Ten tips to save money at magic conventions
1- Book your tickets as soon as possible.
This is common sense, most conventions offer a special discount if you register within the first days of the announcement. Check your Google Calendar and organize your scheduled months upfront.
The Session offered a book and DVD for early registrants, Magic-Con a $100 discount and a contest to become VIP, but it’s usually like this with all the good ones like Blackpool, Magic Weekend or even FISM.
2- Never travel alone
Talk to the people on the forums and your local magic circle when organizing the trip. If you are traveling by car, you will need four fat snoring and smelly colleagues to ease the ride. You will save money by splitting the gas and hotel expenses.
3- Only go to lectures you are really interested in
If you do card magic for a living and never plan to do balloon animals or color changing clothes routines then skip those lectures (workshops). You will most likely watch the artists during the gala show on the last day so focus on what you do and keep some mystery in your life by not allowing yourself to discover the secrets to those other illusions.
4- Eat when everyone eats
You might be able to be sneaky enough to steal a couple of French fries or your skinny friend’s leftovers while practicing your misdirection skills.
5- If you are hungry perform a “sandwich” routine
Restaurants are expensive; therefore stay away from them if you are not going to sit next to the star. A light meal with a piece of fruit will keep you alive.
If you are performing that night, that’s another story, but then again, you will not be spending money but rather earning it, so pay a round to your fans.
6- Hand out your business card to everyone
Business cards won’t save you money directly, but if you are lucky you might get hired later on. Perform a couple of tricks at the nearby restaurants and if the staff notices you, tell them that there is an international magic convention around the corner and that you are the star of the evening. Ok, that’s lying, but that’s what magic is all about, isn’t it?
Also check out our post on how to design good business cards for magicians.
7- Buy cards in bulk
The dealers’ booth is where magicians spend most of their cash. Call your fatty snoring friends and make a huge joint order of 10 bricks of bicycle decks and tell the dealer to give you a good discount. They always do and you might also get a couple of custom decks for free if you ask for them kindly. If you need 30 minutes to convince him, just do it.
8- Lie to the dealers, just a bit…
Always start with, “They sell them for $XX online, how much do you want to charge me?” It will instantly put a big “I’m stupid” sign on your forehead, but surprisingly it works most of the time.
Another thing you can do is fake a foreigner accent and pretend you don’t understand what they are saying to try to pay less or get stuff for free…
Je vais prendre ces “glucumputuptus” gratuitement ok?
This does not work that well, but you’ll get a laugh, especially if you are a Derren Brown fanboy trying to “yes ladder” the dealer in French.
9- Get your books signed by the authors.
If you have the chance, buy the stuff the artists carry rather than at the magic shop booths. They don’t usually get paid much for the lectures and need to sell some DVDs or lecture notes to be able to hook up a cutie that night. If you do, tell them to sign the stuff. You can always put it on eBay a couple of months later…
Magicians usually offer bundle packs with their complete DVD collection and lecture notes. Take advantage of that and it will save you a lot of cash you can use to buy more playing cards.
10- Wait for the last day
This is the golden rule. If you are strong enough to hold your horses until the last day of the convention you will get the best bargains out of the dealers. I know it’s hard but it pays off.
They are tired of negotiating with people with signs on their forehead and they don’t want to pack everything back in their suitcases, so they will give you a special discount just to see you walk away.
