Let me bore you with a quick story. I was in a third world country where poverty is a way of life. I was walking down the beach and a child beggar hit me up for some money. I normally don't give money away, but it was the equivalent of a dime, so I made a coin appear via sleight of hand (I think it was called Starlight). The kid squealed "Majik!", hugged me, took the coin and ran off. Cheap entertainment for a dime. I continued to walk the beach and when I got to the other end there was a group of kids, about 20-25 of all ages. They took notice and pointed at me and came running over. I thought "great, give one a coin..." I was wondering how to get out of this one as they all circled around me talking in another language. Very conscious of being surrounded, I already had my wallet in my front pocket. To my surprise, they didn't want money, but to see magic. I spent the next 20 minutes performing for this mob. These were all kids living in poverty without running water or electricity. They were a awesome audience except for crowding in real close. Some coin tricks, rubber band tricks (poor mans handcuffs, SLR, etc), a few staple TT type tricks and in the end they were very appreciative. We took a photo (they luv to have their photo taken), I said goodbye as I made my way back up the beach. Half way back I got nailed by another crowd with the same affect. There was even a third time, but for a smaller group. As I made my way back to the Hotel, the joy the kids felt and the joy I felt was the root feeling of why I ever got in to magic. Just the sheer joy of performing to brighten some others days.

Now the conditions and my question. High humidity made palming coins difficult and poor mans handcuffs are tough to perform when your sweat soaked. Cards don't behave the same either. Money magic (like making larger bills out of smaller) raises your risk of not getting out of there in one piece. These are a few of the things I had to contend with that I never considered before.

So now the question. There is a language barrier there. What would you do if you had to remove your patter from a trick? What kind of trick bridges past the language barrier? I did manage to secure a shell in their denomination so I could use some of their coins (even though they were smaller than what I was use to). being brought up on the performance and patter, this really changes they way I think about a trick.

Oh, the looks I got when I did the rubber band up the nose was priceless.

My more than 60 years of performing magic effect includes "impromptu" in 26 European countries and four Asian ones, as well as many of the USA States,
and on planes flying between.

This led me to focus on using "found objects" and keeping things very simple. I should say, objects that appear "found" or natural to the setting.
The most impactful effects is many venues ahs been a simple transpo in spectator hands using stones.

A white stone and a black one are placed in the hands of two spectators and they change places. They keep the stones. They do the magic! I am just a tour guide.

In business settings I have performed tens of thousands of magic demonstrations: paper clips. erasers, pencils, post-it notes, whatever.
To "brighten another's day" is all the communication base required. Magic has its own language.

Please don't let any focus on props or personal love of any trick get in the way.

You don't need any patter while using PK Rings, Loops, Thumbtips and Sponge Balls