Essential Magic Conference 2011 - Review

[Eoin Lavery]

This years Essential Magic Conference was my very first conference and in fact my very first magic lecture. So as you can imagine I had all sorts of expectations and images in my mind of what this conference would be like.

My Expectations.

What I expected this conference to be like to be completely honest was literally a magician sitting in front of a webcam talking away for 15-20 minutes. I expected to learn a lot from this conference and from what I heard from the year before, I had thoughts in my head of lots of useless information. My expectations were good.

Day 1 - Thursday 7th July.

Session 1
Session 1 is hosted by Luis De Mato
Block 1: Eric Mead Talk - Mapping the impossible
Block 2: Akira Fujii - Performance
Block 3:Rudy Coby Talk - How to be the coolest magician on earth.

Session 2
Session 2 is hosted by Topas
Block 1: Dan and Dave Buck Talk - Cardistry
Block 2: Lu Chen - Performance
Block 3: Marco Tempest Talk - Cyber Illusions: The Secrets Behind Creating Magic.
Block 4: Bruno Copin - Performance
Block 5: Jonathan Bayme Talk - Magic 2.0
Block 6: Peter Lamont - Performance
Block 7: Panel Discussion by Marco Tempest
Block 8: Rene Lavand - Performance
Block 9: Question and Answers session

Session 3
Session 3 is hosted by Eric Mead.
Block 1: Apollo Robins Talk - How to manage the attention of your audience
Block 2: Topas Talk - Manipulation and meaning
Block 3: Max Maven - Performance
Block 4: Stan Allen Talk - A few more things to think about
Block 5: Dani DaOrtiz Talk
Block 6: Lennart Green - Performance
Block 7: Chris Power and JJ Talk - Magnum Opus: A state of mind, an independent voice.
Block 8: Question and Answers session

Day 1 of this conference completely surpassed mine and all the live viewers expectations. A wide variety of talks ranging from Cyber magic to Cardistry provided a lot of insight into many aspects of magic and talks of how magicians started into their careers. Quite a few spectacular performances from the greatest of modern day magicians was a hit with all the live viewers.

Day 2 - Friday 8th July

Session 4
Session 4 is hosted by Mike Caveney
Block 1: Paul Daniels Talk - Making the most of the opportunity
Block 2: Jordan Gomez Talk - The starting point
Block 3: Jordan Gomez Performance
Block 4: Marvin Berglas Talk - 7 secrets to raise your profile, build your brand and increase your income
Block 5: David Britland Talk - Chan Canasta: Psychological Illusionist
Block 6: Luis De Matos Performance
Block 7: Peter Lamont Talk - Defining the effect
Block 8: Question and Answers session

Session 5
Session 5 is hosted by Marco Tempest
Block 1: Lu Chen Talk - Making it in magic
Block 2: Ava Do and Apollo Robins - Performance
Block 3: David Kaye Talk - What's so funny? How children experience magic
Block 4: Peter Wardell - Performance
Block 5: Bruno Copin Talk - The subtle art of using threads
Block 6: Chris Power - Peformance
Block 7: Panel Discussion moderated by Topas
Block 8: David Berglas - Performance
Block 9: Question and Answers session

Session 6
Session 6 is hosted by Stan Allen
Block 1: Akira Fujii Talk - Two Passes
Block 2: William Kalush Talk - Houdini, some whys and hows explained
Block 3: Christiam Engblom - Performance
Block 4: Richard Wiseman Talk - Magic in mind
Block 5: Luis De Matos Talk: The story of a miracle: Vanishing a spectator's car
Block 6: Topas - Performance
Block 7: Gatean Bloom - Talk
Block 8: Question and Answers session

Day 2 of the conference seemed to have talks concentrating on the history of magic and and performances of quite well known and historical tricks. Also stage magic was a target of talks in these sessions over close up magic.

Day 3 Saturday 9th July

Session 7
Session 7 is hosted by Max Maven
Block 1: David Berglas Talk - Miracle with cards
Block 2: Peter Wardell Talk - The (street) magic state of mind
Block 3: Eric Mead - Performance
Block 4: Ava Do Talk - Leveraging first impressions
Block 5: Christian Engblom Talk - A personal perspective on creativity
Block 6: Jonathan Bayme - Performance
Block 7: Rene Lavand Talk
Block 8: Question and Answers session

Session 8
Session 8 is hosted by Gaetan Bloom
Block 1: Mike Caveney Talk - The million dollar mystery
Block 2: Dan and Dave Buck - Performance
Block 3: Lennart Green Talk - A remarkable magic square
Block 4: Rudy Coby - Performance
Block 5: Max Maven Talk - Mentalism in Principle
Block 6: David Kaye - Performance
Block 7: Panel Discussion moderated by Stan Allen
Block 8: Dani DaOrtiz - Performance
Block 9: Question and Answers session

Session 9
Session 9 is hosted by Luis De Matos
Block 1: Marco Tempest - Performance
Block 2: Gaetan Bloom - Performance
Block 3: David Copperfield Talk - Question and Answers + Museum Tour
Block 4: Paul Daniels - Performance
Block 5: Question and Answers session
Block 6: Closing Ceremony

Day 3 saw a mixture of almost everything magic had to offer thrown into 3 sessions. The main attraction of this day was the talk from David Copperfield live from the David Copperfield Museum. It provided a great insight into magic through the era's and how far it has developed over all the years to today. Also was a live performance from Marco Tempest who is a known "Cyber Magician" He used 3 iPhone's for his performance which may not be magic in the way we think, but you could describe the technology used put together creating a magical experience.

What I thought of this experience
The entire 3 day conference completely and totally surpassed my expectations. I learned a lot more than I thought I would about everything in magic you could imagine. There were tips on everything, from perfomance tips to presentation and opportunities to perform and getting your name out there in the magic world. Next year's conference is said to be even better. I have already made the decision to get my pass for next year ASAP. I would seriously advise everyone else to do the same. This isn't just some magicians infront of a webcam. This is a project everyone takes seriously with 33 speakers in the studio, with hired cameramen, huge crystal clear cameras, professional presentation, and of course free DVD's pf the lecture. 2010'S DVD set are valued at around £125.