Presentation for Deluxe Nest of Wallets

[Philipp S.(4)]

Hello,

atm I am reworking all my presentations. I figured, finally, that I have to answer the question the spectators could pose: "You're doing a trick, why should I care?"
My answer to that question would be, as Darwin Ortitz calls it, the Universal Experience. Something every spectator can relate to. In the case of the Deluxe Nest of Wallets my pattern would be as followed (script not finished and it has some illogical points in it).
Underlined phrases are the points where I expect a smile/laugh.
Bold letters are the basic pattern.
Cursive letters mean I do a move at that point.
"Everyone know this: a friend celebrates his birthday but you don't know what you should give him as a present. Now you need a present, preferably in a short amount of time, and it should be something your friend likes. After thinking about what you could give him as a present for a time you figure that you actually don't know what to give to him or that he all of the stuff you thought off already. Then you think that it would probably be best to give him money or some kind of coupon for his favorite restaurant. Let's go with money. Sir, can I borrow a coin from you, just to symbolize the money. You would probably give him more than 20 cents. But now you have concers that it doesn't come from the heart. Here is my solution to it. You sign it and you draw a heart on it. Here, take the sharpie, and sign the coin and put a big heart on the other side. Thank you. And now you have to wrap it up in wrapping paper and you nee a nice packaging for it. This is my part. (I reach into my pocket.) For the packaging I thought it would be nice to put the present into a nice leather wallet. And if you want to tease your friend a little bit, like I do it with you, you can wrap it up in 3 leather wallets. (I smile so it doesn't seem arrogant.) And I have a really nice wrapping paper for you. An expensive piece of cloth for your present. And wrapped in it is the coin you signed. (I turn to the neighbour.) Here, this is a present from him for you an it's coming from the heart."
My points are:
Why should I wrap it up? I have no logical answer for that and it feels kinda wrong to not answer the question in this context.
What do you think of the presentation and what points to you think can be improved?
Cheers
Philipp

 

[TeeDee]

You mention "logic" a couple of times in your post. Now, when we're trying to make a connection with someone, often logic isn't the most important thing. You can't persuade someone to fall in love with you, or to trust you, or to enjoy spending time with you through logic. Similarly, when you're trying to create an emotional experience for someone through a performance, too much logic can get in the way. The most powerful dramas are motivated not by logic, but by the illogical character quirks and flaws which lead to mistakes and, ultimately, conflict. We are drawn to people and engaged in stories not because they are logical, but because we feel the effect of their emotions.

So, what does this mean for magic presentation? Well, a lot of things. In this case, though, the most relevant point is that not all actions have to be motivated or justified by logic. Sometimes they can be motivated and justified by emotion. So why should you wrap it up? Well, why do we wrap presents at all? For emotional reasons, not logical ones. We want to add to pleasure of receiving a gift by adding an element of surprise, or we want to make it look attractive, or maybe we wrap things to emphasise their value and to protect them. In your performance, you don't need to specifically say these things at the point that you wrap the present. It's better if your participant feels the emotions rather than having to be told about them, so it would work better to establish and emphasise the emotional value of the present before you even get to the wrapping part. That way it will feel natural and won't need to be justified any further.

So, if I was writing the script, it would go something like this:

"You know that thing where someone...someone we love, maybe someone who's done a lot for us in our lives...well, they're having a birthday and you really want to get them something brilliant, like, the perfect thing that'll make them really happy, yeah? And then you're so desperate to find the perfect present that nothing seems to be good enough and then you run out of time and you end up just giving them money. Which makes it look like you put no thought into it whatsoever and leaves everyone disappointed."

[This establishes the premise and the conflict of the drama which is about to ensue, placing it firmly in an emotional context with words like "love", "happy" then "desperate" and "disappointed". It also invites the audience to conjure up images of specific people who they love with the suggestion of "maybe someone who's done a lot for us in our lives", making this more resonant. The faltering syntax of the first sentence suggests that the performer is slightly distracted, perhaps hesitant about revealing their own feelings, suggesting that there's a particular person they're thinking of, which adds a layer of believability.]

"But there's always a way to make a difference with magic. Sir, do you have any money on you? Just change will do for now. Save the big bills for my tip! OK, so which one out of these is your favourite coin?"

[Yes, there's a sly little suggestion of a tip, which I always like to get in. Also asking which is his "favourite coin" is another invitation to emotional investment.]

"Do you know what, the 20 cents is my favourite coin too! But there are a lot of them about, so lets make this one more special and personal. Maybe you could draw something on this side...just a simple design but something to show you've invested some love into this present. If you can't think of anything to draw, perhaps a heart? That's beautiful work, sir. And of course great art must be signed. That's lovely. Now, look at that. Out of all the presents in all the world, I don't think there could be one that's been imbued with more thought and more love."

[This is all delivered with a joking tone, so it doesn't come across pompous. The idea is to reframe the coin into something symbolic and important. So, it stops being referred to as a coin, and from then on, it's "art" (albeit jokingly) or "a present".]

So, anyway, that's how I would go about justifying the wrapping. Does that make sense?

 

[Philipp S.(4)]

Thank you for your expenditure to write the whole presentation and explanation. Especially the point that not everything has to be logically justified but rather emotionally was very important to me. I also like a couple of lines from your presentation. Yesterday, when I performed the trick with presentation for the first time they were seemingly touched.

A dear friend of mine helped me to structurize the routine better. I will upload a video with the routine and the presentation in a few weeks. Thank you for your help and support.