To prevent this I use a method called "Machine gun holding"
On the street, your character and presentation are everything.
Showing a move or a puzzle wont hold anyone's attention for long, but showing magic will.
Presentation is different on the street then in a gig or with your friends. The street is full of distractions.
In order to present magic properly on the street;
First-
You must have a character. You must have an interesting character with stage presence, that is unique, and loved....or a character people love to hate.
If you don't have a character you need to drop everything and devote all your time to that.
You are wasting your time without a character.
If you have a strong character nothing else really matters, the character will solve most of the problems your having in your show.
what to wear, what to say, what props to use etc.
This is the first step in holding people, people are attracted to a strong character.
Second-
Take out all "filler" from your routines.
"Filler" are tricks, lines, and bits you normally use to fill in time or continue a plot for a trick.
Close up routines on the street are a shortened down version of a routine.
Sort of a "best of - sampler routine."
understandably some filler is crucial to a trick so this filler should be improved to a point to where it could hold it's own as a trick by itself, even as a finale.
Doing this is simple. ONLY use stuff that gets a HUGE reaction every time. Discard everything that people thought was only ok....ok is bad, you want the best you can do.
Everything you do should be as good as a finale.
This goes for tricks, lines, and bits.
Once you have a bunch of these, you will be machine gunning these tricks, lines, and bits rapid fire one after another.
You're not rushing, you're steady.
Keeping a steady pace leaves people without a second to leave.
Your job is to eliminate distraction.
Third-
You should have a set show put together.
Your show should have a beginning, middle, and end.
People feel comfortable and obligated to stay in a professional organized program.
The show should all be held together with transitions.
Transitions-
These are important to holding an audience, they are the glue that holds your routines together to make a complete show.
For example if you finished your coin trick and people walked off before you could do your card trick, it was because you didn't have a transition.
A simple transition for this would be to announce (while doing your coin routine) that you are going to do a mind blowing card miracle after the coin.
Then simply hand the deck to a spectator to hold and everyone will wait.
The best way for a magician to transition is to produce the next prop and begin doing magic with it.
For instance at the end of your silk vanish trick you squeeze the silk and it turns into a sponge ball, this now takes you into your sponge ball routine.
Here are some tactics to get people to stay;
Lines,
Using lines to get people to stay can be important to hold the rest of the audience so you don't lose any more.
an example is; "Hey! I'm gonna have to ask you to leave!"
Then I turn to the audience and say,"boy i thought they'd never go."
Always Be Building-
Occasionally speak up loud and confident to the people behind your crowd pulling them to build your crowd bigger.
If your building and they peel off it's alright, because the new people will fill in the blank spots.
A crowd that is building holds itself.
If people see more people coming they want to stay to hold their own spot.
Especially if the magician sounds confident that something important is going to happen.
Pacing-
If you notice someone starting to walk off, bang your wand loud and pace the full edge of your crowd....start moving and making noise.
This will usually make them change their mind and come back.
Anchors-
An anchor is something you've handed to someone to hold, by handing a prop to someone, you've held them and the people they are with. This can be a prop, or anything in your pocket it doesn't have to do a trick, but it's best if it does.
Mime When You Speak-
All patter should have body movement explaining what your saying. This can be done to the point of exaggeration depending on the character. A good performer can be understood even if his audience doesn't speak his language.
Quick Interaction -
Throughout the show i will have someone make the magic happen. but this happens quick.
When I approach them i don't ask their name or where their from or ask them to join me on stage....I say touch the card...and it changes, or I say blow on the knots...and they vanish.
Then I immediately walk away and ask the audience to clap and I go on with the show.
I do this throughout the show. asking first someone on my left, then later someone on my right, then later someone in the middle of the crowd. The middle person is difficult, because they are going to be hard to see, so stand back out of the way so everyone can see.
This is a great way to get someone to pay attention who is talking or looking away, simply choose them to make the magic happen.
Getting Someone On Stage -
This can be a great interaction finale for all the quick interaction you have done.
This routine must be done systematically, memorized and with no stage time lull.
Any questions, instructions or handling of props for the volunteer should be incredibly simple to assure control of the situation. the routine should be short,sweet and to the point.
leaving the audience applauding for the volunteer.
Of course this is bittersweet if this is the finale to your show, because your finale in theory should end with them clapping for you.
Depending on the effect I might transition into my own finale after theirs, unless I can make the effect big enough for both of us to end the show "together."
Magicians always want to do get someone up on stage, knowing instinctively some how it will hold a crowd,
Unfortunately magicians not knowing HOW to do this, frequently lose momentum and show a lack of professionalism with this tactic.
It's a car crash.
also,
I would never ever ask someone on stage in the beginning of a show.
First I would build a relationship with the audience....trust means control and cooperation.
Interaction has been the cause of most failed shows and should be done with caution if need be at all.
With all that said, when interaction works, it's truly magic.
Lastly i would say, that stage time will make all of these things fall into place much more naturally then reading about them.
The best advice I could give, is to just go out there and do it a thousand times and it will work it self out eventually.
Your Pal Jimmy.
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