Hey everyone! So a little bit ago, I asked for some advice about an upcoming walkaround gig at a winery and thought I'd do a follow up about it!
Overall it went well, the owners want me back for their next event and I got asked by a ton of people for business cards so I'd say they liked me overall.
But here were a few takeaways I had afterward:
- I was not the main event. I knew this going in but its always in the back of your mind. It was their wine club day and everyone was primarily there to taste wine. I was just a supplement to that. And it's not like music where you can enjoy it passively. Magic, even when they don't have to hold/touch anything, requires much more of their attention.
- Expanding on that, the area where most of the tables were was right next to the band and it was very loud. So maybe I should make sure I have effects that are easily communicated and don't require much explanation
- While quite a few people were very enthusiastic about it, you also get a lot of "yeah sure" responses which seemed to me like they were just saying yes because I offered and it's there for free. Not sure if this was the right approach but for these groups I'd do one fairly short and sweet trick (like Chicago Opener) and leave it at that.
- I'm still not 100% sure when the right time to approach a group is. I felt weird about interrupting conversations so I'd love some tips about that.
- There are a lot of tricks that seem well-suited to walk-around on paper (i.e. doesn't require a table or their hands, minimal reset, etc.) but turned out not to be either due to various factors like angles, the length of the trick, etc.
- The tricks needed to be much shorter than I expected. For example, I had a TOXIC routine prepared but never felt like it was the right time to use it. Even the people who were super into the magic would sort of assume some of my multi-phase routines were over long before they actually were and I was never sure whether I should find a time to interject and continue or just leave it off there.
- On that same note, people love to talk to you, which was actually enjoyable. It just meant that even for the groups that were loving the magic, sets were reduced from the three tricks I had prepared to just one and maybe 2.
- Despite only including tricks with minimal reset and practicing the reset itself, I kept forgetting to reset some of my tricks, usually because I had a set that included more than one effect that required a reset. I was thinking it may be best to have each set be 2 no reset tricks (i.e. Triumph, ACR, Rubber band stuff) and one trick with any sort of reset (i.e Chicago Opener, Stand Up Monte, Scotch & Soda)
- While the sponge bunnies were well received, they may have been a bit too childish for this event. People liked them but seemed more into the other stuff I did, which is fine. I am glad that I brought them though as a family did bring their kids and they liked it. I was glad I had at least one "kids" trick on me.
Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Overall it went well, the owners want me back for their next event and I got asked by a ton of people for business cards so I'd say they liked me overall.
But here were a few takeaways I had afterward:
- I was not the main event. I knew this going in but its always in the back of your mind. It was their wine club day and everyone was primarily there to taste wine. I was just a supplement to that. And it's not like music where you can enjoy it passively. Magic, even when they don't have to hold/touch anything, requires much more of their attention.
- Expanding on that, the area where most of the tables were was right next to the band and it was very loud. So maybe I should make sure I have effects that are easily communicated and don't require much explanation
- While quite a few people were very enthusiastic about it, you also get a lot of "yeah sure" responses which seemed to me like they were just saying yes because I offered and it's there for free. Not sure if this was the right approach but for these groups I'd do one fairly short and sweet trick (like Chicago Opener) and leave it at that.
- I'm still not 100% sure when the right time to approach a group is. I felt weird about interrupting conversations so I'd love some tips about that.
- There are a lot of tricks that seem well-suited to walk-around on paper (i.e. doesn't require a table or their hands, minimal reset, etc.) but turned out not to be either due to various factors like angles, the length of the trick, etc.
- The tricks needed to be much shorter than I expected. For example, I had a TOXIC routine prepared but never felt like it was the right time to use it. Even the people who were super into the magic would sort of assume some of my multi-phase routines were over long before they actually were and I was never sure whether I should find a time to interject and continue or just leave it off there.
- On that same note, people love to talk to you, which was actually enjoyable. It just meant that even for the groups that were loving the magic, sets were reduced from the three tricks I had prepared to just one and maybe 2.
- Despite only including tricks with minimal reset and practicing the reset itself, I kept forgetting to reset some of my tricks, usually because I had a set that included more than one effect that required a reset. I was thinking it may be best to have each set be 2 no reset tricks (i.e. Triumph, ACR, Rubber band stuff) and one trick with any sort of reset (i.e Chicago Opener, Stand Up Monte, Scotch & Soda)
- While the sponge bunnies were well received, they may have been a bit too childish for this event. People liked them but seemed more into the other stuff I did, which is fine. I am glad that I brought them though as a family did bring their kids and they liked it. I was glad I had at least one "kids" trick on me.
Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
