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The 2nd Corporate Zone Magic Day
Sunday 28th January 2007
Report by Ian ‘Mindwriter’ Carpenter
I’ll
be honest: you missed out. Events that deal with the Real World of Performance,
Fees and well – Work – are as rare in the subculture of magic, as an original
Robert Houdin self-tying shoelace. So when one does emerge from the static,
attendance for ‘Workers’ is already a must. This particular event however, was
better than that. The calibre of content and communication, was way superior to
most magic lectures, or for that matter most corporate events. When you see Nick
Einhorn sitting a couple of seats away, you realize he’s not giving up his
Sunday without very good reason. OK, no, there weren’t many tricks. Or rather,
there were: only these were the kind that are more akin to real magic, solving
such arcane mysteries as: How’d you get the gig? Where ARE the gigs? What do
Clients want? Why should they want YOU? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
The Bonnington hotel is not only a convenient location, but also an unusually
pleasant one – and within card scaling distance of the Magic Circle (for Ricky
Jay, anyhow. Probably). The legend that is Gary Young chose well, and this
continued into the day’s lineup of presenters. First up was Seth Kramer, who
rather than talk about what he does – showed us. We all gathered round a small
stand, while he did his Tradeshow Pitch. By the end, believe me, you would have
been chanting Original Superglue Corporation in your sleep. But what about the
tricks? Tell us about the tricks! Well, that’s the thing you see: the effect of
Seth’s demonstration is precisely to promote THE COMPANY he is working for. The
magic, as he repeatedly reminded us afterward, is secondary. Indeed he went so
far as to say that if you remembered that, and not the company, he had failed.
Apparently, Seth fails to fail, on a regular basis. Because companies such as
the above regularly pay him top dollar to work their tradeshow stands, and bring
qualified leads in to the attendant sales force. And even a simple statement
like that hides a whole layer of expertise: how do you explain to these same
sales people, why you are invading their stand? Seth makes a point of seeing
them early on, and explaining how he is there FOR THEM, to serve their role,
thus avoiding the huge potential for hostility and alienated co-workers. For
that, and a hundred other good reasons, he is in constant demand.
What will doubtless shock many of you reading the above, is the ego-less nature
required by a Trade Show performer. Probably that is why in over fifteen years,
apart from a brief Web-co based boom, Seth has seen just the same couple of
dozen guys, plying their trade – in a country where there are THOUSANDS of trade
shows every year. It requires taking seriously the ability to be first an
honorary company employee, and only secondly a magician. In a profession
understandably awash with ego, this is rare. If you can do it though, the
rewards are considerable.
Sorry? Oh, since you insist: he opened with a surprise four-ace production and
proceeded into a whole card-based routine which would have totally floored Joe
and Josephine Public – who get extensively involved in al the customary card
selections and much good humour. Seth’s routine climaxes with a trick he openly
admits is far from his favourite, but brings the greatest response – the good
ol’ 3 ½ of Clubs. Once more he skillfully toys with the audience while pressing
home again the company message. And then he does it all again, fifteen minutes
later. All the livelong day. Frankly, as one of those ego-ridden magicians
mentioned a moment ago, it was like being doused in freezing water at the start
of the day – and though later on help was at hand, it was much later. And I
suffered, so now it’s your turn.
Second up then, was Paul Stone. Now, I had always understood that it was
physically impossible for a human to talk for an hour and a half, without
breathing. Paul however achieved this, putting us lesser wonder-workers to
shame, with our mere pulse-stops and self-levitations. The reason for this
breathless delivery rapidly became apparent: Paul has done everything in the
world of magic, from an early age, and only had an hour and a half to tell us
about it. My pen rarely left my notebook, except for bouts of hilarity brought
on by anecdotes about performances of the (slightly less suave) younger Stone,
or truly monstrous outrages he had seen, perpetrated by well-known performers
who you’d expect to know better. There was also a clear, core message: there is
LOTS of work out there. But not for the mediocre, or the deluded. He, like all
the presenters there, had clearly worked his designer socks off for many years,
grafting, learning through doing. Inspiring, and challenging stuff.
Mark Worgan followed lunch, and brought a change of emphasis, but again with
that sense of listening to someone who had been there, done that, and now owned
the T-shirt factory. Mark ran Club Magic in Brighton, a regular comedy and magic
cabaret; these days, much of his work is performing comedy and magic on cruise
ships. However in yet another Other Life, he was a Trainer. Or rather, he became
one, and started ‘The Magic Business’, an original and intriguing venture into
using our beloved art to teach business people communication and confidence
skills. Again he explained that this was not an arena for the fainthearted,
being highly challenging and competitive. Nor would it be wise to enter it
without first having actually learned the Trainer’s trade. Mark spent a year
effectively apprenticed, to some friends who involved him in their training
business. As with Seth, that remained the primary focus, not the tricks. Indeed
the only tricks Mark mentioned were ones quite carefully selected for their
extreme simplicity and ease of learning – because learning was precisely what he
used them for. Delegates would be placed into teams and then given the task of
learning some effects over the course of the day, and presenting them in the
evening as a show. This was a huge success, with companies such as News
Corporation. Look for Mark’s book on the subject, later in the year.
Work, work, work: will it never end?!? For those of you who have stayed the
course, and made it to these final paragraphs, here is the promised reward: Jon
Armstrong. Jon is probably most English people’s idea of the typical friendly
and likeable American. He fulfilled a childhood dream early on, by becoming the
resident magician at Disneyworld Florida, where he grew up. These days he
regularly hangs out somewhere equally divorced from everyday reality, but three
thousand miles to the West: at the Magic Castle, Hollywood. Of the many reasons
we magicians like Jon, is that on his own admission, he’s lazy. He was quite
upfront about not earning a six figure income - and not being bothered. He’d
rather work a bit, hang out at the Castle doing card tricks, and collect comics.
( “I think Forbidden Planet is open: let’s go!” being one typical remark
overheard during a break).
Like most self-professed slackers though, Jon is also extremely smart. The theme
of his talk was Branding, and in his case, this has meant distancing himself
from the M-word. Many of us have experienced the often unhelpful and
un-lucrative results of labeling ourselves as just A. Magician. It then tends to
be assumed that our second initial is N, and our middle name is Other. He has
instead found a niche market in the States which he works regularly, and brings
him excellent financial rewards. He is highly organized, even cunning, about
presenting a professional and distinctive face to his clients, deploying
business cards, logo, and website in highly creative ways, all of which position
him as a unique commodity.
He can’t be all that lazy either, because he trained as an actor, and still
earns a good part of his income that way. Indeed fans of CSI (love it) or Las
Vegas (OBSESSED!), will have seen his Hands many times! This because much of his
work is hand doubling – not just because of his obvious dexterity, but also
expertise in knowing what the camera needs. Overall, Jon very much inspired with
the sense that it is possible to make a living with magic, and still have loads
of fun. Oh, and he also showed us a trick. One of the best tricks I have ever
seen. With a prop and materials I own, yet it totally fooled me. What was it?
Well, you had to be there, really.
After a final break, the presenters formed themselves into an orderly Panel (see
picture) and answered written questions as well as those from the floor. It
formed a useful visual metaphor of the whole Corporate field, with Seth and Mark
on one side, Jon at the other. From his central positon, Paul Stone skillfully
summarized the theme, underlying the messages from all these disparate
contributors; and it is a crucial one to remember, in this age of Marketing.
“You can say what you like. But then, you have to DELIVER”.
Me, I’m off to practice. See you next year.
© Ian ‘Mindwriter’ Carpenter, February 2007
www.mindwriter.co.uk
www.corporatezonemagicday.co.uk
Photo - left to right: Mark Worgan, Seth Kramer, Paul Stone and Jon Armstrong.