How Can A Magician Help Your Team-Building Event?
- Ian Rowland
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
Everyone Likes A Touch Of Magic And Mindreading!
No two 'team-building' activities or events are quite the same. Everyone organising such an event has their own idea of their goals and what they're trying to achieve. Nonetheless, in the majority of cases, adding a touch of magic or mindreading to the proceedings can be a very positive and productive idea.
There are two main options to consider.
(1) Having attendees learn how to perform one or two simple magic tricks. Not only is this fun and intriguing, but it really does involve significant team work. The attendees have to help one another to learn how the trick is done and then perform and present it to a reasonable standard. This involves working together in a planned and organised way, the sharing of ideas and mutual constructive criticism, and the ability to allocate roles and tasks in order to achieve a successful team result by a given deadline.
(2) Incorporating the notion of 'magic as metaphor'. Let's consider a simple example of how this works. Suppose you want to convey the point that, in your companyy or department, you get the best results when everyone contributes their respective skills, knowledge and aptitudes. The team is more successful than the individual and everyone should respect and appreciate the contribution made by everyone else.
How can you get this point across? Well, you can simply give a lecture on the subject. Or you can discuss some case studies and show a few PowerPoint slides. However, it's most visual, colourful, intriguing and memorable to illustrate the point using 'magic as metaphor'. For example, I could invite three or four people to make separate choices from a range of options (e.g. from a list of 100 film titles) so that, between them, they gradually narrow the list down to just one film title. This turns out to match the film poster inside a sealed envelope I handed out at the start. Each of these people individually, working alone, wouldn't have worked out which one film I predicted. But they got the right result by working together.
1: Magic Promotes Active Participation
When you're running a team-building event, you want as much active interest, engagment and participation as possible. You don't want passive interest and poor focus. One of the appealing aspects of magic and mindreading is that it's based on active participation. It's simply not possible to passively learn how to perform a bit of magic. It requires a switched-on mind, focus, attention to detail and a little bit of energy -- as well as willingness to practice!
Over the years, having helped with many team-building sessions, I've found that magic is an excellent way to foster a spirit of active participation in the room. It's also fun and tends to give rise to quite a few laughs -- and we all know that people who can laugh together tend to work together more successfully and productively. Magic and laughter are both good team 'glue'.
2. It's Something 'A Bit Different'
Organising a team-building event involves a lot of time and effort. The last thing you want is for attendees to respond with a bored expression and a sense that they have seen it all / heard it all before. This isn't fair to you, as the organiser(s), and doesn't suggest the session will be very productive.
Introducing elements of magic and mindreading makes a huge difference! It's something novel and intriguing that most people have not seen before. It puts a fresh, dynamic slant on the 'team building theme and adds a touch of fun and entertainment that ensures active engagement and attention. In my experience, magic converts the 'Oh no, not all this again' attitude into an 'Oh? What's all this about? This looks fun and interesting!' attitude.
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