also does a couple other things:

1. Establishes your character.
2. Shows the kids they can have fun, laugh, clap, etc.
3. Can establish ground rules, no crossing this line, "I only pick kids w/hands raised, big smile, sitting on their bottoms."
4. Gets the kids to dispell a lot of their pent up energy right away.

Give that a shot, and your shows and rapport with the audience will improve a thousand times!

I'm not clear how many shows you have done !

If you have done the shows dozens, or hundreds of times, and this is the first time it has gone wrong, maybe it isn't the show. Or you !
Although like everyone else I won't start with an eight minute sit-and-watch-me routine.

I don't really ask for volenteers, point to someone and ask for their help.
Sometimes a younger sister wil come up too and then I include them both or do a trick with both children.
Why offer the change bag for inspection ?

I don't ignore any children, hecklers or not, I'm the good guy and if children misbehave its through excitement and interest rather than badness.

There should be at least one adult with the children ! For any number of reasons.
I think we would all agree on that.

Don't threaten to walk off and turn back. Its bound to exculate any trouble.
I know some won't agree with me as it works for some people, but it sounds like you had no control from the start.

Sometimes if I see an hostile group I change the act, keeping it running faster and keeping a tighter grip on the audience. But I have never had a bad all-girl audience.

I really think you should rework the act !

Eight year-olds are wonderful to work with if you have the right show. They are mostly very attentive, and are at that wonderful age when they still love to laugh at silly stuff, but appreciate good magic, and are usually perfect helpers. This is all conditional on creating a show that flows logically, and keeps their interest through constant interaction. "Content is King", as they say.
There are many good opening routines, I use all the following for this age group:
Hot Book warm-up (I think that's from James Munton's DVD). You open your book, and read the "rules" of a magic show. When you are about to read the last rule, you open the book, and the kids see flames leaping from the book. After several seconds you notice it, panic, and finally put out the fire. You remember the last rule is that "you should always keep your eyes on what I'm doing, because in a magic show you never know what's going to happen next".
World Famous Banana Trick. A great and simple opener, and it looks magical, even when you know how it's done! I tell the kids this is my new sword - it can be a new magic wand, or a new anything. The kids will waste no time telling you that you're holding a banana.
Flaming Torch to Silk. Tell a brief story (I say I stood on the deck of the ship one night, and heard a strange sound in the darkness. I went to the side of the ship, held the torch over the side, and saw two yellow eyes staring out of the water. So I threw the torch, and the creature swam away). A quick and amazing effect, the silk flying out over their heads makes them duck EVERY TIME.
Off the Meter. Steve Axtell's fantastic prop is a stonking way to start your show. If you have roughly equal numbers of boys and girls, you can start off by saying that they can clap and cheer if they like the magic. Then express your doubts that they can clap and cheer loudly enough. Cue competition using your "clapometer". Of course, you could make one of these yourself if you have the time and inclination.
I would humbly suggest that you keep your silent opener for family and public shows. Even then, eight minutes is a long time. Aim to get several laughs with your act if it's silent. A local clown (Mr Pineapple Head, locally regarded as the "Top of the Tree") has a 45 min silent act. He's incredibly popular, and expensive. Of course, his act transcends language barriers and age groups, so he has a very hot product.
Have you watched Mr Bean? In this role, Rowan Atkinson has explored an incredible array of gags that are possible for a silent act. Good study material.
There are no rights or wrongs here, perhaps you could develop your existing manipulation act into a much longer, and much funnier, show. Eight minutes of good magic, interspersed with plenty of good comedy, could easily stretch to 25 minutes, or even 45 minutes. Now there's a challenge!
I wish you all the best, cardima. You've come to the right place to get ideas for your show!
Doug.

If the kids are that involved, that's a good thing. The worst shows are when the adults demand silence and manners, to my way of thinking. The trick it to channel all the neervous energyu -- lots of sjhouting of magic words, raising hands, throwing colors helps make them feel involved and burns nervous energy

Just read that again from It's Magic.

It's all here.

Now, Chapter one of Open Sesame will show you how to achieve it.