Rule 17: Top & Tail

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 24 rules for magic performance. After well over 100 years, are these rules still relevant, and do they apply to more than magic

17: In every effect of pure transition, the beginning and end of the process involved should be distinctly indicated by some coincident occurrence.

In the previous rule we looked at preparing your audience for the unexpected. But what if that’s not possible, or if what you’re about to say is so complex or unexpected that even a drum roll won’t be enough to signpost it?

There’s nothing in the playbook that says you have to be subtle. Giving a presentation? Pause, look at your audience, and just draw their attention.

• “This is why you’re all here.”

• “What follows is what made it all make sense.”

• “I want you to pay particular attention to what I’m about to say.”

Yes, you can be that blatant. Simply put, if you need to highlight a point that you fear might be lost, tell your audience to pay attention. It’s a little like the public speaking equivalent of the Spanish signo de apertura de exclamación. In Spanish that is an upside-down exclamation point that must be used at the beginning of all exclamations. This helps identify them within the text.

You can also add an ‘exclamation point’ at the end.

• “This was completely unexpected.”

• “We realised we had found something very special.”

• “These findings backed up our hypothesis 100%.”

A closing sentence like this helps to ‘top and tail’ the point. 

You’ve now created a micro-moment in your talk that will help solidify your message within your audience's head. Think of this technique as creating a jagged speech bubble around an exclamation in a comic strip but rather than drawing the eye, it focuses the attention. 

As with every trick, you can easily over-use it. But this is a great ‘go to’ to pick out that one point that might otherwise become lost.

TFT
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