Speech Outline

Deception

Introduction:

A. silently shuffle cards, then ask for volunteer

1. “magician Marco Tempest, in his TED Talk”

a. finish trick

1. “Sorry for messing up I am not a professional.”

b. “Although I am no professional, cards have been here for a very long time and many people are.”

c. Pause

B. Introduce history

a. Davis Parlett, author of A Dictionary of Card Games and The Oxford History of Board Games

b. cards dated back to before 1000 AD in China; card design French from the late 1400s

c. card tricks started with gamblers and cheaters; circuses; stages

C. “All magicians, from the streets to the stage, have two main functions when performing a card trick: to elude and misdirect the audience. And there are multiple techniques that are used to achieve these goals.”

Body:

A. Arthur Buckley, author of Principles and Deceptions

a. “ Illusions and misdirections are important to card tricks because without them a performer will not be able to deceive their audience, and the audience members will not get the feeling of ‘magic’.”

B. Hugard and Braue, in their book Expert Card Technique

a. Palming is concealing of cards in the palm of a hand; misdirect the audience attention

Pause

a. False shuffles needed to elude the audience; real shuffle randomized the deck; false shuffles performer knows exactly where in the deck the cards they need are, and they want to keep it there

Pause

Conclusion:

A. “With just those few techniques I listed, a performer would be able to achieve the two functions of a card trick, to elude and misdirect the audience.”

B. “A performer needs to deceive the audience in order for the trick to work, and there are many ways to do so. Remember, for the functions and techniques of card tricks to be able to affect many people, a magician never reveals their secrets.”

a. Walk to volunteer, finish trick

C. “Ladies and gentlemen, thats magic.”

a. “Reinforcing that I am no professional in these techniques, with the information you have now, hopefully you can start your own tricks and perform them better than I can.”