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MagicSensei New user 31 Posts |
Club monthly meetings can be really great or sometimes not so great. Let's chat about what works best to create the great ones, or even the "really pretty darn good" ones. We can venture into the "What to avoid" areas, too. How do we motivate members, what extra events work really well, what meeting agenda items add to the enhancement, and such? Let's help each other put more magic into the magic meetings.
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Matthew Crabtree Special user 611 Posts |
Skip Way posted something about this over at Ring 2100 https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ring2100/ If you aren't a member hit us up over there and I'll add you. Maybe he will post the list here.
National First Vice President
The Society of American Magicians |
JohnnyPD New user 43 Posts |
My local ring had a fun event that brought magic to the group and into the next month's meeting. We talked about how all of us have magic tricks that we'd purchased, looked at, tried out a few times, and then put in the back of a drawer or closet never to see the light of day again.
But..."One man's junk is another man's treasure." We decided for December's meeting we'd each bring one of those forgotten tricks (or something new we'd purchased) wrapped up like a holiday gift. We shuffled a stack of cards where each had been given a numerical value (Ace thru King of spades = 1 thru 13, Ace thru King of hearts = 14 thru 26). We did a White Elephant exchange, which if you're not familiar with it - the first person picks any wrapped gift and then opens it in front of everyone. The next person can choose any wrapped gift OR they can decided to take the item that person #1 unwrapped (knowing what that unwrapped item is). This proceeds with each person given the ability to steal any previously unwrapped item OR take a chance on an unknown wrapped item. The only rule is that you can't steal your own gift back, should you lose it to someone. Just this process of unwrapping, stealing, and revealing was very entertaining. We were all then tasked with learning, practicing, and preparing whatever trick it was that we now possessed to be presented at our January meeting (or another future local ring meeting). Participation in the white elephant event was 100% and even included associate members such as "Jake's mom." That was due to some members bringing more than one item, so there were more than enough items for everyone. The turnout for our December and January meetings were the largest number we'd had for the previous twelve months. We also had twice as many folks presenting magic for the group in January than we'd had the previous twelve months. This is something that could be done ANYTIME during the year, but the winter holiday season does seem to provide well for just such an event.
Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.
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LMLipman Elite user Falls Church, Va. 443 Posts |
How many members are in your ring? I like the White Elephant exchange idea, but my ring has about 50 regular attendees at any meeting and I'm afraid it would take way too long to do such a program. I'm pondering other ways to do something similar.
Larry Lipman Quote: On Jan 11, 2017, JohnnyPD wrote: |
spatrick Special user Tom Sawyer let me whitewash these 517 Posts |
If you are looking for something that is always fun to do, try creating a "Magic Game Show!" I have done this many times and its always a hit.
You will need a host, 3 judges, two teams of 5, a scorekeeper/time keeper, and an audience. (perfect for 50 people). Use the games shown by Tim Ellis's "Magic Sports" game which is based upon a series of improve games done by actors called "Theater Sports". Allot of times these are fun improv exercises that lend themselves to particularly entertaining situations. We played a 5 round game and used this format for our last game. 1. Trivia, 10-15 magic trivia questions. The first team to answer correctly wins 2 points. Guess wrong, you lose 1 point. If you guess wrong the opposing team gets a chance to steal by guessing without taking a point away for an incorrect answer. 2. Emotions - One member from each team comes up to perform a 3-5 minute magic routine. During the performance the host shouts out different emotions and the performer must take on that emotion during his performance. (6 emotions during the performance is usually good). This always kills. (10 points to winners, 5 points to losers) 3. Wacky Trade Show Magician - 1 member of each team is chosen to come up to try to sell a product (usually a weird item) using magic. The performer must try to incorporate magic into the selling process. (judges desice which team wins. 10 points to winners/5 points to losers.) 4.) Drunk Tech - Lay out 6 face down playing cards numbered from ace - 6. You also have a cd with 6 tracks on it with different genres of music (polka, opera, Italian, dance, techno, heavy metal, etc...), 3 members from each team alternate. Each member comes up to perform the TT silk vanish, and reappearance. Problem is the audio guy is so drunk that he plays the wrong music. Use the card number that each performer turns face up as the track number that gets played. They then must perform to the music that's played. Always a great laugh getter. (sliding scale points by judges. 1 to 5 points for each performer based on skill and entertainment value.) 5. Magic Bag (Finale round) - At the beginning of the evening, each team (right before the start of the game) gets a bag containing 5 items (2 magical and 3 non magical items). The object is to create a magic routine using 3 out of the 5 items in their bag. All the team members should participate in the performance. (10 points for winning team, 5 points for losing team) Score keeper will tally up the final scores and announce a winner. Winning team members each get a $10 gift certificate to an online magic site (I uses MJM Magic.com) and the runner ups get a gag prize (I used a 100 piece breakfast setting, which was a small box of corn flakes.) You can enhance the game with game show music, audio commercials that play between rounds, and you can make a home made buzzer for each team to buzz in an answer. (you can use a bell too. office supply stores sell them). Also there are many more different games in "Magic Sports". Just google "magic sports" online to see some of Tim Ellis's stuff and others that play the game. I hope you can use this, as I have had allot of success with this concept at my meetings. |
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