The Genii Forum

I am not afraid to fly, I just do not enjoy it. I won't bore you with the stories of the many horrible experiences I have had in the airports and on the planes, but for example, how would you like being threatened with arrest because you objected to being given special searches not once, but twice, on the way to your mother's funeral within a few hours of her passing?

The good news is - I have convinced my wife that it would be a great RV trip to Florida and that she will absolutely love Epcot Center and Disney World, so I just might make it to the second one. Of course, if she spends three days shopping instead ... Yikes.

This is awesome news indeed. The first Genii convention had to be one of my all time favorites. The early mornings with Ian turned into a wonderful daily ritual and I would love to see him again.

If you are looking for suggestions, Giobbi is a top contender because he is both an excellent lecturer and fantastic performer. Another score would be a revival of Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarães in NOTHING TO HIDE. This magic show played on both the east and west coast, but I missed it and heard raves about it.

I'm sure whatever the Genii grants us is going to be fabulous. It doesn't hurt to express our wishes!

NYCJoePItt wrote:Another score would be a revival of Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarães in NOTHING TO HIDE.

This, unfortunately, is highly unlikely.
I would love to see Steve Cohen's "Chamber Magic" as part of the next one.
And while I'm dreaming, a little Ricky Jay [sigh]...

I'd like to see Lark Mewis and Derek Lever cage fighting, but not particularly at a magic convention.

Note to self: arrange another course of treatment with shrink.

"Another score would be a revival of Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarães in NOTHING TO HIDE."

That is not just "highly unlikely," it is an impossibility.

I guess we'll just have to settle for David Berglas.

I couldn't get David Berglas to come to the first convention. He just wasn't up to it.

How about Micahel Weber? Maybe this time we could enjoy his work.

The hotel is a huge one with a lot of facilities around: the mall, food court, CVS, Walgreesns .... Target, Barnes and Nobles, Best Buy and toys r' us. I visited all of them looking for items doesn't exists in Mexico but I think is really far away from tourist destinations, maybe is the reason the rates are cheaper than others.
Well, in reality the only tourist destiniation I visited was La Nouba show but without Disney Park.

Is not the cheaper hotel I have paid in the USA but is really, really good one and the personel is very kind. And as Dustin says (and yes you said it in loud voice) there are a lot of flight attendants. I remember too a three days wedding. A lot of things you can see there

I'm ready to go, I only have to convince my boss to give my vacations on that dates and this time without a laptop and the order to connect it to the web each time had free time

Morton's steaks, Olive Garden, Universal Studios Halloween nights, the Apple Store and a great guitar store a few miles south on Orange Blossom Trail.
Hope I have enough time to visit the convention.

Second the vote for Weber.
Would also suggest that booking John Carney would be a smash hit.
Also, any convention without Max Maven is hardly worth attending.
Jack Carpenter (and some of the Seattle group) would be a blast!
Seeing Steve Forte in person would make the trip worthwhile.

(Would also love to see a panel discussion on Charlie Miller or Larry Jennings with several of their acolytes).

Make sure to have a Tenyo and RS event!

A Tenyo event. Great idea! I am going to do my best to be at this convention. It will be my first major convention since 1976. I guess I am overdue.

I think it's safe to say that we can count on Richard to come up with all of the right names for this bash. If they are available, he will have them.

This would be a perfect opportunity to meet many of you here on the Genii Forum. I know I would like that. There should be a down time where we can plan to meet and have a bite to eat or just hang out for a while.

I believe that Real Secrets will be concluded by then (they are ending after the third year).

As far as Tenyo meet and greet, that's certainly a possibility!

Universal's Halloween Horror Nights are not to be missed ...

I.M. Magician wrote:This would be a perfect opportunity to meet many of you here on the Genii Forum. I know I would like that. There should be a down time where we can plan to meet and have a bite to eat or just hang out for a while.

It would be fun to put faces to screen names at the convention at a meet-up. Maybe you could have the GF name underneath real name on the convention nametag as an option.

CraigMitchell wrote:Universal's Halloween Horror Nights are not to be missed ...

Totally, I went with Brad Henderson last year. It was AMAZING.

I guess after the successful trip to the Magic Collectors this week with my soon to be 2 year old daughter...that includes the successful lecture I gave on the opening night too.

We could plan to come to the Genii Convention next year. It would be fun she'll already be three yo. Since she is now the youngest vulture, her appreciation for magic will grow and grow.

All the magi's adored Lilly On-Ling.

I wish video was available for those of us too destitute to attend. I realize it adds another level of complexity, but these are important events. It would be great to document them. Attach a wireless mic, set a camera on a tripod and hit record. I know that's an oversimplification but it doesn't need to be fancy.

It's a particular concern with regard to the LA magic history conference. So much important material being discussed and then it's over with and only those who could actually attend are able to benefit.

Online streaming service Vimeo has added an On Demand option where content creators can upload video and charge for viewings. I wish someone in the magic community was able to take advantage of these new services for the benefit of the rest of us. EMC showed that this approach can be successful.

Ricky Jay would be an incredible guest to have. I would also love to see Harry Lorayne.

how about a Tenyo contest. We submit performances of Tenyo items via video. A committee selects finalists who present at the conference. Perhaps not a show, but an interactive experience where guests mingle, approach tables to see the performances, see a Tenyo display, have the chance to but Tenyo items, and meet noted Tenyo celebrities.

the winner will be selected by judges who make sure to visit each contestants performance area. Attendees who may or may not have seen all of the installations can do a peoples choice award.

winner gets routine published in genii, perhaps a nice Tenyo item, and certificate signed by Tenyo representatives.

Not a big Tenyo fan. But great idea!

1. Ricky Jay does not come to magic conventions.
2. Harry Lorayne is 88 years old and doesn't travel.
Sorry.
And the Tenyo thing, if it happens, will be an informal get-together.

Teller

AJM wrote:Teller

We are more likely to see Ricky Jay.
Please do not ask me why.

Ricky was suppose to be at the collectors.
Not sure why it fell through.

However Teller's lecture was interesting.
Glad I was able to lecture along Teller
and Jim Steinmeyer.

It truly was the BEST ever.

!

So who knows what will happen.
With Teller it has to do with schedule.
correspondence between us lecturers
he wasn't even sure he was going to
be able to make it.

Group Lectures I'd like to see:

1. Since the second Jennings book might make an appearance around then, how about a joint lecture by Bill Goodwin and Aaron Fisher on Jennings?

2. The Chicago Session (Aronson, Bannon, Solomon)

3. The Flicking Fingers

Singles:

Howard Hamburg? Tom Stone? Dr. Gene Matsuura's "Better than Natural" lecture is superb and deserves a wider audience.

Harry Lorayne was a great idea--too bad he no longer travels to conventions. I would have loved to have seen him destroy a room in person!

I can't imagine anything more informal that an opening night cocktail hour with Tenyo happening all around the room.

but hey, who wants to see the most talented magicians in the world sharing what they came up with for some of the the coolest magic props ever made.

put up reserved seats as a prize and you might motivate some truly amazing work.

oh well. I tried.

back to the card tricks

I would like to second Michael Weber and Howard Hamburg. And, please, a different video camera and technical crew. I would also love to see Bob Farmer lecture this time.

Farmer will not lecture (even though I wish he would).

The stage crew and AV crew will be completely different. Believe me--I would never hire the same guy again. What a mistake!

I know that Pulp Gamer does video and audio work for the GAMA trade show. They are familiar with niche markets and creating content for distribution.

mai-ling wrote:With Teller it has to do with schedule.

I think it's more to do with Uri appearing at the last one...

How about Kreskin or Blaine?

How about The Best of Europe?

Bring over magi that the merkins might not know, or not have seen. Kinda like Scottish Week at the Castle, but thrown out wider throughout the whole of Europe.

I'll second Howard Hamburg.

As for the video, there were many times I thought during the Bash that a remote controlled, suspended camera would work much better. No one in the way.

bring in Just Alan. have him do a presentation on attention to detail finding and the beauty in magic.

a talk by Bob Neale is always interesting.

a convention trip to go backstage at Disney and get a first hand look at some of their illusions would be a coup. I did a tour that got me into the haunted mansion several years ago.

Xavier Mortimer and his L'hombre orchestra is one of the most magical things I've seen.

Jim Swain used to be based in Florida I believe - he hasn't been on the scene much lately.

frank abignale does a great talk and I'm sure would be of great interest to many in attendance. Saw him present at a corporate event in Vegas.

i second the calls for better AV. I was excited to see Sawa but Couldn't see what Sawa was doing. Probably my biggest disappointment of the conference - though no fault of his.

I would also like to see more innovative and imaginative use of the spaces, ideally encouraging a more robust sense of participation. The 'sit and watch me' dynamic has had it's day. I can get that on the Internet. I'm there live. Seems a shame to not take advantage of that wonderful condition beyond the socialization aspects which naturally accompany conventions.

Tom Gilbert wrote:I'll second Howard Hamburg.

As for the video, there were many times I thought during the Bash that a remote controlled, suspended camera would work much better. No one in the way.

Now, that is a GREAT idea, Tom. There is nothing worse than not being able to see a great performance/lecture. I almost always end up "camping" out to get in the front row for stuff I really want to see, and even then at past conventions, the performer is working on the table and I can't fully appreciate it.

(I imagine such a "sky cam" would be pretty expensive though.)

I very much like Brad's suggestion of Jim Swain. A Florida "reunion" (Malone, Swain, and Cummins) would be amazing as well. The backstage tour of Disney would be something I'd pay extra for.

In response to the comments about video -- I guess this remark is about magic conventions in general, but I wish there was a way we didn't have to see the shows on video screens and that everyone could actually see what was happening on stage. To me a main point of going to conventions is to see live magic. I did appreciate the convention I attended not too long ago where the closeup show was repeated enough times that everyone could see it in an intimate setting. I missed the Genii bash so can't comment specifically on that, but my experience has been that hotel ballrooms are not always the best venues for magic shows. I realize that the solution to this is probably not simple, but I think it's worth putting this thought out there.

And, I'd like to add that I am excited about the prospect of another Genii convention. The last one looked as if it must have been great.

When we did the taom in Austin I lobbied for closeup rooms that were closer to closeup. We brought in raked seating and limited each room to about 40 people. It cost some moment but the attendees really appreciated the effort to create that experience.

A genuine experience of close-up magic involves anywhere from one to six laymen who are very close to you. Not 40.

It is not possible to replicate this at a magic convention. Is there a difference between 50 people in a room and 100 people? I don't think so--even with 50 people, only the first row or two can see unaided by monitors. So adding another 50 doesn't seem to hurt the experience any more for most of the attendees. The problem with having 800 people, like we had at the Genii Bash, is that at 100 people in the room, the performers have to do their act 8 times and most people are still watching the monitors anyway. (If we wanted to limit the number of people in the room to 50, the performers would have to do their acts 16 times! That doesn't make them happy, and unhappy people don't give a great performance 16 times in a row, even if you break it up over several days.)

Most magicians, unless they're trade-show workers, aren't trained to give eight great and consistent performances in a row. You--the attendee--get a better job from the magician if he only has to do his act once.

That said, I did see one setup at a magic convention that was better: raked metal bleachers in the form of a U, with additional seats on the floor. They sat about 125 and everyone had a clear view of the performer. You still needed to glance at the screens to see the details, but this worked well. It necessitates the performers repeating their acts 8 times (with the problems that entails), and the availability and cost of the bleachers in Orlando is something that might be a problem.

But, we are exploring all options!

Richard - any idea as to when you will be able to announce dates?

Andrew