I've been a part-time magician for many years. It give me a reputation as a "MAGIC" man among my friends and colleagues. Since I'm not a professional, I never play on stage. What I do is called "close-up" magic tricks. That means I only play with a small number of audience, namely 1 - 5 persons one time. The magic tricks I play are all very simple ones. I play with coins, paper, cards, a glass of beer, a piece of tissue, or anything around us. The outcome is huge. People love my magic. If you can play magic tricks successfully in front of one person 3 times, he will recognize you as a magician all the time.

What I want to share with you today is not a magic trick how-to, but some tips and suggestions in the magic show. That's something I accumulated in the past years as a magician.

#1 Pratice.

You can never pratice too much. Always spent some minutes everyday on magic tricks, particularlly if those new ones. You have to make sure everything is gonna be fine before the show time. Magic is an entertaining business. It's faster to lose your credits than to win them.

When pratice, place a big mirror in front of you if possible. You can get many benifits through your mirror. It give you an audience's angle as you are watching your own performing. Be careful of your fingers' moves, facial expressions, and most importantly, the timing. In a word, mirror is your best friend in magic world.

#2 Never disclose the secret

Yes. Never do that! I once disclosed some secrets of my magic tricks to my friends. They don't feel interested in my magic show any more until I learn some new tricks. You will lose a lot of fun if you do that.

But, you may ask, what if they are extremely insistent? My suggestion is that have some easy tricks in your pocket as backups. You can give those backup tricks to your friends. It will make you look more like a magic man. But, I repeat here, never disclose the secrets of your best tricks. You may lose 50% of your hardcore fans next time.

#3 Misleading your audience

This is a gold rule in magic world. Some magic tricks are very simple. Everybody will see through you if you don't try everything you can do to mislead them to the wrong directions. Do not tell them what you are going to do at the first time. Keeping your goal until the last moment will make your show a overwhelming success. Let them lose focus while you direct everything. You may even pretend that you are not sure whether you can do it successfully.(of course you know you can make it because you've praticed it)

#4 Do not replicate a trick with the same group

You need to master more than one trick. If you do the same thing among the same viewers, they will immediately know what you are going to do next. They will pay great attentions to the points which was misleaded by you last time. Also you will not make them satisfying or dazzling as the first time.