Now the secret he was using was pre-show . “ Pick a card , great , now remember that card . Later when I ask you to name a card , that is your card okay ?”
Immediately I saw what was wrong with this approach . Later when he would do the card sword he would turn to this spectator and say “ think of any card in the deck ,” He would stab the deck and spectator had a completely different card . The reason was that his pre-show spiel was separate and different than his show directions . There were no anchors ; there was plenty of reason for a spectator to be confused about what they were being asked to do . “ Think of any card in the deck ,” can easily be acted upon as if you are asking them to “ think of any card in the deck ,” rather than “ think of the card you picked earlier .”
Now of course if one was to say “ think of the card you picked earlier ,” the rest of the audience would know you spoke to them earlier , kind of defeating the purpose of pre-show . I have always hated it when a mentalist tells the audience that they spoke to a spectator before the show , to me it is the kiss of death , and the audience is left to wonder what really went on before when you talked to them . There are circumstances it can work , like on a TV show with a host . If worded carefully it can be made to appear you gave them directions to do something while you were nowhere in site and that is fine . But to say , “ I had you pick ..” is just awful . Why not just have them pick whatever while the audiences is watching ? To say , “ I told you I was going to have you think of any *** at all , you did that and it was a completely free choice , you have not told me what *** you chose , and you were instructed not to tell anyone else is that right ? And this has been a completely free choice on your part .”
This works fine and makes the audience think they never wrote anything down and you only asked them if they would help you in the show by thinking of any ***
There are circumstances this will not work , like having them draw a picture they will show later , in this situation you will be showing the did draw something prior to the show . This a whole different bird and so use your words to make the audience think you were nowhere in site while it was being drawn . You simply tell the spectator as they are about to draw the picture , “ Now I don ’ t want to be anywhere in site so I will step over to the corner here and turn around .” Later you can tell the audience that you were ‘ Nowhere in site .” Just make sure you remind the spectator you where nowhere in site of the drawing when they made it “ So when I tell the people at home it was a free choice by yourself and I was nowhere in site , I will be telling the truth .”
Pre-show can be even stronger than that and presented in such a way as to make the rest of the audience think you are asking the spectator to think of something there on the moment as they are watching it all unfold .
The secret to good pre-show is making sure it is not presented to the spectator you are using as if you are hiding a secret . So many performers have a guilt complex when they perform pre-show that they signal to the spectator they are doing something secret . They also feel so guilty about it that they rush through the pre-show , not giving clear instructions to the spectator . It is imperative you tell the spectator exactly what you are going to do and exactly how they are going to react . If you do this , there are no surprises to the spectator ; they have no reason to tell others you talked prior simply because you are not hiding anything .
Let me give you an example and keep in mind , this is just one way to perform pre-show , you must find out what works for you and what it is you are trying to present . In this case , let ’ s say we are going to pre-show a country . In this case they will indeed have a free choice of any country at all ; however you could just as easily use postcards and force one . In this case we will use a center tear , or a clip-board to garner a freely selected country .
You approach the spectator : “ Hi , my name is Banachek and I am the performer this evening . I was wondering if you would help me later in the show , I promise I will not embarrass you in any way , that is not what my show is about , in fact I will be using a lot of people and if you help me with this , I promise you will not have to come up on stage and it will insure I don ’ t accidentally bring you up on stage later . It is a simple thing , not simple in a silly way , but a way for me to start the show . Would you mind ?”
Buy using this approach you have been able to do a few things . One you have informed the spectator that you will not embarrass them , something all spectators are afraid of . You have add the fact they will not have to come up on stage , something most spectators are afraid of , and three you have informed them that if they help you with this , there is no way you will accidentally bring them onstage later for another effect . If they say “ no ”, you can remind them that you might accidentally use them later in the show and bring them up on stage if they don ’ t help you with this . If they really are adamant , don ’ t use them , move on . However this verbiage should put them at ease .
Next you continue : If I ask most people to think of a country , most people think of London or Paris , I want you to think of any country at all except London or Paris don ’ t tell me , just picture it in your mind . Do you have one , would you like to change it ? Are you satisfied with it ? Make sure you are as that is going to be YOUR FAVORITE country for the rest of the evening , you have one ? Great . Now write your country here , make sure I can ’ t see it .
Performer steps away and turns his back , point out you are doing this . When they are done .
“ Good , now keep it in your pocket . I don ’ t need it , but just in case you forget what country you choose , you have it . I won ’ t need to see it again , unless I am wrong , then and only then I might ask to see it . I think you are an honest person but I have had people change their mind to try to trick me . It also protects you in case I think I am right and insist I am right if I might be wrong .”