Before and After
What do you do when your audience just got laid off?
I find that often times, I’m wrong about how I think a show will go. The ones I’m most nervous about go great. And when I’m confident that it’ll be a slam dunk, I airball it. So I thought I’d put it to a test. Are my preconceived notions about a show right or wrong?
*Key note: This was written many months ago, and I won’t say when to best conceal the identity of the company. But I’m keeping the article in the present-tense for accuracy.*
Today I’m at a big convention center performing for an awards banquet for a section of a big company. I was just informed that 75% of the team I’m performing for was laid off less than a week ago, and the remaining few have been commiserating and drinking all week.
I’ll go on stage in a few hours, and here’s how this post will work: Below, I’m going to record my observations before the show. I’m only going to edit them for clarity and grammar—everything else will stay the same. Then, I’ll write about it afterwards (next week’s post), and see how my predictions lined up to reality. Here we go:
Before
Tonight’s performance has two parts. First, I’m going to do 30 minutes of strolling magic for about 80 people. Then, I’ll perform a few times during their awards ceremony.
My initial thought is—why would any of the employees care much about awards when the majority of their friends just got laid off? This is a massive company, so if I had to guess, they’re feeling a lot of contempt for their employers right now, and any award they give out will feel like a bandaid on a bullet hole.
Basically, I don’t see them looking too favorably on the magician. I am very easily an example of corporate waste. Unless…
Magic truly can light up someone’s day. Today I know I’m going in to a group that is upset, but they don’t know I know. That means I need to do everything with a light touch. I’m not going to tell them how great they are. I’m not going to do anything to artificially inflate the company.
Instead, I’m going to use the strolling magic before the show to make friends and really get to know them—focus more on conversation than actual tricks. Use it as a way to promote the show, essentially.
The Approach
My normal approach in strolling goes like this:
“Hi there, my name is Max, and I’m the magician this evening—I’m walking around doing closeup magic for everyone. Would you like to try something real quick?”
Tonight, what I want to say is: “Hi. I know that a bunch of your friends just got laid off, and you’re probably not in the best mood right now. But do you want to see any magic?”
For many obvious reasons, I can’t say that. Because I can’t know about the layoffs. So my new plan is:
“Hi there.” [check my watch] “I’m sure it’s been a really long day, but I was brought here specifically to entertain you this evening, and if you’re up for it, I’d love to show you something quickly.”
What does this do?
It acknowledges their situation without them knowing that I know about the layoffs.
It shows them that I was brought specifically for them. Again, bandaid on a bullet hole. But hopefully they won’t take the anger out on me.
Says that this will be quick.
Shows that I care about them and value their time.
We’ll see if it works.
The Show
If you’ve been following along for the past few months, you know that one of my favorite tricks is memorizing names. I wasn’t planning on doing it tonight because of certain time restraints, but I’m feeling more inclined to try because memorizing names says, more than anything else that I do, “I see you and I care about you.” This is a group of people that, in all likelihood, does not feel seen and heard right now.
This is definitely a tough situation, though I do not think it’s fatal. The key point is knowing that there is so much more on these people’s minds than a magic show. I wrote about this here—you DO NOT know what your audience is going through. Tonight, I have the massive advantage that I actually do know. It means my job is to give them Magic. Not magic tricks. Not card tricks. Capital M Magic. A moment of feeling seen and heard. A moment of being surprised. A moment of seeing a person, a stranger, genuinely care about them.
That’s what I’m going for tonight. Like Stephen King says, “I’m going for resonance.” Like Maya Angelou says, “people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Tonight more than ever, I’m going after that warm afterglow feeling. We’ll see if it works.
Predictions
The strolling magic will start as a tough nut to crack because it’s the end of a long day. I think as long as I can make a few friends during strolling, the show will go great. If strolling doesn’t go well, I think I can get everyone on my side by the end of the first routine.
I’m really leaning toward memorizing names, because I think it’ll be a good cherry on top on a difficult week. We’ll see how it goes.
Final Thoughts
I thought I could capture my emotions slightly better with audio. Below are two reflections from before the show. I’ll update you next week on how it went. And let me be clear—there were some big surprises.
Here’s a reflection from after rehearsal:
See you next week for part two!
👍