Peter Sjöstedt (Portugal) Auckland only lecture
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Auckland Lecture
Sponsored by IBM Ring 160 & Magic New Zealand
Date: Thursday 16th February
Start Time: 7.30pm sharp
Venue: Te Tuhi Centre For The Arts, 13 Reeves Road, Pakuranga, Auckland
Adult Lecture fee: $25
Juniors (School age) and financial IBM 160 members: $10
Wives or Partners: $5

Information from Peter:
Here is an extract from my lecture notes.

Business Meeting Magic
This is a suitable title for the kind of magic I have performed for many years.
I have worked as a Project Manager in the Information Technology sector for almost two decades, and I have lived through uncountable meetings. In some of these meetings, one or more participants have arrived late, leading to a delayed start of the meeting. Participants failing to arrive on time are a big annoyance for the ones who do, and it can be an expensive cost for the company due to the time lost while waiting.

To perform something that I like to call "Business Meeting Magic" while waiting for the late arrivals may lead to everyone being in time for the next meeting - because no one wants to miss out on the magic!

In fact, it becomes a win-win situation for both my project, and for my employer and/or costumer if the time consumed for the magic trick is less than the time gained from every participant being on time for the meeting. In the end, we will all be winners!

I do not want to give the appearance of performing "magic", instead I want to show that what I am performing is a skill or well mastered competence. As we all know, success is not 100% guaranteed in our field, and this is why I am vigilant about clarifying that what I do are experiments and not demonstrations. This gives me a bit of leeway to fail once in a while.

Innumerable different types of meetings exist, and not all of them are suitable for my type of Business Meeting Magic. You might attend meetings with your manager, your project team, your project manager group, representatives of your customers, or with other kinds of groups you have a relation with. You often need to adapt to your context, and your kind of organization. Just as I have put my mark on the experiments described in this book, so will you inevitably make these your own as well.

This is my description of Business Meeting Magic, and the reasons why I perform it can be summarised in the following three points

· Be remembered in the organization
· For the meeting to start on the set time
· To lighten the mood and start off on a positive note
The experiments need to be short in order not to occupy too much time, or to annoy neither your employer nor the participants of the meeting. After all, they are there for the meeting - not to "see a show".

I want to give credit to my daughter Hannah Sjöstedt who has been a sounding board and a great help with the preparation of my lecture notes, and the business cards demonstration described in this book. Tom Stone has skilfully assisted in the research for authors and originators to some of my experiments. Finally, I am grateful for the comments from my fellow members of the Clube Ilusionista Fenianos - CIF in Porto, Portugal.

Experiment 1 - Business Cards
Overview
On your already handed out business cards, have each participant draw a picture on the back. The business cards are then collected and shuffled. By interpreting each picture you then deduct who drew which picture!

Effect

Without guidance being able to identify which drawing belongs to which participant.

Experiment 2 - Who is the liar?

Overview

Five participants move an object between them when you tell them to, without you watching. In the end you say which of them is hiding the object.

Effect

Remarkably being able to identify which person that is hiding the object.

Experiment 3 - Is it true or false?

Overview

You have two participants assisting and you hand them an object. The participants decide by themselves to either tell the truth or to lie. You then tell if they are lying or not, the consequence being that you know who has the object.

Effect

You reveal if each participant is telling the truth or is lying, which enables you to identify who has the object

Experiment 4 - Rock-Paper-Scissors

Overview

Three participants get to play hidden rock-paper-scissors with each other. You surprisingly can tell them who wins over who even you cannot see what they are doing.

Effect

You can reveal who is the winner without seeing the game.

Experiment 5 - Randomness Square

Overview

Three participants get to pick one numbered square each among many from within a big square with numbered squares. The sum of the numbers from the squares is the same as your prediction.

Effect

Predict the sum of the numbers chosen by the participants.