Greetings Simon,

You once wrote that your magic is about as opposite as one can get from bar magic.

Even when performing for interested and sober people, effects that involve other people handling the cards and following some procedures, as yours often do, require some skill in managing people.

Do you have any advice or suggestions about this?

I once had a “working title” (only partially tongue-in-cheek) of “Bar None” for a possible book, because none of my material was suited for bar work. Overall, that’s not quite true anymore, but it is true that often my routines are longer and do require some audience attention to following directions. (Shuffle-bored itself is a good example, just because you do need to make sure the spectators do the turnovers and exchanges as directed). So Craig makes a good point, that you must be on top of audience management.

I have lots of ideas, and so do most working magicians who’ve thought about the subject. So don’t expect too much original here. The first two basic rules of audience management are threshold points:

1. Choose an appropriate trick for the circumstances.

2. Choose an appropriate spectator for that trick.

More audience management is “lost,” or defeated from the outset, because of the failure to really think through those two. It could take pages to elaborate on each of the above, and this isn’t the place to do it. If I’m at a bar, I might choose to perform Two Beginnings (a quick memorized deck trick that keeps the deck in my hands, but I’d rarely perform Two Part Harmony (a long memorized deck trick that winds up with four piles on the table, some dealing and counting).

Likewise, choosing a happy drunk isn’t destined for success if he’s instructed to think of the card at a particular number. People are smart or dumb, fast or slow, agile or clumsy, nice or obnoxious, and you have to consider all the factors. There’s so much to be said as examples, but fortunately it’s already been written by others. Common sense is part of it, experience is another (don’t do a book test for people with poor eyesight).

The third in the triumvirate of essential rules is the equally obvious one:

3. Make your directions clear and unambiguous.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds. I have a friend who sometimes complains that his spectators don’t follow his instructions (especially in spelling tricks or when he turns his back). Half the time – I can’t even figure out what he wants done; he just doesn’t think it out fully before he speaks. He assumes too much, as if he’s speaking to magicians already familiar with our procedures. His instructions aren’t complete. A good test: try your instructions out on a child. If the kid hesitates, you’re not clear enough.

After the above three basics, the field widens considerably. But let me just highlight two more factors: space and time.

4. Make sure you have enough physical space area for your trick. (If someone’s told to cut to the Aces, make sure there’s at least room to cut four piles. If a layout is needed, don’t do it on a napkin.) Cramped space causes pile to scrunch together, props to be placed haphazardly, spectators to run out of space. At the very least, it looks less aesthetic.

5. Remember your time constraints. Don’t rush a spectator (ideally, if you chose wisely under rule 2, you’ve already picked a spectator who acts at a sufficiently brisk pace to keep your trick moving). You don’t want to hasten him into a mistake.

So, there are a few basic points of audience management – but often that’s all that’s needed. The key to all of them is planning before you begin the trick. You don’t wait until you’re in the middle of it, and then try to solve the problem.

Simon