During some of the performances I attempted with a group of spectators, I encountered situations where I did misdirection, however it didn't get everyone, especially those that are not the 'victim(s)' of my trick. For example, when i do 2CM, there's this part that you kinda need to misdirect yah? So when the crowd is like more than 4 people, things might get a little tricky or maybe i just suck couls be another reason :(

I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how i can improve my misdirecting skills so as to convince these other people to follow it and stuff?

Thanks in advance!

I think Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic will benefit you greatly ^_^ It's got good stuff in there. I'm sure Tommy Wonder & Cellini's material will be useful to you as well, in terms of proper misdirection when working with a group. See past threads too, I believe we've touched on this topic several times before.

Good luck,
ning ;)

Check first that you understand what misdirecting is. It is not distraction, but rather of attention control, making the audience focus where they think is important (ie. misdirection is not counter-intuitive to the audience). And to do that, you have to create motivation, reason for the audience to look where you want them to.

If there is a reason to look at a particular place, then all the more the "enthusiastic" people will be misdirected, even if they are not the main "audience" (if you can put it that way).

And yes, Strong Magic is really good.

Thanks for the advice. :) Maybe I didn't explain myself clearly but it wasn't too much of a distraction that I was refering too. But I realise that there are some people who are overly sensitive and tends to really observe at every action that you do. That's more of the tricky part that I was talking about.

I'll definitely look into the DVD and stuff. Learn more about the attention control. Once again thanks.

Very insightful statement made by Gordon. I agree totally with him on that issue. Execution of the TC has always been a worry for magicians who have just started out on the sleight or do not have the confidence to pull it off, even in front of a small group of people. Experience plays a huge part, practice more and feel the ease :)

Yeah I honestly think that this just comes with experience... when you do it, when you fail, you analyse what happens, and think it through (after reading pointers from those before and above us ;)) and you improve from there on! No one can run without first learning to crawl, stand, or walk... But after, there are so many possibilities ^_^ Good luck!

Actually Oz Pearlman had his version of 2 Card Monte that doesn't require to use TC and he did it surrounded by people on the street.

Can be found on his "Born to Perform" Dvd. Hope it will help.

yup the oz pealman's version of the 2CM is the one ill use when there's a group of ppl..if doin to a few then the TC or BC is good cos it's quick..=)
well to be honest, i think misdirection is harder then the sleights itself. and it's impossible to really learn unless u go out n perform your stuff..the more u perform the better you'll get at it.