FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Discuss the latest news and rumors in the magic world.
User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1792
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby CraigMitchell » July 24th, 2022, 3:08 pm

FISM Day Zero

After too long a period - magicians from across the globe are descending on the beautiful city of Quebec for the 28th FISM World Championships of Magic.

French culture is everywhere you turn - it’s an odd sensation to have this European ‘outpost’ in North America ( and a quick read up on Canadian history shows a strong secession movement that even resulted in a terrorist front campaigning for Quebec independence in the 60s and 70s !) Folks speak French - but have Queen Elizabeth on their currency … all delightfully quirky.

The ‘official’ FISM hotel - Delta Quebec is a throwback to “Soviet concrete chic” and at odds with some of its more beautiful surroundings. The Hilton next door is definitely the better choice … and somewhat perplexing why you would have the official hotel with no bar or lobby area ? The convention centre itself looks fairly modern and soon to be our home away from home for the next few days.

Early registration kicked off today with a somewhat disappointing registration bag - a $2 drawstring backpack that you generally would get free, water bottle and deck of branded cards. Considering the high price of registration - swag matters ( just ask Stan about the Live hoodies, quality backpacks et al or Richard for the unbelievable treasure trove from GeniiCon) To their credit - the convention brochure is well produced and gives a great taste of what lies in store …

The convention kicks off tomorrow with dealers at 12 noon and the opening ceremony only at 730 pm. There are a number of observations. Compared to previous FISMs we are effectively an entire day short compared to normal ( the Spanish bid tried to do similar and were loudly denounced at the General Assembly … Quebec seemed to have done this quietly irrespective leaving attendees with no scheduled events for most of the first day (!) Many of the lectures which overlap with the contests later this week would have been better scheduled for this entire block of dead time ) Dealers were advertised at over 100 merchants - we are down to 34. Competitors are normally 150 … down to 109. Registrants were initially 3000+ … early reports have this pegged at 2000. In many respects - I hope that this does not become #fismlite ( covid to blame ? )

In other news there is a full page ad for FISM Shenzhen … it remains to be seen whether they are in fact still bidding for FISM 2025 as they had previously withdrew leaving it open for FISM Italy (again) A bright spot though looking at the program is the enormous number of artists and special lectures that await. We do have a veritable who’s who in attendance and this could well be FISM Quebec’s secret weapon.

Time will tell. Magic awaits.

*** For photos and other live FISM updates - be sure to join the FB Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/fismmagic/

User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1792
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby CraigMitchell » July 24th, 2022, 5:44 pm

That beautifully produced program - seems no one was bothered to actually get any of the information correct :-(

How very embarrassing …

Image

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27056
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 24th, 2022, 6:27 pm

I would say that covid has everything to do with a shorter convention (thank goodness--does anyone really need six days?), less attendees, and less swag. We are in the middle of another wave of covid due to BA.5. There are over 100,000 new cases a day in the US alone. It is any wonder that many people chose to stay home?
Does anyone really think covid will be gone in three years? NO WAY you would catch me going to China with its zero covid policy and frequent lockdowns.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1792
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby CraigMitchell » July 24th, 2022, 6:47 pm

At $864 for a current registration - I think a little more money spent on a $2 drawstring bag is not unreasonable :-)

>does anyone really need six days

Yes. That’s exactly what the general assembly wanted and what makes Fism unique. A week of full magic immersion. And one of the justifications for the higher than normal registration pricing.

Having 2000+ delegates doing nothing for most of the first day of the convention is not clever scheduling. There are a number of late night lectures etc which could have been moved up to better utilize this time ( and not conflict with contests et al )

Brad Henderson
Posts: 4547
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: austin, tx

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Brad Henderson » July 24th, 2022, 7:33 pm

I haven’t gotten the official schedule yet but from the online edition it appears several lecturers are giving their talks at least twice. What good is a 6 day conference with 3 days of actual content?

User avatar
erdnasephile
Posts: 4770
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby erdnasephile » July 24th, 2022, 8:52 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:I would say that covid has everything to do with a shorter convention (thank goodness--does anyone really need six days?...


This^^^

I would agree--the few long magic conventions I've been to all seemed to run out of steam once you get past a certain point and didn't justify the extra hotel/food expenses the longer events entailed.

IMHO, I'd rather have a fewer exciting packed days then more days, spread thinner.

User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1792
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby CraigMitchell » July 24th, 2022, 9:30 pm

To add insult to injury - eagle-eyed Dustin also points out that 1955 Amsterdam is missing from the winners page. Omitting Fred Kaps.

A historical listing is available online at http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php ... ampionship

When FISM can't get its own listing of winners right in the official souvenir brochure - we have a problem.

Brad Henderson
Posts: 4547
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: austin, tx

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Brad Henderson » July 25th, 2022, 12:15 am

It appears to be a pretty full schedule. Even with double booked lectures one would be hard pressed to see everything, especially if they wanted to see the contests as well. I do think I will be ‘done’ in three days. So, does one front load and get all the things one wants to see taken care of when fresh, or try to pace it out knowing one is likely to be frazzled in three days anyway?

User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1792
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby CraigMitchell » July 25th, 2022, 7:07 am

Definitely front load … take in your “must sees” whilst you can as at a certain point you may just want to ‘relax’ with friends from across the globe.

Richard Hatch
Posts: 2095
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Providence, Utah
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Richard Hatch » July 25th, 2022, 8:35 am

CraigMitchell wrote:To add insult to injury - eagle-eyed Dustin also points out that 1955 Amsterdam is missing from the winners page. Omitting Fred Kaps.

A historical listing is available online at http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php ... ampionship

When FISM can't get its own listing of winners right in the official souvenir brochure - we have a problem.

And his countryman and two time Grand Prix winner Richard Ross has his first name misspelled « Ricard »

User avatar
CraigMitchell
Posts: 1792
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Magic
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby CraigMitchell » July 25th, 2022, 1:57 pm

Pesky details

Brad Henderson
Posts: 4547
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: austin, tx

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Brad Henderson » July 25th, 2022, 2:45 pm

How does this dealers room compare in size to other fisms?

I thought it would be bigger*





















* that’s what she said

fkaps1
Posts: 62
Joined: January 26th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Wayne, PA

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby fkaps1 » August 3rd, 2022, 10:34 am

It would be great to have someone update the list of FISM winners on the MagicPedia page.

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27056
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 3rd, 2022, 2:11 pm

There is no one steering MagicPedia since Joe Pecore died.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Philippe Billot
Posts: 1820
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: PARIS - FRANCE

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Philippe Billot » August 3rd, 2022, 3:45 pm

I can do it if I can get the informations.

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27056
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 3rd, 2022, 4:55 pm

Philippe, I don't know how to do that. Let me check.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

User avatar
Tom Stone
Posts: 1521
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Tom Stone » August 3rd, 2022, 10:00 pm

Philippe Billot wrote:I can do it if I can get the informations.


https://fism.org/winners-00s/#2009

Philippe Billot
Posts: 1820
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: PARIS - FRANCE

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Philippe Billot » August 4th, 2022, 1:02 am

Richard, it's easy. In search type FISM
Then in the page, click on Edit
Then copy the results which are in the link given by Tom Stone (thank for you, Tom)

But as I have said, now I can do it.

Philippe Billot
Posts: 1820
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: PARIS - FRANCE

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Philippe Billot » August 6th, 2022, 8:16 am

fkaps1 wrote:It would be great to have someone update the list of FISM winners on the MagicPedia page.



Done!

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27056
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 6th, 2022, 11:48 am

Thank you, Philippe! Maybe you can help bring MagicPedia back to life.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Philippe Billot
Posts: 1820
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: PARIS - FRANCE

Re: FISM 2022 - Day Zero

Postby Philippe Billot » August 6th, 2022, 4:23 pm

Every day, Cortini and me update MagicPedia but I'm not qualified to manage a website.

Joe Pecore was a webmaster, I'm only a contributor.


Return to “Buzz”