Spectator Interaction

This post is sort of related to last week’s post about acknowledging the reactions of your spectator and letting them affect you. That post was about making it clear to the spectator that you’re present and you’re tuned into them. And that what you’re doing is something you’re doing with them and for them, and not just AT them.

Today I’m going to discuss a similar topic about spectator interaction.

New magicians and bad magicians will have interactions that go like this.

Magician: Let me ask you a question, do you believe that objects can be haunted?

Spectator: I think so. I actually think the music box my grandma left me might be haunted.

Magician: I believe this deck is haunted. And I think I can prove it to you.

In other words, they ask a question, then ignore the answer and move on with their prepared statements.

The evolved magician asks the questions, listens to the answer, and follows up on it.

“Why do you think the music box is haunted?” “What did it do?” “Where is it now?” etc.

But what does the even more evolved magician do?

He doesn’t ask the question in the first place.

Here’s my logic on this…

The more bizarre, immersive, and unusual the trick you’re showing someone, the more you need to direct the interaction.

Why?

Because, the best chance we have of getting the other person to lose themselves in the experience is to frame our interaction as if it were real.

And when you’re showing someone something genuinely incredibe, you don’t split the focus with them.

If it were real you might say…

“This old guy on the subway yesterday grabbed my wrist and touched my forehead and said something to me in some language that I didn’t understand. It was maybe Eastern European or something. And I felt, like, a shock. And I think I might have blacked out for a bit. But if so it wasn’t long. And ever since then I’ve been having these… visions… I guess you’d call them. And I had one about you. And I just want to test something out because I’m a little freaked out about all of this.”

You wouldn’t say:

“This old guy on the subway yesterday grabbed my wrist and touched my forehead and said something to me in some language that I didn’t understand. Have you ever had a strange interaction with someone on the subway? Oh yeah? Tell me about it. Interesting! Okay, well the language this guy spoke was maybe Eastern European or something. Have you ever travelled there? Really? What was the best thing you ate on your trip? Ciorbă de Burtă? What’s that? Give me the recipe.”

Now, that’s not to say I don’t let my friends inject when I’m showing them a trick. I do a lot of magic that is hyper casual and conversational. If the premise of the trick is very personal or psychological or something, they will often carry a lot of the weight of the interaction.

But you have to let the nature of the trick dictate how much input they’re going to have. Asking them to carry a significant portion of the load when you’re doing something with a truly “out there” premise can be uncomfortable for people. And it “breaks the spell” you’re trying to cast. If you had something genuinely this crazy to show or tell people, you would be driving the interaction. And you wouldn’t be looking to them to give their input all along the way.