Hello all,

As a recent contestant in both the IBM and SAM close up competitions this year, I thought I'd share a few tidbits of information I gathered while on my journey.

1. Ask for input from others who have been there before you. I've read many posts from guys like Mr. Farquhar and Mr. Hart that helped me immensely. I knew they had the authority to speak on the subjects (Mr. Farquhar as a contestant and Mr. Hart as a judge) so I put a lot of stock in the information they provided. I was better prepared for the contests because of their insight.

2. Theme vs. no Theme - I'm not saying one of these is better than the other but when I looked around at the six finalists for the Gold Cups at the IBM, 4 of us had some sort of theme running through our acts (pool/billiard, sharpie markers, peppers, dollar bills). Chase Curtis won the Gold Cups last year with his Battery Act. Again, I'm not trying to say a Theme Act is the way to go - just wanted to let you know of the current trend.

3. Play up and out - I think Mr. Farquhar has said this before but I also heard it from David Williamson. Again, of the six final acts at the IBM and the six at the SAM, only two contestants sat while performing. Many didn't even use a table top. You never know what kind of seating you'll have at these contests because each hotel is different. The IBM provided tiered seating but the SAM was all on floor level. It's hard to get good scores if the judges can't see what's going on.

4. Stay well under the time limit - David Williamson told me if they give you 12 minutes for your act, do 8 minutes. His point was to leave everyone wanting more and to not even bring the time limit into play. It's one less thing you'll have to worry about. In my case, he was right. I received a few longer laughs and longer applause than I expected in a couple of spots in the act. I'm glad I didn't have to step on the applause because of my need to adhere to a strict time schedule.

I hope this information is helpful to someone. Magic competition has opened more doors for me than I would have thought possible six months ago, so if I can encourage someone to take the next step and compete I'd be thrilled. It really is amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.

Thanks for your time,
Rick Merrill

Howdy Mr. Merrill,

Nice to hear someone thought some of my rambling were worth listening too. Congratulations on your success in the contests and I wish you the best in the future.

You may want to look into the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians convention in 2005 as it will be a Professional Close Up contest, voted on using a People's choice format with a Gold medal and $1000.00 cash prize! I don't know of another magic convention in North America that guarantees the winner a $1000.00 purse.

Once again congratulations....

Cheers,

Shawn Farquhar

ps That Mr. Farquhar stuff makes me feel old...you can call me Shawn...if I can call you Rick? lol

Rick:

Just wanted to say hello. I saw your act at the IBM convention in Cleveland and it was excellent. I missed you at Magi-Fest and met your friend Tim at Pickwick. He said he might get a tape for me, but fortunately I saw the act (and I hear improved) at IBM. Have fun at FFFF!

P.S. Any input into competition is VERY helpful! Any reason you went with a comedy angle verus a more serious angle? Or is that what judges are "into" now?

-Joel

Hi Rick,

I saw you at Magi Fest and IBM. WOW!!! I'm going to start doing close up in competition next year. I'm glad you're a senior and I don't have to compete against you. LOL...

I agree with what you said in your post. Whenever I compete, I always ask several people whose opinions I value to critique me. I have gotten sooo much great feedback to improve my act.

Themeing???, well, I like to do themes. I took Jeff McBride's master class a couple of years ago. That helped me a lot. He also said, a story line is great to do also.

I, too, have had a lot of doors open up for me from competiton. I feel very lucky. I have met so many wonderful people through competition. Many, I call friends.

I hope to meet you at the next convention.

Dakota Rose

Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm glad you were able to see the act Elmsley4 and I'm even more happy that you enjoyed it. To answer your question regarding the comedy angle vs. a more serious approach - I don't have a serious approach so I had to go with the comedy. I enjoy making people laugh as much, if not more, than fooling them. So I knew I wanted my act to be very magical but also very funny. I hope I succeeded in that endeavor.

I don't think the judges care if it's funny or not as long as the act is magical and entertaining. Even though it's a magic competition, entertainment is still the key for the judges. There were plenty of guys in the competitions doing much tougher stuff than me technically so I can only assume it was the entertainment value of my act that allowed me to win. Well, that and the fact that one of the judges was my mom.

Hey Dakota, glad to hear you're going to compete in close up. You'll have a lot of fun! Congrats on all your awards - I look forward to meeting you too.

just kidding about my mom being a judge.

It was my aunt.

Rick