Thoughts on iPad Magic, Projects and Stuff
Working on a new show is never easy, but I am very thankful to be trusted by long time clients and early adopters of my magic.
This show has been in concept since July and 4 months later, I am very proud of its current state. It has interaction, engagement, hyper visual magic, theatrics and amazement.
I have been blessed to be booked not only in Singapore and Hong Kong but also in Australia, UK and USA.
Check out my new promo video here!
I had the delightful pleasure of performing at the Opening Ceremony in Symposium 2020 last week organized by Project Management Institute Singapore Chapter.
I want to first congratulate the team in making it all possible! They have obviously done their due diligence in testing the system, Remo, and explored all contingencies to ensure a smooth conference.
Alicja Kocanda and Praveen Dayal - Co-chair
Stefany Maranghos and Alicja Kocanda - Speaker Management
Aishwarya Prasad supported the actual event in the background.
I had the great pleasure of working with Alicja and her team to ensure a seamless integration of magic into the opening ceremony.
Contrast to the previous years, this conference was 100% held online.
The event was all set to be physically held and when the pandemic hit, Alicja converted the event from a physical one to a virtual one.
All the speakers dialed in before the time of their talk, they all effectively and engagingly used technological tools like voting options and the live chat to engage the guests.
The smoothness of the conference was not a coincidence and I would like share 2 insights I’ve learnt from being part of this virtual conference.
True to a Scouts’ motto, “Be Prepared” is one of the things that are easily said but difficult to do as there are so many things that can go wrong. The team had obviously took pains to stress test their system and finding contingencies to problems that might happen.
There were little to no dead time in the transition of the speakers. One of the main reasons I believe is that 2 weeks before the conference, I was asked to do a technical run through on the system and to test the various functions necessary to execute the show. I am certain that all the speakers had to get comfortable during this technical rehearsal as well.
I discussed with Alicja on various methods to maximize engagement and these ranged from using the whiteboard to the live chat function.
Prior to the show, Alicja also made sure that I was aligned in the theme of the Symposium “Adaptive Leadership Mindset” and gave me source materials on learning Project Management Processes. This is particularly helpful for me in customizing my magic for this.
The inherent pain point of a virtual type event is that it creates a forth wall between the speakers and the audiences. However, I would argue that through the use of effective communication, a virtual event can have more interaction than a traditional event.
In my show, I use the live chat function to get volunteers and to see comments and feedback in real time. This allows me to cater better to the audiences.
Also, usually in a live performance, audible side comments are generally disruptive in nature. However in this virtual platform, the audiences were having fun and sharing their appreciation for the magic that they saw.
Apart from that, I would also share that there were 2 critical factors that allows for maximum engagement:
Content that is relatable
Timeliness of engagement
For this opening ceremony, I designed my magic to be personalize to the audiences and to the theme. Without a personal touch in the content, it would feel like they are simply watching a video and would naturally take a passive role in consuming the content. Having customized my content for this, the audiences were eager to participate in the magic.
Secondly, the timeliness of engagement is crucial for a virtual event especially during the transition from speakers. And this is demonstrated by the emcee, Alicja, where she immediately comes into view when a speaker has some technical difficulties. 10 seconds of dead time on stage feels like 10 minutes to the audiences and she wasted no time in making sure that the feeling of nothingness is reduced.
In conclusion, I believe that virtual events are a strong contender of physical events in light of the current pandemic, there are still many lessons ahead to learn and many opportunities to maximize the potential of a virtual conference through the effective use of technology.
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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. However due to COVID19, he has been working from home, reading and practising his magic. Hopefully the time will come soon when he can be performing in the real world live, in the meantime, check out his virtual magic shows!
Constrained by the circumstances of COVID19, there is an impending need to adapt and change the way I perform my iPad Magic.
There are a few concepts in the show that is exemplified in my show with huge amount of success. I currently perform regularly at business meetings, conferences and events virtually.
There is a common saying that if the audiences wanted to watch magic, they could easily log on to Youtube to do so without having a need to hire a magician for an online magic show.
However, for magic (contrasted to other art forms like singing and juggling), we have the ability to interact with our audiences.
The challenge now is to make interaction organic rather than forced; I have seen a virtual show where the magician chooses his own card and then proceeds to find it! This type of performance mentality limits what a virtual magic show should be and it showcases the lack of thinking on the magician’s part.
I structure my magic to be easily participative. The magic involves simple instructions and an openness that is at the same level of as if you were in the same room as I was.
Hence to the magician who chose his own card and then find it, a simple solution is to have a member of the audience to say stop as you deal the cards down for a fair selection. (Its easy when you give it more thought!)
A Virtual Show should feel as close as possible like a physical show. In my show, Digital on Digital, I apply 2 layers of personalisation in my show. The first is to add a signage to show that this show is meant for the, and them only. This can also be seen in the shows done by my team, Front Row Seats and Magic on Demand.
On a deeper level, I customize my magic content to showcase the audience’s branding or concepts. In a recent sales networking virtual performance, I programmed and designed various products of the company to be used as part of the magic.
The way I designed my show to encourage engagement and interest was to build a full show with a cogent theme from start to end. This way, the narrative of the performance is easily understood and the audiences are then compelled to the take part in the magic.
While this seems like common sense, many of the virtual shows that I have watched seems like a series of magic demonstration (“Let me show you a trick”), rather than a show. Without a thematic structure to the performance, it makes no difference for the audiences to turn to Youtube and watch a playlist of magic tricks
I take pride in my magic and I also take pride in making sure that the audiences consume the show in the best way possible. All my shows are performed in Meta Illusions’ Studio with photography lighting and a 3 camera set up. This allows me to change the camera angle to showcase the magic in the best view possible. This also prevents digital fatigue where the audiences are facing a static screen view.
Hope you enjoyed my thoughts of Virtual Magic Show! I would love to be a part of your virtual event in the future. For more information, you can drop me an email or visit here!
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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. However due to COVID19, he has been working from home, reading and practising his magic. Hopefully the time will come soon when he can be performing in the real world live, in the meantime, check out his virtual magic shows!
