Discourse in Magic

In this episode Tyler and I sit down with Caroline to chat all about everything it takes to build a community and following. Caroline Ravn is the queens of outreach. In the episode she gives us tips about how to get published in an article. Want to hear how to do it?…. You build a friendship with people in charge, you pitch them stories of your fantastic life, and you reach out to them with deadlines to take on your new stories? One more thing…. When they ask for an interview they are going to want to come to YOUR HOUSE. Make sure there are cookies in the oven. Something so simple swill translate into the best articles written about you! On top of doing a great job for print media, her social media is on point as well. Mainly Instagram. The keys to Instagram are a little bit different. Daily photos, fan engagement,  and sharing the amazing work of her peers. Hard work!! But clearly it pays off! Caroline is storming through magic and laying her path in the process! She’s seems to be doing what everyone else is doing except faster and better. Make sure to check out her social media below, particularly her Instagram! Contact Instagram Twitter Website (in english ) The post Secrets to Outreach and Building Relationships with Caroline Ravn appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

If you don’t know who Asi Wind is, I recommend stopping the podcast episode and checking him out. Google, or Youtube or whatever. You’ll find him.. Not only has he released incredible effects that have ROCKED the magic community like Double Exposure, Catch 23, and more recently Gypsy Queens but he is also a leading magical thinker. Thankfully I was able to spend some time with him at the 2015 Motor City Magic Convention, and Sorcerers Safari! Bot otherwise not a ton of places online to show how great his non-method brain is eh?……. ******Cue the Discourse in Magic Intro Music********* If you’re even somewhat cultured and up to date with magic and you watched the recent David Blaine special you might have seen Asi in it. Not just his face, but you could see Asi’s fingerprints in a ton of Davids work too. Especially on some late night TV, and promo for the recent special! In this episode of DIM we cover many topics but the plot that holds true for the full episode is “sincerity“. It took just one example to make it clear. To paraphrase: ‘ If you think the weight on the ink of a card isn’t an interesting plot, why do you think your audience does’. What Asi shares is that it’s important the we respect our audience. Respect them by performing things that we enjoy, and that resonate with us! People come to the theatre to see YOU and YOUR SHOW. Which means they care about what YOU are interested in. Why do an invisible deck like hundreds of others? More than anything his mentality shines through in his magic and other hobbies: “be a student forever”. If you think you know everything about magic right now, it’s time to think again. Finally Asi gives us some snips from his upcoming book. (That’s right! Asi is coming out with a book soon!). If you want to check out some of his products you can here: https://www.artofmagic.com/products/asi-wind Contact Facebook Twitter Instagram Website The post Why Being Sincere Means Connecting with Your Audience with Asi Wind appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

If you’ve ever wondered how to get into a Fringe Festival, what it is, how to use it to make money and why you would want to do it, you’re in the right place. In episode 38 Keith Brown lays it all out for us. Fringe. What is it? Every year in cities all around the world there are theatre festivals under the “Fringe” name. It’s a festival that last typically 10-14 days with theatre shows, everything from comedy to student plays, to magic. Some of the smaller ones like Regina are 5 days, But fringe is a festival that happens all over the world! Bigger ones like Australia last a month. Best of all, the performers are either first come first serve or picked from a lottery, which means next year, you or I could have the same chances of making it as Keith If you want to figure out how to apply, or anything else that you need to know this is the official Fringe Festival website (each cities festival has their own website, but this is a great resource to find them! fringefestivals.com Also here is an AMAZING resource from a friend of Keiths: samsmullins.com Between the URL above, this episode, and the open invitation to contact Keith with any questions, you have no excuses! As Keith explains in the episode the beauty of the Fringe festival is that it’s an opportunity for you to put on show after show after show, and they cannot sensor what you do. That means that this is the time to find out if the fun art and ideas that you have in your mind produce great theatre when they come to reality. A Fringe tour is the perfect place for you to do a routine dozens and dozens of times. Keith really helps us out by holding nothing back. He’s honest about exactly what it takes. While there seems to be a sea of benefits to joining a fringe festival, like anything it requires work. Keith shows us exactly what to do, and how to engage with people at the fringe festival and invite them to your show. Most importantly he reminds us of something that is incredibly important going in. You and the other fringe performers are all on the same team. You all want to promote each others shows, you are teammates and not competitors. Having that mentality is one of the most important lessons that Keith gave us from fringe. Since such a big part of the festivals success is word of mouth, you need to be on your best behaviour, do some favours, and win some friends. They could help make or break the success of your show! If you want to check out more about Keith you can follow his website, or check him out on social media (PARTICULARLY INSTAGRAM STORIES :)) Contact Website Facebook Instagram Twitter The post How to Master Fringe Festivals with Keith Brown appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

If you’ve ever seen anything that Chris Funk has ever done (which you probably have) you know how special what he does is. His performance and effects are like no other. His presentations are unique. They’re about himself, his past, interests and the things around him. He’s not afraid to add dynamics to the show that other people don’t: Personal stories, live music, and major theatrics. Chris funk is the master of makign a show that is reflective of himself That’s exactly what we spoke to him about in this weeks episode. When we came at the episode we were asking about how to craft a show and looking for tactics, but Chris made the truth clear. Have an amazing show, and everything else will fall into place. It seemed like every single question was answered with the same idea. Making sure that you’re show is made out of things that relate to you, describe you, and help you share your ideas. Otherwise there is no way to stand out. If you don’t know what I mean by stand out here are some of the videos that Chris Funk has starred in on TV (and now youtube) It was great because we received not only the much needed motivation to make your shows about ourselves but that he also gave us the advice about how to do that! It seems like some of the things that are at the root of all of this is scripting, effect selection, transitions, mindful marketing, originality of performance and thoughtfulness. I shall close this article with the same as the close the episode “Magic is the only talent you can buy” – Steve Martin Let’s prove him wrong shall we? As always I would love to know what you think about the episode, and share in the comments below! Contact Facebook Youtube Twitter Instagram The post How to Make Your Show About You with Chris Funk appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We sit down with Toronto’s own James Alan to discuss some of the finer details of crafting a show. This episode was particularly exciting because James has been a fan of the show. Not only did he come prepared, but he was also able to blast misconceptions that we had spoken about in previous episodes. The most out of the box idea that we spoke about was creating your own intros. While that seemed to come naturally out of the situation, and would seem standard for any magician, it often goes both not written or worse, not thought out. Since he’s produced a ton of shows he can recognize those little tiny things that add up over time which makes the difference. That’s exactly what this episode was about. We tend to often talk in big ideas in Discourse in Magic, and James really helped us slow down to understand that it’s the little things that count the most. The subtleties. Another idea that came up is standing your ground. Especially when you’ve defined your character, you need to be able to see that some things might fit into your show but other things might not, and you need to be aware of that. We also touch on standing your ground when it comes to less than pleasant Gigs. Like many things it all depends on where you are in your magic career, what stage you’re at. The stage you’re at in your magic helps dictate a lot of things. It dictates the business that you do, but also dictates the process of implementing magic in your show when you don’t have a lot of expirience. Putting together a show might mean doing more tricks than you have rehearsed. While late in a career, you know exactly what tricks take exactly how long, and have exactly what reaction. It gets’s harder and harder to swap things out. I would love to know what you think of the episode in the comments below! Thanks Ps. You should Follow James On Twitter, he shares some funny stuff! Contact Facebook Twitter Website The post The Value of a Great Introduction and How to Tweak Your Show with James Alan appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

You know him from Comedy Network! You’ve watched his Viral Videos! You know him Cupcake Wars (okay maybe not) the one and only Justin Willman joins us on the podcast! If you’ve never heard of Justin pause the episode and go watch this! Willman has a great approach to Magic on TV and on Youtube. One of the unique approaches that we haven’t heard is a real fight for quality over quantity online. Most advice is “start producing amazing content regularly”. Now it’s a given that quality is important. But to put it first over quantity is unique advice. The other thing which is an important distinction is that Justin is not producing online content to make money online. He doesn’t sell magic tricks. He wants people to book him for more stage time and fill more seats. People often forget that producing content on youtube does not make you a YOUTUBER. That’s a good thing. You don’t need to vlog. You can just make 1 or 2 or 5 GREAT VIDEOS. While we think he’s the expert on TV. Some of the videos that he’s produced on the internet have been amazing. Specifically the ones that have to do with his recent wedding. We spoke about them in the episode but they’re worth watching: More than anything Justin is a the king at making sure his magic has purpose. If you just watch his Comedy Network special you’ll understand how great of a job he does at being current. Tricks about Social media, Pot (since it’s pretty IN right now), technology advances and other very topical subjects. His magic magic makes sense! Check out his recent video about social change that we were talking about in the episode!   So! If this is the first time that you’ve heard of Justin (doubt it!) then you should Subscribe on youtube and check out his other social medias Contact Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube The post Tools, Tips, and Tricks to Having TV Quality Magic with Justin Willman appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

In this perfectly timed episodes days after David Blaine’s special we have the very bright Daniel Garcia telling us about the ups and downs for consulting. Garcia consults for many of the major TV magicians including Cyril, Dynamo and of course David Blaine. With projects under his belt like The Ultragaff Deck, Garcia projects, Bent Touch Slink, Torn, Torn Too an countless videos projects and lectures all over the world. There is no surprise that this guy is one of the most highly recommended magic consultants around. In this episode we walk through some ways to be creative in the morning if you can handle it. It has to do with using the creativity that your brain has in the morning, and then creating magi from your first hand creative thoughts later. I recommend listening to the episode to hear the way that Garcia walks through it If you haven’t caught Garcia’s last major appearance, on the project he was working on: the new David Blaine special. If you haven’t checked it out, here it is:   UPDATE: JK the link is broken. Rights and stuff. Bummer I guess Garcia gives us prime advice for how to get creativity and inspiration from things like a book cover. I don’t want to give away too much, cause it was an awesome episode, but here’s episode 33 with Daniel Garcia Contact Facebook Twitter The post Magic Consulting and Making Your Own Inspiration with Daniel Garcia appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

If you’re reading this it means you care about modern media and social media. For that you are already a winner. Of course it’s not as easy as signing up for social media accounts to get fans, you need to make quality content. If there’s anything to take out of the episode overall is that you need to start producing content today. While sometimes people are smart enough to come up with a ‘formulaic’ way to make a viral video, or viral content, the way to learn how to do that is by doing it. If you want to videos? Start recording. Podcast? Do it up. Amazing Instagram photos? do your best. You need to be a content creator. The most important thing that we learned from Flom in this is that he came into magic with the approach of TV first. I think that’s a great approach especially in todays age. The way that you look in footage and online is almost as important as your show. More and more that’s the place where potential clients book you first. That might even be the place where the bulk of your fans live. Making sure that you content is TV ready, or more TV quality.  you can share it. While I couldn’t do a justice to the details that we went in in the episodes here are some tips about each social media platform (and our links to go follow us) How to Master Each Platform Facebook As Justin explains on Facebook since they’re scrolling through the content, you need to catch their attention, and can be watched on silent. A ton of people watch videos on silent, and you need to have something that’s going to get their attention immediately! Twitter This platform is hopeless for growth. Here’s my advice, ask good questions to semi-famous people and tag them. You’ll be blown away that they respond, and that other people like it, retweet it and follow it! Instagram Also tough. Although we don’t give great advice in the episode here is my advice. Since it’s curated content, people care about their Instagrams. In niches specifically, there are communities that form on Instagram. Make sure to engage in others, like often follow others and comment on others. Make sure you produce regularly Snapchat/Instagram Stories It’s tough now, but the lesson we got from Justin in the episode was to get in early. Justin was in on snapchat very early, and with that was able to build a massive community of people who follow him. The other thing is that snapchat is good if you have an exciting life. It’s hard to provide exciting daily content if you have a desk job. Most importantly you have to upload daily Vine Vine is dead. (The links goes to Instagram) There are a TON more details in the episode about how to master social media as well as some other forms of media. If you want our social media guide head over to: discourseinmagic.com/social-media-guide-magicians  Contact Justin Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat The post Magicians Guide to Mastering Every Social Media Platform with Justin Flom appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

In this episode we get to sit down with the Magic Podcast king himself Julian Mather. Julian has basically done everything under the sun in terms of magic. He’s performed, taught, created 2 podcasts, and created tons of products that are meant to help magicians with the commercial side of magic (often the most difficult part). Julian walks us through some straight up tips as to how to do it, and he’s very clear about the benefits of the online world and exactly how to do it. Here are some of the highlights from the episode: Don’t open a restaurant unless you have a starving crowd The number one piece of advice is to make sure that there is a market for you to do what you want to do before you do it. Marketability trumps creativity every time. If you want to be able to sell what you do without struggling you need to create something that you already know people want Don’t take a NO To heart You have no way to know why someone might say no to what you offer them. Maybe they’re really busy, maybe they had a bad day, maybe it just isn’t the right time. Don’t take a NO to heart! Keep being in front of their face The reason why Email marketing campaigns tend to be the best is because you can make sure that you show up in front of someones face a certain number of times a year. If you can be the go to magician for someone, then you’re the person that they’re going to call. Keep showing up in front of them, and they will remember you! Email Marketing With all of the new social medias, and methods of interaction, email marketing is still one of the most successful. Why? Because most business is still conducted over email! If you can show up in peoples inboxes regularly providing content for them specifically they’re going to remember you, and book you when the time comes! This is the service we use called Convertkit. It’s software for email to automate everything. We chat all about it in the episode.  Try it here! Originality Being original is not as important as being commercial. Make sure that you can provide a product that people are going to buy. That might be difficult if you’re trying to create all of your own content. Create content online When you create material for the online world it’s there forever. By committing to an online project people  an see that you are committed, since you created a certain number of episodes, blogs or whatever pieces of content you’re creating. Contact www.kidsentertainerhub.com www.kidsentertaineracademy.com www.tailormadecareer.com www.magicianbusiness.com   The post Expert Online Marketing Tools and Tips for Magicians with Julian Mather appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

If you want to know what type of procedure to use to get booked, you’re in the right place! The one and only Wes Barker brings the heat on episode 29 by chatting all about how to get booked. Since he’s made big waves in a short time, he’s tells us exactly what to look for in branding and why cold calling colleges is so fun and easy! If you don’t know anything about Wes, let me give you a rundown. Canadian boy, very original magician. He’s performed on: Americas Got Talent, Penn and Teller Fool Us, Wizard Wars, Just For Laughs, and even throws his own theatre shows! The one thing that’s obvious is that he’s creative and clever. He has original effects for the stage, and he knows what he’s creating for. Wes is a go getter because he calls all of the right people and knows how to talk. If you want to learn exactly who to call and what to say this is the episode for you! He explains why it’s easy, and it was honestly a blast to listen to him talk about some of the conversations he has on the phone. If you want to have a good laugh while learning exactly how to take action for your magic, and getting booked. I would tune in to the episode As he and Lou explains in the previous episode: by doing magic full time, you’ve free’d up some 40 hours a week to do marketing. You should be spending those hours reaching out. In this episode he explains that he uses cold calls to target clients. It’s especially easy when he’s chatting with students. Since it’s their job to book talent, when he calls as talent to get booked it helps a ton. If you aren’t interested in college market, try col calling another industry. He mentions old age homes, but feel free to get creative! In the episode we chat about the importance of branding. Wes knows that you need to be able to sell exactly what you do in a few words or a tagline. While you give up the potential to have a wide number of gigs, as we mentioned before you will get more and better higher paying gigs. One of the thing that Wes explains is that while it’s totally okay to do special shows that are unique for clients “You want to do as much of the magic that you want to do as possible”. Find the niche or the group where you can do your show over and over again. That’s what’s going to be your money maker. I’ve found that to be totally true, and I would recommend it to anybody! We also chatted with him about TV specials. If you are interested in learning how to pitch your magic. Contact Facebook Twitter Youtube Vimeo   The post Getting Booked with Branding, Taglines and Straight Up Tenacity with Wes Barker appeared first on Discourse in Magic.