On Sunday, Vanishing Inc., the online magic shop, celebrated the 3rd anniversary of the Vanishing Inc. Masterclass with a special event hosted by Joshua Jay and Andi Gladwin. The event brought together a community of over 400 magicians, featuring past Masterclass teachers and exciting announcements. Despite a minor disruption, the event showcased the camaraderie and shared passion for magic.
I first heard about the event from an email announcement on Saturday -- the day before the event itself. Luckily, I didn't have plans at the time it was scheduled for so I figured I'd tune in. I'm glad I did!
Vanishing Inc. Masterclass: A Brief Overview
Summarizing a bit from the Vanishing Inc. Masterclass description itself (because it says it all quite well), but Vanishing Inc. Masterclass is an exclusive and inspiring platform that offers magicians worldwide unparalleled access to the best in the industry. Designed to ignite your creativity and propel your magic to new heights, each month brings you captivating lectures and exciting new tricks from the most innovative and talented magicians around.
Once subscribed, you'll be able to immerse yourself in two 1.5-hour lectures on the first two Sundays of every month, where you'll gain invaluable insights, practical advice, and a deep understanding of what excellence in magic truly entails. Moreover, the Masterclass experience goes beyond the lectures, with a live Zoom Q&A on the third Sunday, providing an opportunity to interact with the instructors and ask any burning questions you may have. As a bonus, you'll also gain access to the extensive VI Studio video library, featuring incredible content from renowned magicians like Roberto Giobbi and Juan Tamariz.
The 3rd Anniversary Event
The 3rd anniversary event was an hour long live Zoom meet, right before the Q&A with this month's Masterclass host, Jörg Alexander. It was hosted by Joshua Jay and Andi Gladwin and unlike the normal Masterclass sessions, it was completely open to the public for free!
The magic duo were the hosts, but the schedule was already set and they called upon a handful of magicians to give brief talks. We heard from David Regal, David Williamson, Matt Pritchard, and John Guastaferro -- and yes, each of them were previous Masterclass hosts.
In between folks, they even had cameo appearances by Matt Baker and Jeki Yoo! Matt's appearance was just a "hey Matt, say hi!" type of thing while Jeki's was to drum up some excitement for his upcoming Masterclass in August. I'm excited to see that one!
Magic Trick Giveaway
During the event, Josh and Andi mentioned that they would be giving away some goodies throughout it and they definitely came through!
All-in-all, everyone attending received three free magic tricks:
- Joe Puzzle by David Regal
- Card Productions by David Williamson
- Hands Off by John Guastaferro
Each of these tricks come from the respective magicians' Masterclass sessions, but the free downloads that they gave all of us are cut and setup to stand alone. If you weren't there to claim these, or if you don't have the Masterclass sessions, I highly recommend seeing if you can get these tricks though -- from experience, they're pretty great. Joe Puzzle is one of my favorite tricks and it's not even card related (though the version I perform is).
Big shout-out to Vanishing Inc. for giving away such awesome magic!
Zoom Bombing Incident
Unfortunately, not all was fun and games. During David Williamson's segment, some crappy individual (or individuals) thought it was a good idea to try to hijack the event. They started auto-sharing their screen, which included some very graphic and inappropriate content -- so much so, I hope no children were tuned into this event, though I'm sure there were at least some.
Vanishing Inc.'s staff handled the situation swiftly and professionally, even as the annoyances continued for several minutes. The consequence of the incident was that they had to not allow any more users to join, and they disabled other sharing settings as well. Quite unfortunate indeed!
Exciting Announcements
During all of the talks, we learned a couple of neat things. To briefly summarize them here:
- David Williamson runs Sleight School, an online learning platform, for magic. While talking about it, he said something that I (as an adjunct professor myself) have been known to say for many years now: teaching is the best way to learn.
- John Guastaferro has a new book coming out titled The Nth Degree, a sequel to his popular One Degree. I, personally, don't have One Degree and it's long-since sold out but still in high demand. It's said that The Nth Degree will focus on strategy and implementation and also includes a lot of routines! I'll have to check it out when it's being released.
Conclusion
The Vanishing Inc Masterclass 3rd Anniversary Event was a memorable celebration of magic, featuring prominent magicians, exciting announcements, and a strong sense of community. Despite the unfortunate Zoom bombing incident, the event showcased the resilience and dedication of the Vanishing Inc team. As the Masterclass service continues to thrive, magicians from all skill levels can look forward to enriching their craft and fostering connections within the magical community.
Thank you again, Vanishing Inc!