Ken Dyne Inner Circle

KEN DYNE's INNER CIRCLE NEWSLETTER
- June 2009 -

--INTRODUCTION--
Summer is here. The weekend was tremendously hot and a BBQ was in order. I'm pleased to say that in talks with many performers that it looks like gigs are starting to come a little easier. Long may that continue.

In this month's issue, as well as a new photo to the right there>>> our talking point deals with the difference in mind-set between magician and mentalist, the Business section is a way of getting the most out of your fees...without increasing them, and the recommended book is one that will bring a lot of fun for many of us.

--TALKING POINT--
A recent show of mine had a few local magicians in the audience. I was delighted to see them and for their support.

After the show I was eager to get some constructive feedback and pointers from these guys, I'm sure that we are all forever trying to push ourselves to the next level and what better way to do so than ask for feedback.

Talking with one magician there I learned that he just didn't 'get' it. It was eye-opening and I'm certain that he is not the first nor will he be the last.

His problem with the show was as follows:
- During the routine where you are guessing which of two people is hiding some money from you (my own version of Prevaricator using a completely different method) I mention to the audience "there are no electronics used, please make sure of that".

My magician friend in the audience thought that this was on the verge of exposure as he himself had performed a similar routine in the past using an electronic method.

I'm going to be so bold as to disagree with him. You see, this is not exposure. he truth is that when I say "no electronics are used at all during this show, please check" I am not being as honest as everyone might think. Later in the show I do use electronics to achieve one of the effects,

It is a great psychological ploy that I recall Richard Osterlind mentioning, to actually state the method you will use, and disguard it as ridiculous. The idea is not to expose but to actually deal with and almost poke fun before it even crosses anyone's minds.

Another example of this is when performing the centre tear. Part of my script is to say "we're going to tear this up just so no one thinks I get a sneaky peek at what you wrote...it's not about that..." and then I take a sneaky peak at the thing.

--BUSINESS--
Isn't it interesting what we take for granted and it's only when we share these ideas in conversation and receive unexpected feedback that we realise that this information is more profound than we first thought.

You may or may not know that I have been asked to speak at Eric Paul's Super Conference for Super Successful Magicians in Philadelphia this coming November; my subject is Internet Marketing and Automation. During a conference call late last month something I said seemed to rock the worlds of some of these extremely experienced pros. I thought I'd share this with you.

When we quote our fees, there are a few ways of doing so. I'm not talking about strategies for up-selling and take-away selling here but rather a quirk of organisational structure in large corporations that allows us to increase our profit margins.

I realised early on in my career (albeit just over 5 years ago now) that we should not be including our travel and/or accommodation expenses in our fees. The reason? If we quote, let's say £1500 for our show and include expenses we might end up taking home £1200.

However if we quote £1500 plus expenses we take the whole £1500 home. But surely you're going to lose gigs due to the fact that the event budget might not stand for this inflation in cost? That's what I thought. Until having a family dinner with a pretty successful guy who owns a bunch of extremely profitable businesses.

What many of us didn't realise is that this accommodation and other expenses did not actually come out of the event budget. Instead they come out of the company's Hospitality budget. So the actual cost to the event team isn't increased at all and we end up taking the whole fee to the bank.

Of course, this is the case for the majority of businesses but is not

--RECOMMENDS--
Well this month I have been reading a book from one of my favourite mentalism authors, Dale A. Hildebrandt. His latest piece of creative cleverness is entitled Hand Bluffs.

In this lengthy book Dale takes us through some fantastic suggestion and methodological performance pieces focused on the under explored 'science' of shaking hands.

One highlight for me was the idea of a volunteer literally feeling flashes of intuition and tingling sensations upon shaking hands with you. In all, this is a great book to add the our characters as performing mentalists. Have a look at it in more detail here: http://www.mirrorname.com/



--IDEA OF THE MONTH--
Rather than a complete idea this month, here is some food for thought. What could you use in your show so that at the end, every member of the audiednce wants your business card? Have a think, post your ideas in the comments box below or email me.

--TO CLOSE--
There we have it. Packed as usual, I hope you had a great month. I'm working on something exciting for you next month so please be on the look out for that. Also, just to let you know that we hope to be re-releasing Gregorian Mind, fully edited and with additional routines not only from us but from some of the big hitters in the world of mentalism. You'll be first to know all about it by being on the email list.

Until next time, do take care!
Kennedy

"Do you have suggestions, an idea you want to share on the
newsletter. Email me kennedy@mindofkennedy.co.uk!"