We all know how friends and families tend to be hard skeptics and hecklers. Its quite a sad thing to say that i perform to my parents quite a bit cause it happens to be an excuse to communicate with one another.

Half the time, they'd dismiss it as a trick. Which is quite a sad thing. My dad can praise how smart its routined, talk about how perfect it is for one moment, and the next come up to me and shoot out a guess on how it's done. To him, its a puzzle. To him, knowing the secret, means that he won.

Or at least thats how i see it.

I went on to think about doing magic. I wanted to know how it aint got to be a puzzle.

I came up with two ways.

One, either you do something thats pretty out of this world, such that no one can even attempt to explain it. Simple, direct and impactful. Tends to be the kind of trick David copperfield and Cyril does. However, this big effects tend to be pretty out of reach.

Two, present it well, such that it serves to entertain, for it to be funny and nice to watch. Maybe i aint got such talent, but on second thoughts, maybe its the type of audience you present to. Whatever style you take on, friends and family'd know that as magician's patter.

What would you do?

Or maybe some just won't do.

Your first way is of course plausible but not practical, how many of us have access to such effects? I'm not saying this is impossible, if you really put in effort, you'll probably be able to come up with such an effect.

Your second way is better and more practical though not easy. I've always feel that for a magic effect, presentation is the most difficult part of a trick. Even if a trick is self-working, you'd also need to present it in an entertaining way.

As for friends and family, I tend to separate them into 2 groups. I use my family to test new effects. Most of you who knows me will know that I seldom perform which may be an irony as a magician to some. I like to practice magic, practicing brings me joy.

You might want to use your family as critique, ask them on how to better your effect and what do they think of it. Most of the time, they'll be honest with you unlike other who might want to be courteous rather than honest.

After doing the effects for your family, then you can do it for friends. But take note that friends are never the best audience.

The trouble is there are people who feels that when you perform
a magic trick to them it's a challenge to them to expose you, not to
be entertained. They can even interupt you mid-way to want to check
this or that.

Maybe their egos cannot accept the fact that you somehow managed to
trick them. But what to do, it takes all kinds to make up this world, what
is more important is that we should be reminding ourselves to enjoy each time we perform a trick which is why we took up magic in the first place.

I'll recommend that you get and read Strong Magic. Darwin Ortiz covers grounds on these situations, why it happens and what you can do to deal with such situations. At the very least, the book will equip you with the skills to analyse and solve these difficulties that you might be facing.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I did read up quite alot on style of presentations from different authors, and especially those from Derren Brown. I've also watched many classic dvds that talks about the psychology and presentations behind the art of magic.

I dont have too much problem approaching a group of people and performing. My problem tend to be with friends and family. Will look through the materials you guys recommend and hopefully gain a bit of insight.

Thanks much.