"I have never seen anyone do that before."

If you wanted to compliment someone unique this is what I would say. To be the first person to show something unique and creative is a special magical moment of the human experience. Often with magic I get the opportunity to show something that nobody has seen before and the question is: what do I do with that moment?

I could build it up dramatically and release it with a special magical moment. Thats one option, but more often than not, I am so focused on mechanics, or other elements of the effect that I forget to pace the presentation for added dramatic effect. Insecure magicians hide behind their cards/props/patter. I really like a recent Twitter post by @jay_sankey: Next time you head into a trick, try to go RIDICULOUSLY slowly. You might be surprised how engaging + powerful it is.

Fantastic advice. I always used to slow down in the middle and just before the end of presentations. Sometimes I would stop at the end of a paragraph or magic trick for up to 15 seconds, smiling, maintaining eye contact, and fixing my next prop or just getting the attention of the whole crowd once again. For kids I need to adapt to shorter times, otherwise they start to get too antsy, but adults can withstand a truly mysterious silence. Somewhere along the way I stopped taking advantage of this simple tip for increasing the emotional weight of . . .

". . . the next thing you will say."

I remember after seeing Gazzo drop his wand, the audience member would only kick it back to him, not pick it up. After the audience member returned back, everyone expected Gazzo to pick it up . . .but he waitied, slowly bent forward, almost about to bend down, but waited. He just kept smiling back at the audience. From this I realze how one can really make every second count.

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