Trade Show Magic and David Regal's "Passport"

Greetings, friends, to the show that never ends! This week I
review David Regals' "Passport" and share my adventures serving
as my own trade show magician.

Late last week I received an invitation via LinkedIn to attend a
local "super" networking event called "Chocolate and Blues".
Apparently the woman behind this event has been holding similar
events in 22 different cities and they tend to attract a
good-sized crowd. Last year's Tulsa event had 950 attendees which
is great for a small town like ours.

In discussing the nature of the audience and the event, it became
clear that this is something I could attend as a vendor -- though
my wallet is rather thin right now. I asked her if she hired
entertainment and offered my services as a magician. She said her
budget didn't allow for paid entertainment but she would be happy
to trade vendor booth space for free entertainment. A deal was
made.

I was given a table in a corner in front of a Christmas tree. I
had a round 10 seater table. A few years ago I invested in a
tri-fold table-top booth display. I spent the weekend laying out
the marketing samples I wanted to showcase, and set that up on
the table and used a rolling table to perform close-up. I
included business cards and displays for my upcoming magic
appearances, too, essentially killing two birds with one stone.

The attendance was not as good as last years -- perhaps a few
hundred throughout the course of the day. I spoke to 50+ people
over 4 hours and handed out and received a lot of business cards.
The attendees were not my target audience, and I may not get any
marketing business from it, but at least I received visibility
and awareness and entertained a lot of people. Practice makes
perfect and some may attend one of my upcoming local appearances.

Back in the day when I ran marketing services for WilTel, I had a
$10 mm annual budget which included many trade shows. We had a
100' x 100' booth space, a theater with lots of seating, and
plenty of kiosks. In our earlier days we hired Tim Conover and
Bill Goldman. Later we added a killer juggling team and even a
ventriloquist. I always wanted to work our own trade shows but I
could not convince the execs to pay me what I wanted.

Yesterday gave me a good idea of what it would be like to be a
trade show magician. I worked at gathering crowds, integrating a
marketing message into my magic, and encouraging people to ask
questions about my services and to share their needs with me. It
felt real comfortable and I enjoyed it immensely. I want more.

I did Triumph, my no-palm card to wallet, card in mouth and
Pressure. Over and over again. Wow. That was easy.

Since I am always looking for new material to create "perfect"
sets for close-up, strolling, and stage, I recently took
advantage of Hocus Pocus' Thanksgiving Day sale and picked up
David Regal's "Passport". Whenever something new comes out that
makes me go "hmmm" I bookmark it. David's effects usually make me do
that. This was a good deal, so I bit.

"Passport" is a no-palm signed card to wallet and while there are
many variations of this on the market, I like the way this one
flows. You ask a spectator to select a card and write the name of
any destination on it. The card is returned and a leather
passport wallet is displayed with rubber bands around it. You
remove the rubber bands and open it to display a passport inside
an inner pocket. You remove the passport and as you page through
the stamps in it, you announce the destination they wrote on the
card. Then you show there is a face down card in the passport.
When it is slid out, it is their signed selected card.

The wallet and gimmicks supplied are well made by Steve Shufton
and the accompanying DVD by David walks you through the set-up
and performance. I think the extras he adds on are much stronger
than the basic handling initially taught. Handling the gimmick
takes a little practice, and some of the moves require faith in
your spectator not questioning or reaching for your props. That
said, I hate palming and this now gives me a very strong signed
card to wallet without palming. I like it and recommend it
highly.

Until next time,

Steven

Sophisticated Sorcery Relaunch and Product Reviews

A quick email to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and to thank
you for your friendship and support over the past year as I have
re-launched my career as a performer.

I have completed the next version of my web site here:

http://www.sophisticatedsorcery.com

My goal was to create a quick loading site that is visually
engaging and tells a simple but compelling story. It is search
engine optimized, includes stills and a video I produced,
testimonials, fan club subscription, a contact form and hopefully
makes my show look a little more substantial and different with
my kids included in the graphics. I feel like I captured most of
my vision. New business cards and posters are being printed by
VistaPrint now.

In December I picked up a handful of shows ranging from Boy
Scouts to Hospice to Nursing Home to private business holidays
parties. Next Monday I am participating in Chocolate and Blues, a
large networking event where they expect 950+ attendees during
the course of the day. I negotiated a free vendor table in
exchange for providing some entertainment as I push both my
marketing consulting services as well as my magic shows.

I've already started to promote myself through all of the
top-rated third-party entertainment and business directories. As
a result, searches for "Tulsa magician" display my info in about
6 different places on page one and two search results.

Next I will begin to develop a marketing plan identifying venues
for a one-man show as well as targets for corporate and high
society. I have begun to develop a proposal package that emulates
the look and feel of the site so all the marketing material
focuses on building brand and awareness.

It's all pretty exciting.

I picked up Optical Ropes from Mark Mason thinking I could teach
it to my son so we might have some fun with me doing the
Professors Nightmare and him doing Optical Ropes. I don't like
the full routine it comes with, but the initial transformation of
3 ropes to 2 ropes to 1 rope as you merely stroke the ropes looks
amazing. I think the trick should stop right there.

I did a strolling gig for the Tulsey Awards which recognizes
local entrepreneurs. Several hundred people in the historic
Cain's Ballroom. Very cool night. Very dim and noisy so I worked
the room with sponge balls and Pressure and card manipulation.
Was very well received. Made lots of good contacts including with
an event planner who wants to offer a cabaret show early next
year and he invited me to the dance!

Have you seen the video for Rizer? You draw a deck of cards on
your arm, the drawing animates and the selected card rises from
the deck. I have no idea how it works. Looks great. A reputation
maker for sure. Hoping ellusionist sends me this one for review
soon.

Picked up the Bill Neff Miracle Rope gimmick. Reminds me of
something Dick Zimmerman did in his lectures. Almost identical
effect except for the construction of the gimmick. I always a
copy of this classic though now that I have read it, I am
uncertain it is worth the work.

I also came across some digital downloads at TrickShop.com which
were all classics at one time. I am digging into some of this
older material as well as some of the updated manuscripts. Liked
Seven Keys to Baldpate (though I never understood the effect's
name) as well as the Paul Fox Miracle Gimmick. Going to put some
time
into these to see if I can really make them work for me.

Still wanting an old illusion for the show. In fact, if you have
any old gear you want to get rid of at a reasonable price or
trade, please send me your list of stuff.

That's it for now. Have a great turkey day.

Best,

Steven