So, over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with different ways to get people to not say the dreaded line we all have hated one time or another "do it again"
so to start off i wanted to find out why people want you to "do it again" and I have come across a few generalizations you can put to use.
First: children: I find that when performing for very young children, say 6-10, they will ask to see it again because young children enjoy repetition. I know this seems a bit odd but its true, think about it: if you give a child a toy that has a button that makes a sound when you press the button what are they going to do? they will press that button until until you are ready to smash your head into he wall. I find the best way to get a small child to refrain from telling you to do it again is to perform long routines, but not too long or they will start to lose focus, and make sure the routine has a BIG finale to let them know it is over.
Second:Teens:
Girls: Teenage girls I feel are one of the most rewarding audiences in terms of the reactions you get. Teenage girls seem to say "do it again" after tricks that catch them off guard. I did an experiment: i walked up to a group of teenage girls at my school and, without saying anything, produced an apple in an "instantaneous" manner. The cool thing was I could see the reaction physically in their body language, however, they were caught off guard, so they wanted to see it again, and this was exactly what i anticipated. Because they were not watching me in the manner they might have been if they were waiting for me to do a trick they feel as though they have missed out. The solution is simple...do simple tricks, and make sure they are not caught off guard.
Boys:OK probably the most difficult audience to perform for because (being a teenage boy) we want to figure out the trick! I know i do, every time i see a trick all i can do is brainstorm possible solutions. I find that boys don't seem to say "do it again" as much as girls, but when they do say it, it is very clear that they want to know the secret.This was the audience i had the most problems finding a solution with, but the solution i found works better than any other I have come across. There are several ticks where the performer "explains" in some bogus manner how to do a trick, only to have a finale that kicks them in the face! u can find several gambling routines where the performer explain how someone might cheat at poker, these work very well. As an alternative to this if you don't know any gambling routines do a mind reading effect while explaining muscle reading. keep in mind you don't actually have to explain your knowledge of muscle reading, just BS it! say something like "your feet were angled toward each other so i know you were thinking of a rd card" anything will work.
Third: general audience: now by general audience I mean a group of people you would walk up to at a bar to get some tips. I find that they will say do it again because they are genuinely enjoying what you are doing. A few ways to get them to stop telling you to do it again is to throw in a few lines that get the message across that you will only do a trick once. my favorite: "now pay attention, I'm only going to do this once!" Now the presentation that goes along with this line has to be something along the lines of 'this is really difficult to do' or 'i've never tried this before' the other part of this is what the spectator is taking in form this line, first of all it gets their attention, he wont do it again so i don't want to miss it. plus if the presentation is done right it makes them feel special, and who doesn't like to feel special.
I encourage you to use this line and any others that seem to come to mind.
I hope you all enjoyed my first write-up on any theory in magic and I encourage you to comment and criticize, thank you
so to start off i wanted to find out why people want you to "do it again" and I have come across a few generalizations you can put to use.
First: children: I find that when performing for very young children, say 6-10, they will ask to see it again because young children enjoy repetition. I know this seems a bit odd but its true, think about it: if you give a child a toy that has a button that makes a sound when you press the button what are they going to do? they will press that button until until you are ready to smash your head into he wall. I find the best way to get a small child to refrain from telling you to do it again is to perform long routines, but not too long or they will start to lose focus, and make sure the routine has a BIG finale to let them know it is over.
Second:Teens:
Girls: Teenage girls I feel are one of the most rewarding audiences in terms of the reactions you get. Teenage girls seem to say "do it again" after tricks that catch them off guard. I did an experiment: i walked up to a group of teenage girls at my school and, without saying anything, produced an apple in an "instantaneous" manner. The cool thing was I could see the reaction physically in their body language, however, they were caught off guard, so they wanted to see it again, and this was exactly what i anticipated. Because they were not watching me in the manner they might have been if they were waiting for me to do a trick they feel as though they have missed out. The solution is simple...do simple tricks, and make sure they are not caught off guard.
Boys:OK probably the most difficult audience to perform for because (being a teenage boy) we want to figure out the trick! I know i do, every time i see a trick all i can do is brainstorm possible solutions. I find that boys don't seem to say "do it again" as much as girls, but when they do say it, it is very clear that they want to know the secret.This was the audience i had the most problems finding a solution with, but the solution i found works better than any other I have come across. There are several ticks where the performer "explains" in some bogus manner how to do a trick, only to have a finale that kicks them in the face! u can find several gambling routines where the performer explain how someone might cheat at poker, these work very well. As an alternative to this if you don't know any gambling routines do a mind reading effect while explaining muscle reading. keep in mind you don't actually have to explain your knowledge of muscle reading, just BS it! say something like "your feet were angled toward each other so i know you were thinking of a rd card" anything will work.
Third: general audience: now by general audience I mean a group of people you would walk up to at a bar to get some tips. I find that they will say do it again because they are genuinely enjoying what you are doing. A few ways to get them to stop telling you to do it again is to throw in a few lines that get the message across that you will only do a trick once. my favorite: "now pay attention, I'm only going to do this once!" Now the presentation that goes along with this line has to be something along the lines of 'this is really difficult to do' or 'i've never tried this before' the other part of this is what the spectator is taking in form this line, first of all it gets their attention, he wont do it again so i don't want to miss it. plus if the presentation is done right it makes them feel special, and who doesn't like to feel special.
I encourage you to use this line and any others that seem to come to mind.I hope you all enjoyed my first write-up on any theory in magic and I encourage you to comment and criticize, thank you
