Rule 4: One Step at a Time
In 1911 Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant, two of the premier magicians of the day, published Our Magic. In the first section, The Art in Magic, Maskelyne outlines 20 rules for magic performance. After well over 100 years, are these rules still relevant, and do they apply to more than magic?
Rule 4: Never produce two simultaneous effects, and let no effect be obscured by any subsidiary distraction
I’m really bad at speaking in what can only be described as idea burps. I’ll present three thoughts from five different perspectives on top of - and even entwined with - each other. It’s confusing, and often leads to huge misunderstandings. This is something that must be avoided when presenting an idea or concept to an audience.
A trap magicians often fall into when designing effects is layering too much on. A simple trick will often become something like “what if I catch their card as it flies out of the deck but it’s not their card, it’s the card someone else thought about ten minuets ago and their card is in the envelop that was actually set on fire but now the card I caught has become that envelope.” My personal theory is that a magical effect is an unsolvable problem and far too many magicians think that by making a problem more and more complex it becomes more and more unsolvable, and that makes it better. Of course, this isn’t true. It just becomes confusing and messy.
When people are presenting, they often have the same kind of issue. They pile more and more on because they are genuinely excited about all the information they have. They want to tell their audience absolutely everything. Sadly, what often happens is that the audience become bewildered, almost punch drunk, leaving a lecture looking like Sylvester Stallone at the end of a Rocky movie.
Relax. Calm down. I’ve already spoken about being clear about what you want to say, but now is the time to decide why you want to say it. Do you need to cram everything into the talk? Could you present it in another way? In addition to hand outs expanding points, there could be QR codes scattered through those notes. When scanned a 1 - 3 minute video of you pops up delivering a point you just didn’t have time for. Not only does this allow you more scope, but it’s also showing you know how to use various forms of media and are happy to deliver additional value.
It’s far better to deliver a great presentation which covers the essentials well, rather than one that crams everything in but doesn’t explain them well. Besides, if you’re good enough, you’ll get asked back anyway!
TFT
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