S7E1: Brian Miller - Connecting With Your Audience

Successful Performercast by Kris Sheppard | Successful Performer Cast | Weekly Interviews with Professional Entertainers | Show Business, Showbiz, Performer, Magic, Magician, Juggler, Comedian, Musician

In this interview, Brian Miller talks about how to magically connect with anyone! He also talks about why he decided to try standup comedy and why you should too!

Brian is a nationally acclaimed corporate entertainer and keynote speaker performing mainly at colleges and corporate events. Residing in Connecticut, he regularly performs at more than 200 events every year throughout New England and across the country.

In addition to his magical performing, he’s also regularly invited to speak on topics including: influence and persuasion, secrecy, safety and awareness, the philosophy & psychology of magic, and recently did a TEDx talk on “How to Magically Connect with Anyone."

Kris' Recommendation of the Week

Last week I mentioned that you can use your public library card to access Lynda.com and their extensive wealth of online courses. This week is another great way to use your library card.

OverDrive Media Console: Borrow eBooks, audiobooks, and more from your local public library – anywhere, anytime. All you need is a library card. It's available for free on both iOS and Android platforms and I was delighted to discover a bunch of great books on business and marketing available from my library that I could download right to my phone!

Success Quotes

Leap and the net will appear.

You don't want people to say, “Let’s get a magician, how about Brian Miller.” What you want them to say is, “Let’s get Brian Miller. By the way, he’s a magician."

Comedy

• If you want to get into live entertainment, start doing standup comedy.

• Look for open likes and every opportunity.

• It teaches you how to deal with any audience and situation.

• Tells about his “aha moment” when it came to comedy and writing a show.

• The first time he tried standup comedy and absolutely killed! The next ten times, he bombed dismally.

• You cannot go on auto pilot. Every audience is different.

• Give information and setup, and twist it as hard as you can for the punchline.

• If you’re not naturally funny, you might not want to be a comedy entertainer.

How to Magically Connect with Anyone

• Talks about his TEDx Talk

• Why it’s important to connect with your audience.

• Making sure you’re making a positive connection first impression with your audience.

• Warming up to the audience before you even mention that you’re a performer.

• How to strengthen the connection with your audience and maintain it.

• Talks about some specific things people do that alienate audiences.

• Don’t "perform at" the audience.

• Being present and listening to your audience.

• The real magic is in connecting with your audience.

Failure Moment

His very first NACA showcase. He didn’t listen to the advice from someone who had been in the college market considerably longer than Brian. He ultimately bombed.

Favorite Success

Transitioning into and becoming a sought-after lecturer in the field he was going to pursue a PHD in. He feels it really went full circle.

Biggest Profesional Challenge

Finding time to do creative work in the midst of all the business work.

Other Topics Covered

• You can’t always be completely prepared.

• You want people to hire you because of who you are, not what you do.

• Take a look at your material and if you see a bunch of people doing what you do, you might change up your material.

• Tells how he turned down going after a PHD in favor of pursuing his magic career.

• His plan for the future and a little on his strategy.

Parting Advice

Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is NOT the opposite of success.

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!

Resources:

Evernote - he likes to make audio notes.

Books:

Absolute Magic by Darren Brown

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Where can we find Brian Miller?

Brian Miller Magic