As magicians, we often want to be perfectionists. We may spend hours perfecting the skills or moves needed to pull off the effect. We even spend time creating scripts, and we know what we’ll say when. That works great when nobody’s watching you. Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with scripts, but remember that we are talking and interacting with other humans (those pesky humans). This is especially true for the close up workers.
The one thing that helped me improve my speaking skills more than anything I’ve ever done, was my days as a telemarketer. That’s right, I was a telemarketer. Don’t run away screaming when I say that I think you should be a telemarketer for just a few months. You will learn to memorize a script and say it to people on the phone. Then record your phone calls. Just listening a handful of phone calls, you’ll quickly see where you become so interested in saying your script that you forget to let the human interact with you.
A few months of practice and patience (sound familiar?) and you’ll be communicating like a pro. I know this sounds crazy, but believe me, it’s made a huge difference in my magic career, and don’t worry, telemarketing companies will pretty much hire anybody with a pulse, so if you think you’re not qualified, you’re probably wrong.
I’ve learned to let myself side-track from my script and really interact with my audience and let them talk and just sort of go with the flow. If the trick never gets complete, SO WHAT. The audience will remember you as the friendly, personable entertaining magician. The point is, they’ll remember you, and isn’t that what matters.
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