Help Me, Help you

The Setup

Last week I did a great gig, in a very expensive venue, overlooking the Chicago Loop, for two companies hosting their VIP's after a trade show. I had no idea until I arrived who was even hosting the event.

There was a caterer hiring an entertainment agent, who hired me, and no one shared any more than the absolute basic information of date, time, and location, with each other.

When I arrived at the event about 45 minutes before start time, I found the caterer who had hired my agent and I ask him, "Who is this event for?" He gave me the companies' names. What I meant was WHO are the attendees?"  He did say that this was sales folks and their clients.

OK, this is important information. This means, these salespeople have invited potential or loyal customers to this event to share with them food, drink, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, why they should do or continue to do business with their company.

I thanked him and I used Google to search for the company and found out they make ink and printing presses. They are in the print industry. OK, now we are getting somewhere.

The Solution

Not to toot my own horn (but hey, this is my blog after all) I have a background in theater improvisation and comedy writing. So, I was able to adapt four magic tricks in the remaining minutes I had left to be at least about printing. I had no time to research the companies unique selling proposition, their printing presses benefits, or what specific message or product they were trying to tell people about at this year's show.

I know what you are saying, "They're just magic tricks, Edd. They are just supposed to be fun." But they can be SO MUCH MORE! I can do so much more!

I can:

• customize my tricks to visually show something about your company or product
• write scripts for my presentation that emphasize your product or services features and benefits. 
• research your competition and compare and contrast your offerings with humor and visual magic. 

But I can't do any of it, if I have no information. So help me, help you, make your event GREAT!


For You

If you are thinking of hiring a presenter or entertainer for your trade show booth or hospitality suite, here is the form I give my clients: Google Form If your presenter or entertainer isn't asking these questions he is just going to do another show. Not YOUR show! Even though I'm the guy doing the tricks, it's not all about me. It's about you, your clients, and your message.


About the Author
Edd Fairman is a stand up comedy magician that performs specialized presentations of magic and comedy for corporations around the country. 

The 4 Things you should be doing RIGHT NOW to save Headaches, Time and MONEY in December

Year End Holiday Parties!

By starting your planning now for your year end parties you will save yourself headaches, time, and money.
The 4 things you need to do RIGHT NOW:

1. Pick your date: The first Saturday in  December is the busiest day of the year for Holiday parties. If you want to book this prime date, you need to do it right now. Also, by picking your date now and letting people know of the date, they can't claim that they found out "last minute" or "didn't know when the party was going to be." With only 3 Fridays and 3 Saturdays in December before Christmas AND ONLY 2 FRIDAYS before Hanukkah it's going to be a very busy December.
2. Budget: Now is the best time to find out how much you are going to have to achieve with so little! All kidding aside, the sooner you have your budget together the sooner you can start making your priorities.
3. Book your venue: No need to scramble at the last minute or not get the place you REALLY wanted. Also, you may be able to get the room a bit cheaper by booking early.
4. Book your entertainment: Just like the best venue's, the best entertainers get booked early. Booking agencies start booking entertainers for year end Holiday parties in August and the best dates are usually all taken up by the end of September.

Edd Fairman, Wizard of Sorts is a stand- up comedy magician available for corporate events. He has been performing and planning events for over 15 years. You can find out more about him at www.wizardofsorts.com.

Hosting a Graduation Party

A Tough One

I think graduation parties are one of the hardest events to plan. The guests are a wide range of ages. If it's a high school graduation party, the guest of honor and his friends are of an age that can be particularly difficult to satisfy. And for me especially, one has to balance making the party all about the guest of honor and making it all about the other guests. 

Ideas: Slideshow

One of my favorite ideas for a grad party that I have seen be very successful is a slideshow. You can play it on the home television (if you TV is networked or you can hook it up to your computer) on your desktop screen or if you have a projector, project it on the wall!

This website offers a very easy to use tool and step by step instructions on how to create your own slideshow: http://www.ezvid.com/how_to_make_a_free_graduation_video_slideshow

Digital Guestbook

If you have an iPad there is a nice free app called Digital Guestbook that allows your guests to leave messages for the guest of honor.

All Pointing in One Direction

Crossing the great digital divide can be difficult and unless you want your party to look like this: 

or worse this:

You need to provide some fun focused activities for your guests:

Karaoke

You can hire a karaoke DJ or download an app or program for your tablet or computer. If you download an app and decide to do it yourself you need to have a host that is very outgoing and can keep the karaoke going.

Timeline Game

Using the slide show you made, have people guess what year each picture is from. 

Entertainment

Hiring a professional entertainer can be a great idea for a Graduation party. A comedian, magician, dj, or henna tattoo artist can bring a great air of sophistication and fun to your party. I've had some clients object to what they feel is the high price of professional entertainment. But if you figure out the price per guest it really isn't that much. For most parties a professional entertainer's price is less than a movie ticket for each guest!

About the Author

Edd Fairman, Wizard of Sorts is a stand up comedy magician that specializes in magic for college and corporate events. He is based in Chicago. 

Creating a New Routine: Danger, Part 3- Rehearsal

As a one man show I find it hard to rehearse routines for my College and University Comedy Magic and mind reading show. I can practice all I want at home, in front of the mirror, or on video tape but finding out what the audience will like can sometimes be a guessing game.

This is where I think like a stand up comedian. When stand ups have new material they work it out. Not at the gym but at open mics if they aren't a well known comedian or by doing a drop in at another club, if they are more well known in the community. At a club like Caroline's in New York city it isn't uncommon to be there to see someone that isn't famous and a famous comedian will show up unannounced and do a few minutes to see how it plays.

For those of us who are not Louis CK or Daniel Tosh, we have to work open mics. The nice thing is, venues have realized that an open mic is free entertainment for their guests and comics drink, sometimes a lot. So now there are many open mics. In Chicago, where I live, you perform at multiple open mics every night of the week. Just because they are plentiful doesn't mean they are easy.

The Waiting

Like many things, the waiting is the hardest part. For most open mics they put up the sign up sheet anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours ahead of time. If you get there early enough to get to the top of the list you still end up waiting an hour to go on. If you don't get there early you end up way down on the list and end up waiting multiple hours. When the open mic starts at 10:00 PM you could be going on at 1:00 AM to perform for about 3 other people who are probably really drunk.

The Right Mic

No two open mics are created equal. As a magician some of the comedy only open mics aren't the most welcoming, plus the comedy only mics usually have ridiculously short set time limits. Some have a time limit as short as 3 minutes. I've found that open mics that allow music and poetry are much more welcoming. Also, some of them have set times as long as 15 minutes. 

Getting it on Video

The most important part (and the thing I see the least of) is to tape your set. I have no idea how these guys expect to remember what worked really well, somewhat well, not well, etc, etc, etc ad nauseum. I know watching yourself on tape is harrowing prospect. But if you are not tough enough to watch yourself on tape then you are not tough enough to perform. 

Edd Fairman is a stand up comedy magician based in Chicago that specializes in events for colleges and universities.  

Creating a New Routine: Danger (Part 2)

Here is part 2 of the process creating a new routine for my College and University Stand up comedy magic show.

Putting it together

When you think about board games and Trivial Pursuit you don't think about danger but if the 90's taught me anything, it was to TAKE IT TO THE EXTREME! 

I know Harold and Kumar was released in 2004 but this scene is all 90's all the time. I mean check out the arm band tattoo.

And just because it is the best name for a character ever, "I know, Extreme Sports Punk #1."

So how do you make a board game more extreme? Add some consequences. When someone gets a question wrong you've got to bring the pain, or the possibility of pain. But as we saw in last weeks videos, hurting your audience members is highly frowned upon.

The Surrogate

I think I'm a pretty likable guy and I think that audience members don't want me to fail. So, I think if I put myself in harm's way they are going to do the best they can to save me? Or will they? 

The Rules

Four players are picked from the audience and each gets to choose an '90's icon playing piece. They can be a Grunge Rocker, a Cappuccino, a Dot Com Stock Certificate, or a Digital PDA.

A very sharp aluminum spike is hidden under a foam cup and mixed with three other empty foam cups. The cups are then numbered.  Unknown to the players each playing piece is labeled on the underside with a number.

Each player is asked a '90's Trivial Pursuit question. If they get it wrong, their cup is smashed. 

Will the right person get their question right? Will Edd go unharmed? 

About the Author:

Edd Fairman is a stand up comedy magician that performs for college and university events. You can find out more about him by visiting http://www.wizardofsorts.com

 

Create a new routine: Danger

The Challenge: 

Create a new magic routine that adds an element of danger to the show that is funny, scary, and would fit into my College and University Comedy Magic show.

The Process:

The idea:

I've always liked the idea of a dangerous gamble. In the past I've done some side show stunts that were not magic. I've pounded a nail into my sinus cavity. I've laid on a bed of nails and I've juggled fire. They all have their draw backs. The human blockhead (pounding a nail into the sinus cavity) can be hard to see in a large auditorium. The bed of nails is impossible to put on a plane and fire is generally illegal in most theatres.

"The Trick:"

The "smash and stab" plot has been around in magic for awhile and has had it's share of notoriety. There have been a few televised versions of magicians stabbing themselves. Here are just two. The first video has another video of the magician stabbing a volunteer at minute 2:10.
  

My Take:

I've always felt that the weakest portion of this trick is selecting which cup or bag to smash. If the audience choose, they could feel they were put in a horrible predicament. If the magician choose which cup to smash, he could know where the spike is and avoid it. So, I needed a new selection process.

The Game:

I've always loved board games and one of my favourites is Trivial Pursuit. I happen to own the best version of Trivial Pursuit and that is Trivial Pursuit: 90's edition. It is the coolest game about the coolest of decades. And just like the 90's, I wanted to take the game TO THE EXTREME!

Next:

In my next post I'll show you how this spike and Trivial Pursuit, 90's edition become the best show you've ever seen.

About the Author: 

Edd Fairman, Wizard of Sorts is a stand up comedy magician who specializes in College and University shows for Student Activities and Campus events.

 

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