FISM 2006 - We need your input

[John Houdi]

Dear friends in magic,
FISM 2006 in Sweden is in full progress.
All of us involved in this convention have been working hard since last summer and will work even harder from now - to make this the best FISM convention ever.

But we need your input!

We would like to hear from you what kind of acts you would like to see at the gala shows.
Who do you like to see a lecture from?
Which workshop would you like to attend and who should give it?
Have you got a great idea for a magical event at the convention?

Aim high!
Who knows; maybe you will see your absolute favourite magic act/lecturer when you come to Stockholm in 2006

We the members of the FISM board for the 2006 convention will watch this thread with interest in the future.

Sincerely,

/John Houdi, www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

[Richard Kaufman]

John, I think it's a great idea to solicit suggestions from the magic community!
My first vote is for Rene Lavand. Who does not want to see Rene do his great magic! (And I happen to know what he has dozens of routines which he could perform that have not been seen by most magicians.)

[Pete Biro]

I would suggest themed evening events.

One night: All the Magician's from Spain
One night: All the Magician's from Germany
One night: All the Magician's from the Magic Castle,

etc
etc

Honor past Grand Prix winners

Some how have ELIMINATIONS to get rid of the weak acts in the competitions.

A special ALL AROUND COMPETITION where one must work close up as well as on stage combined scores.

[Philippe Noël]

For Close-up, my vote goes to Earl Nelson.
For Stage, Jeff McBride.
For a magical event, Ricky Jay with his act or Persi Diaconis talking about Vernon.
Thanks for asking.

P.S: What about Roger Klause, David Ben, Michael Vincent, Guy Hollingworth, Michael Ammar, Daryl, John Carney, William Goodwin?

[MaxNY]

A bulletin board where I can leave messages for my wife, who is out on daily excursions. ---Leave information with the hotels. When we arrived in Pourtugal, the night before, there was no information given to the hotel about the shuttle buses. In fact they knew zero about anything at F.I.S.M.... It wasn't until the next day when I went down for breakfast that I saw "magician types" getting on a bus. I had to convince the driver to stall, as I quickly went back upstairs and got ready for the day.
--- Play different songs before each competition. The same song over and over and over levels the playing field, but lacks turf! Go with stuff that all sounds about the same, but for God's sake mix it up!
---The David Williams, Mac King impromptu shorts at Portugal were the best thing I have ever seen at a convention. Hire them just to do that, there is no way you could just ask them to kindly reproduce that stuff, they must have stayed up all night.
---Hire acts that are proven. I refuse to believe that the water tank fiasco at Portugal was ever rehearsed.
---Don't forget that the children are the future of this old art, get the kids out, supervise them, and ten years from now they will turn the stuff around and astound us. And that brings me to the biggest suggestion...astound me, please!

[Richard Kaufman]

Max, Mago Anton had performed his water torture cell many times while touring around Spain prior to its explosion at FISM, so your point may be well taken, but your example is poor.

[Pete Biro]

Give David Williamson four hours to work and let him bring in a few of his friends.

[John Houdi]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
John, I think it's a great idea to solicit suggestions from the magic community!

Thank you Richard. Yes, we plan to rely on the internet a lot when communicationg with our fellow magicians before the convention.
The more input we receive, the better the convention will be.

Oh, one more thing; we have today (March 2) opened up a way to subscribe to the FISM 2006 Newsletter.
We have not integrated it yet at FISM.com (right now only at the Swedish Magic Circle's webserver), but it will soon be a link from FISM.com as well.
For now all subscriptions will be managed at:
www.svenskmagiskcirkel.se/FISM-news.html

Keep the good ideas flow. It will be presented regularly to the FISM 2006 group.

/John Houdi
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

[Philippe Noël]

David Williamson was hired at many Fism.
Please not always the same performers.

[Nicholas Carifo]

Not just at FISM, but at any magic convention, I have always wanted to see a NIGHTLY late-night MAGIC COMEDY CLUB lounge set up... either in the existing hotel lounge, or if not large enough, a makeshift lounge... but with FULL BAR, over 21, adult crowd and be able to book great comic magic acts, the likes of Amazing Johnathan, Paul Kozak, Mac King, and you name it....to perform their comedy as they would in a real comedy club format, not having to conform to an 11:00 AM show for ages 6 and up.

Magicians hang in the hotel bar till the wee hours anyway... this will make that bar a lot larger and more fun, and ahve something no other convention is doing...

[Steve Bryant]

Great idea. One year at the Desert Magic Seminar, at the Tropicana, Michael Finney was performing at the Trop's comedy club. He was great of course, and it seemed part of the convention in that it was in the same hotel and packed with an audience of magicians.

[Guest]

I'd suggest inviting some laymen to participate in the judging.

[Pete Biro]

The Comedy Club idea is great.... but... but... think about it...

Do the stand up comics talk slow... do they speak French, German, Italian, etc. etc.

What if all the comics were from Iran and spoke Arabic?

At a FISM you have to be able to play to a very wide cultural/language audience.

English is understood, somewhat, by all, but only if clearly spoken, slowly, etc.

Williamson is an exception, he can be understood without knowing what he says... he is so VISUAL.

Even British comics in the USA are hard to undestand, it seems like they talk so fast...

[John Houdi]

Originally posted by Philippe Nol:
Please not always the same performers.

No, we will actually try not to use the same acts and lecturers that have been seen on the last FISM conventions.
This is one of the reasons why we go out so early and ask our fellow magicians for advice.
We will look for some well known names, and som names never heard of from all parts of the world.

Two years to go, and we have already seen a lot of good ideas in theis thread. Thank you all so much. Keep the ideas comming.

/John Houdi, www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

[Guest]

I'm certainly biased by what I see at the Magic Castle, week in and week out. We have the great fortune to get to see a huge variety.

Steve Valentine
Shoot Ogawa
Fernando Keops
Jeff Ezell
Brian Ochab (the first IBM AND SAM people's choice winner)
Whit Haydn
Brian Gillis
Tom Ogden
Henry Evans ( a GREAT lecturer, in addition to his great skill as a performer)

All of the above are close-up experts, although most also have acts for "parlor" settings.

[Grant McSorley]

There are tons of people I would love to see, but one who just popped into my head is Bebel, to either lecture or perform in the close-up gala. Also, on the topic of close-up, monitors projecting the performance so that the whole audience has a clear view would be great.

See you in 2006,
Grant

[Jacky Kahan]

Intresting topic!!

what about:

Armando Lucero
Tom Mullica
Bebel
Bill Goodwin
Lennert Green (that will not be difficult) :)
Amazing Johnatan
Bob Kohler
Bill Malone
Max Maven
Simon Lovell
Rene Lavand

:D :D :D

Cheers
Jacky

[John McDonald]

How about a group from Cirque de Soleil?

[Glenn Farrington]

The bulletin board is a GREAT IDEA. There is so much going on, your daily life changes quite often from the original plan you had in the morning. If there was a way to communicate with friends, besides cell phones, that would be a great addition. I like that idea so much I will definitely use it at the World Magic Seminar.

[Danny Archer]

I will second the vote for monitors for the close-up lectures ... some rooms had them and some rooms didn't at the last FISM ... close-up magic is what the majority of magicians do, and greater attention should be paid to it ...

also thinking about monitors ... at the recent FISM they had video monitors broadcasting the stage acts .. but without volume! ... not good at all for the speaking act and even the silent acts are diminished as music plays such an important role ... some monitors were positioned in areas (dealers room) where sound would be distracting, but I sure there is a way to provide sound along with the picture ...

[MaxNY]

Haz Marc Salem ever done a FISM? He held up the SAM NY convention well. I get jealous when I read about the re-creations built by Caveney and crew for the collectors group. They sound so fun, but have mighty limitations.

[Pete Biro]

Bills Wells and I started the "re-creations" with Johnny Thompson, Mike Caveney and others doing "THURSTON" with John in full makeup... Thurston's daughter saw him and said, "Daddy...."

It was a spooky moment.

This is a good idea.

John Gaughan/Jim Steinmeyer/Mike Caveney could do a full evening, or maybe a single item each evening... that would be historic.

[CHRIS]

Well since jugglers kill at magic conventions Chris Cremo would be my top choice. As for magic Vito Lupo, John Thompson, Paul Vigil, Dan Sperry, Levent, John Carney, Ayala, Lee Asher, and Aaron Fisher would be my choices.

see you in china

[George Olson]

David Charvet could do Jack Gywne (in costume and with original equipment...

GO