Orlando Magician Misunderstood
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| Photographer: unknown | Event: Tampa Bay Woman of the Year |
I'm known to be and consider myself a pretty calm person. It takes quite a lot to get me riled up and angry, hostile, or defensive. The story I'm about to share would make someone think otherwise. I share this story because, one, in hindsight, it's a little funny. Two, I learned something from this experience. Finally, I think it addresses a global/cultural problem. The problem is trust. We are losing it for each other very fast.
Working as a magician for two decades has birthed a precise way of working in me. I feel that after this much time of doing something, a person is somewhat of an expert at that thing. I am in no way saying that there is no room for learning. The older I get, the more I try to learn.
There are two ways that I present a magical experience. I perform on a stage or do close-up magic in a crowd. This story will focus on an occasion when I did a close-up performance.
In a strolling environment, I first like to walk the room and eavesdrop a little. I want to know the room's energy and what's on people's minds. The walk, as I call it, helps me cater my material to the group. I come prepared with multiple things and then use what I need to complete the job. I can also know who's talking business and who will want some entertainment just by walking through the room first. Knowing I've interrupted a business chat to do some tricks is the worst feeling. Rejection to enter the group is indefinite. That's a blow to the ego and will make it harder to approach the next set of people. You may be slightly apprehensive about asking the next person. It's like asking someone out on a date, and they say no. The first 3-5 minutes are crucial for me to get a good start.
Photographer: unknown | Event: Tampa Bay Woman of the Year
It is also essential to me that people are not eating dinner or plated food, little starters and veggie plates are fine, but a full-on dinner will be interrupted by my presence. Imaging sitting and eating, enjoying your meal, and a person comes up to say, "What's your name?", "Pick a card!" or "Hi, I'm the magician." It's a little awkward. From the magician's point of view, decorations of a person's dinner on our cards, suits, other props, or hands are not something we like. So the rule of thumb is DO NOT PERFORM WHILE THEY ARE EATING. A lesson I learned from other magicians growing up doing magic table-side at restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Whenever I ignored the rule because a family insisted I perform, I was victim to soiled cards, rope, spilled drinks, and spaghetti sauce on my hands or suit. None of it was on purpose, but it's just the nature of food to get everywhere when you're distracted by watching an excellent and handsome magician.
Now you can understand why I have a particular way of working, to ensure the experience is stellar for me and those watching and interacting with me. Knowing all this will allow you to understand what is to follow.
Recently I had a run-in with an entertainment coordinator. I'm performing strolling close-up magic at a significant corporate dinner party. Generally, these sessions are 1 to 3 hours long. In the three hours, there are hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, to stroll through with multiple entertainers. There will be breaks in between as well.
This particular event only had about 50 people. They were the big wigs of the company. My slot is for 3 hours, and I am to do 30 minutes before dinner and another 30 minutes after dinner.
Strolling with a smaller group during a cocktail hour becomes a little more difficult as they tend to gather around the minute they know I'm doing magic. I do a set, and half the room or sometimes the entire room sees me, and that's the end. Sometimes I can do a second round of magic with some backup material. This event was no exception. People had just arrived, chatting, eating from the veggie tray, and drinking. I posted up at a high-top table and began working with a deck of cards, and before I knew it, there was a group of about 15 people around me—one of them the boss man, perfect. After 30 minutes of mind-blowing magic and even having a spontaneous moment of speaking my native language (German) with one of the guests, they were about to be seated for dinner in the next room. All of it went off without a hitch, and I magically disappeared from the room to take a break and wait for the dinner to conclude.
While waiting in my holding area, one of the event managers came in after about 25 minutes and said the client loved me and wanted to have me back in the room. My first thought is, Hell yeah, also my first mistake. I should have asked some questions.
I'm about to enter the room when the event coordinator (not the manager) says I must work a specific table first. This entire time I'm under the impression they have already finished dinner. My mistake for assuming, again, I should have asked the critical question. So I walk into the room and find that everyone is still eating. I'm an extremely interactive performer, especially when I get into a groove. I glance at the table that I'm supposed to go to first. All but one person is still eating, and the plates are half full. I take a moment to assess the situation. Why this table first? Why have they sent me in while the people are still eating? I'm supposed to be in after dinner. I look at the other tables to see an opening, all eating.
I decided to go out of the room to talk to the coordinator. This conversation is a reenactment. These are not the exact words, but close to how it went down.
Me: Hey, that far table by the door is the one I'm supposed to go to first?
Her: Yes.
Me: They are all eating.
Her: That's okay.
Me: Well, actually, it's not. It's awkward to interrupt someone eating by asking to pick a card. Plus, I don't want to get my stuff soiled with food.
I could feel the tension building between us. The situation was about to go horribly wrong. And It did as soon as the coordinator replied with this snarky remark.
Her: Just go to someone who's not eating.
At this point, I paused. I was astounded at this person's condescending tone. I felt under attack and disrespected. She acted as if I didn't know what I was talking about or knew how to do my job. My expertise and experience were not known or even taken into account. The next mistake was about to come out of my mouth.
Me: I know how to do my job. (Defensive tone included.)
Boom. Tension turned to an explosion of negative energy. I could tell she did not like my response.
Her: The client wants it!
Me: Well, it's going to be awkward.
I left her jaw down in the hall as I walked back into the room. As expected, it wasn't easy to connect with people as they were still focusing on finishing their food. I composed myself, interrupted dinner at the table, sat with them, and began. It got better as they finished up.
I did what I do best, entertainment with magic. I worked all five of the 10 top tables and rocked it that night. Honestly, it was one of my best shows. I say this because I was digging the vibe of the people. Every routine hit hard, and I could do no wrong. Once I finished, everyone was happy with the experience.
I exited the room and met up with the event manager and told her that, from my point of view, it went very well. I looked to the coordinator to apologize for the tension earlier, but she turned her back on me. That's a pro move. As the manager walked me back to the green room, I talked with her about the situation, which she was not there to witness. She confirmed that the coordinator was upset. I told her that I would apologize. She told me it should be fine as the client that has been difficult all day is happy, and that's what matters.
So, why am I telling you this story? I think that sometimes we forget that people who have been doing something for a long time have a sense of knowing or understanding that thing. An employee of an entertainment company should understand entertainment and its different aspects. I would never tell a CEO how to do their job. I assume since they've paid thousands of dollars for this event, they know what they're doing regarding their business.
I have no idea how long this woman (coordinator) has been in entertainment or if she understands that no matter what the client says, WE ARE THE EXPERTS. "Our magician Kardenni WILL NOT COME OUT during dinner. Here are the reasons why..."We know best in the field of entertainment. My lack of knowledge made me less empathetic toward the coordinator because I was unaware the client had been a handful already throughout the day.
I'm also sure the coordinator didn't know anything about me or my process, nor did she even care. She has more important things to do. The problem was how she handled my concern by belittling me with an obvious comment in a rude and condescending tone.
In hindsight, I was probably a bit arrogant and ego-driven. In the future, I will handle this differently by making it very clear to the managers, coordinators, and clients of my working process and the conditions that allow me to flourish and make us all look great. I will trust them to do the best they can and hope they will believe in me to do what I do best, connecting and creating magic moments.
Another true adventure of Orlando magician Kardenni. Thanks for reading. Remember to comment, like, and share.
***FYI, the photo in this article is not from the event I mentioned. The good people of the Westchase Foundation who put on Tampa Bay Woman of the year have been great to me in the past six years.
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