Hi guys and gals,
I could recommend a number of books about presentation, but most I would recommend at your stage have been tipped...
What I will add - this is the artistic part of what magic is....the books will give you a frame to work with - but you need to present magic with who you are.
Your presentation should represent who you are...so let us hope that you are not a four robbers kind of guy, but the kind of guy that wants to share a message in his magic.
Check out this essay:
http://http://jamyianswiss.com/fm/works/whymagicsucks.html
Then...take time to think about what the "plot" of your magic is and how you can connect, educate, share who you are, help people with how they are, give a moral...anything...ANYTHING beats "watch", and is better than "the card goes to the middle and comes to the top".
These books will make you think about your magic, but presentations come from you and what you want to say while using magic as the "plot".
Good, but unusable example - perhaps you want to talk about what is was like to be a kid and how girls and boys are so different even when you forced them into a social situation, theyh would end up seperating...like, oil and water...then do an oil and water routine. Instead of the cards representing oil and water...which never made sense, make them adolescent boys and girls that are afraid to get cooties.
Now, I am not saying this is a perfect example - but you can see how people relate to "oh, I remember getting cooties shots, or thinking girls/boys were gross" compared to "watch as these cards seperate".
Good presentations take a good grasp on the world, and who you are - like a comedian that picks up on common things, so does good magic presentations. So, don't just focus on magic books to try and come up with magic presentations. Look at the world around you too...
Time to awesome...nope, time to think!
