Add Magic to Your Presentations 

You must cultivate what you learn in your public speaking course to include a variety of techniques including funfilled tricks like magic. When a magic trick is used during your speaking presentation, it never fails to impress the audience and keep them glued to their seats.

When you use magic to make a point, you are not held to the high standards of a professional magician. During your presentation you can add magic as an extra dimension to key points your making to the audience, while the professional magician's presentation is primarily just involving illusion. This is a fun aspect you can learn in a public speaking course.

I do some simple magic that would probably make a real magician throw up, yet I get comments from the audience that they loved my 'illusions.' Think about some of the points you make during your presentation that might need a little extra spark to make them memorable.

Visit a magic shop and tell the salesperson what you are trying to accomplish and that your skill level is zero. Most good magic shops have literally thousands of tricks to pick from and at all skill levels as well as all audience sizes. 

The points you make and the comedy aspect of the magic usually come from the 'patter' (what the magician says while doing the trick). You can even buy books of comic patter. Magic tricks are also a fun way to add some lightheartedness and WOW factor to what you learned in your public speaking course.
Many magic tricks are now on video which makes them tremendously easier to learn than trying to read them from a book. 

An excellent video tape for rope tricks is 'Daryl's Rope Tricks #7.' Your local magic shop probably has it and if they don't they can probably order it. 

I really like to learn magic from videos because you can see the trick in action. Reading them from a book is OK, and very useful, but you just can't beat video training. Two good magic videos for speakers are by master magician Tom Ogden 'Teaching and Training with Magic' and 'The Magic of Creativity.' I got these two videos from Royal Publishing & Walters Speakers Services (626) 335-8069. 

And of course, in 2004 with the magician Steve Hart, I created a three DVD set of magic tricks, with a bonus DVD of me doing some magic.
Call me at (757) 431-1366, to order, or order online at antion.com.

When taking a public speaking course, magic is but one of many resources and tools you can use to cleverly communicate your message.

Back to Articles