Hey guys! Tonight we have Rich Ferguson joining us At the Table!

"Rich Ferguson is taking time out of his busy schedule to sit down with you to teach you more than just magic tricks. Rich will be talking a LOT about MARKETING and how to sell yourself to others. He will also talk about YouTube, what it means to the magic community, and how you can let yourself be seen and heard! Rich will also talk about promotion and how to promote yourself as well as promoting your brand."

And let's all pretend I didn't forget to add the time and places in my first post before I pulled the trigger on it, yeah? It all goes down at 4pm PT / 7pm ET!

- But dude/sir/mister, where can I find it?

Here are a few places:

Vanishing Inc
https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-......lay=true

As De Trebol
http://www.asdetrebol.com/atthetablelive......918.html

Hocus Pocus
http://www.hocus-pocus.com/magicshop/?p=28395

MJM Magic
http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/at-the-tab......DwKa-FE4

Alakazam Magic UK
http://www.alakazam.co.uk/product-at-the......son.html

Magic World
http://www.magicworld.co.uk/magic-shop/A......OAD.html

This event lasted OVER 4 hours.

Over 1 1/2 hours were dedicated to some very nice/practical routines that really have been audience tested. The next section was all about business. How to market yourself, WHAT to have on your business card, how much you really should be charging and why. He even tipped how to get gigs at non-profit events and STILL make money!

Some incredible and valuable information that you really need to see! Loved it all!

The end of the event is spent looking at some of Rich's YouTube prank/magic videos and he even discusses the business side of all of that as well!

Again, OVER 4 hours of no fluff material both magic and business related!

Here's my detailed review!

Rich Ferguson has been well known in the magic community for quite some time. He performs mainly for celebrity cocktail parties, and high profile parties. In this lecture he shares his secrets concerning this type of venue, the business aspect of things, some tips for Youtube magicians and shares some cool card effects along the way. I was pleasently surprised by the amount of value he offers in this lecture. Let’s get into what he covers.

Magic Jokes: To start off Ferguson hits on a handful of classic jokes about magicians. They are not his own by any means but they are kinda funny. Along with this lecture he gives a link to a small collection of other jokes. These are corny for the most part but there may be a joke or two worth repeating. As a warning some of the jokes are meant for adult audiences, there are a couple that are kind of suggestive or slightly vulgar.

Gags and Quick Openers: Rich runs through a couple gags here. You get an update on the “NO” gag, with a small handful of one liners, prop gags and presentation ideas for a booktest and the vanishing liquid effect. Some of this is funnier than others but these are mainstays for the magic community and will prove to be useful to many. He touches on the methods a little bit but this is really his ideas on staging. If you are not familiar with a booktest method already you will not be able to perform what he teaches but if you do there’s a handful of good ideas here that I found helpful.

Ambitious Subtleties: The next section of the lecture is devoted to the ambitious card. The moves are fairly classic but there are multiple subtleties and touches that he adds to make it feel a lot different than most ambitious card routines. You won't learn a tn when it comes to the moves and sleights involved but there are some great tidbits that will help any routine out.

Branding: Rich Ferguson “The Icebreaker” has some serious branding here he explains why he is called the Icebreaker and what it has done for him to have such a strong brand.

AI Magic: Rich has created an app that makes it look like Siri can read our mind. This is a very cool app. Right now it can only guess playing cards but as people download the app they will receive more money and add free features and updates. Rich says that he wants to make the app completely customizable allowing Siri to divine a spectators appearance, birth date or even their phone number. Even if you don’t download this lecture if you like I-Phone magic download this app and help Rich out. This is only available on the I-Phone right now but the plan is to release it on other devices as well.

Even without the app you learn how to use a phone invisibly in conjunction with a deck of cards to determine a selected card. I have seen this application before but for those who have not seen it it is very clever and is an easy method that could be mastered by just about anyone.

Voodoo Card Redux: This is a restaging of an old Paul Harris effect but Rich really takes it up to the next level. He has added a couple different prediction revelations and a lot of audience participation.This trick is used to explain various techniques he uses on television appearances. The trick itself is excellent and the tips on television magic are very interesting.
Using the same principles he then shows you how to apply them to a live performance to great effect. He has one spectator name another spectators freely selected word but it could be easily applied to a card or other type of selection.

Psychological Ring on String: Rich adds psychology to almost every effect he performs and here he explains 2 ways to apply psychological principles to this effect. The string passes through a borrowed finger ring multiple times while in the spectators hands or inches from their face. I wasn’t too enthused by his handling but he brought up some interesting handling tips.

Funky Moves: Rich has a different story in magic than most magicians and the way he approaches creativity because of this he has come up with a couple knacky and unique moves. This next section concentrates on these moves.

Inside Second: This is Rich’s take on the second deal. With it you can deal the second card towards yourself. No this isn’t a classic handling of the move but I think you’ll find that it will fit into many magic routines and it is easier than many of the classic second deals. He also teaches an interesting steal that you can perform as well using this move standing up allowing you to do a switch or color change if you wish.

Sniper: In the midst of a cut a card is shot out of the deck. On paper this sounds like Daryls hot shot cut but the actual shot is markedly different even to a layman. Depending on you handling you can make the card shoot out face up or face down.

For the last 2 hours of the lecture he covers aspects of business and professionalism. He talks about everything from practice, personalization, contracts insurance, what to charge, and how to get more gigs. He roleplays conversations with possible clients, how he organizes his clients how he assures repeat bookings and how he takes care of his clients. The material here is very accessible to both amateurs looking to go professional and professionals looking to become a little more serious. He even covers why he believes that even the most basic amateur must charge at least $250 a gig. The information here is super valuable and I think just about anyone who wants to be paid for there magic needs to listen to this

He finishes with his thoughts on Youtube and how he got to be so successful on Youtube. I have and maintain my own channel and really didn’t feel like his tips helped me. I was expecting a little more here that would be applicable to most Youtubers but it didn’t really impress me.

Man this is an informative lecture. I feel like he covered presentation ideas for professionals, funky moves for move monkeys, and out of this world tips for professional magicians. There really is something for everyone here. This is one of the most helpful lectures on the business of magic that Murphy’s has put out.