I don't know about you, but my 2024 has been off to a ridiculously fast pace so far. The holidays themselves were busy, full of travel -- and yet, somehow still relaxing. After the new year celebration, the family and I were off to Colorado for the first time. We took a nice ski trip where I successfully fell down the mountain! The only injuries were a bruised rib, and, well, the rest of my body being bruised. Overall though, I loved it and would 100% visit the area again (and go snowboarding again too!).
Now that you're all caught up with where I've been, let's get on to where I'm going. Next week, and I can't believe it's next week already, I'm heading to Magifest!
Am I excited to be in Columbus, Ohio? Not really... and I excited for Magifest and everything related? Heck yeah!
Performers and Speakers
The lineup this year is pretty top-notch. Check out the list of performers and speakers:
- Richard Turner
- Juliana Chen
- Allan Ackerman
- Asi Wind
- John Graham
- Jay Sankey
- John Guastaferro
- David Kaplan
- Alexander Koblikov
- Peter Samelson
- Michael Feldman
- Dan Harlan
- Jason Suran
- Montreal Trio
- Arthur Benjamin
- Trigg Watson
- Randy Shine
- Lance Rich
- Blaise Serra
- Richard Hatch
There are also two workshops on the last day, hosted by:
While I would love to attend the workshops, I will actually be flying home that day. I'm sure that they'll be great though.
For more information about the lineup, check out the conference's page here.
Basecamp
If you're familiar with Magifest, or more specifically, if you're going this year, you'll have heard that they're trying out a new idea called "Basecamp". In a nutshell, it's a way for newcomers to not just stand awkwardly in the corner and observe, but to actually meet people, watch magic, and perform themselves!
A couple weeks ago, while I was in Colorado no less, Vanishing Inc. sent around an email to attendees asking for volunteers to help out and "lead" a Basecamp table. Said leaders would be there to:
make people feel welcome for an hour or so. Share some tricks, encourage others to share, help each other out.
Now, let's rewind just a moment to make it clear that I myself have opted to join Basecamp. Yes, I attended Magifest last year and had a blast. However, I was the guy awkwardly in the corner. Not really, I mean I did actually sit at the tables and talk to folks, but there were plenty of "oh hey, why am I not more involved with everything" moments, and I also didn't come away knowing anybody... something I was really upset about So yeah, Basecamp sounded perfect to me and I smashed that "opt in" button super fast.
That said, when the request for volunteers came around, I reflected very briefly and determined that being a volunteer myself would, theoretically, be the best of both worlds. Rather than taking the casual seat and still waiting for someone to prompt me with "show me something you've been working on," I'll be almost forced to show it myself and then be the one prompting others!
My personal goals for attending Basecamp are to meet new people and make connections, but also perform more magic. As a volunteer, I hope to be able to help others achieve the same!
Prepping Some Tricks
I'm at the stage of my world of magic where, and I feel that it's because I don't perform very often, I am consuming way too many different tricks and not remembering most of them. I remember them while practicing them, but then when it's finally time to perform something, I blank. Literally nothing. Why?! I know several hundred impromptu effects, and I can handle a deck well enough to just jive on the spot... but if I didn't plan something out in advance, I have nothing. And that sucks.
Because of this, and I actually think that this is what a normal magician does too, I have planned out a list of tricks that I want to perform for others while at Magifest and am practicing them daily. I have 14 tricks in my list, 4 of which I can't actually perform yet, so let's call it a list of 10. Almost all of them are doable impromptu, but in the next few days I'll also be taking a look through my list of impromptu tricks to see if I can jog my memory a bit.
To help with nerves, specifically the idea that I might forget what tricks I've prepared, I'm going to also write down the list on a blank card that I'll have in my pocket (likely in the deck box itself). Oh hey, that gives me an idea for another trick or two to add!
I don't want to spoil the list of tricks I'll be doing, but I'll definitely write up what I planned, and what I actually performed, after the convention's over.
And on that note, time to go practice!