Description:

Personal narrative about a magic convention, and the importance of reaching out to others, especially during challenging times, and the lasting effects genuine connections can have on our lives.

“Dude… you are the last person I expected to see here.”

To my left a tall, lanky teenager wearing round glasses is shuffling a deck of cards. To my right an old man in a long, white beard is rolling a silver half dollar across his fingers.

There’s a buzz of conversation coming from around the corner.

I’m at a magic convention.

And it feels like home.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s been a long time. How’s tricks?”

With that, I stepped back in time and spent the next 13 hours watching magic performances by renowned professionals and rank amateurs alike, attending lectures by some of the brightest minds in the industry, perusing the long hall of vendors selling fake thumbs, trick decks, and hand carved wooden magic wands.

It was glorious.

The Unintentional Magician

One of the highlights of my day was meeting Stuart MacDonald.

Stuart is a renowned inventor and performer of magic who has won more awards in magic than I can name, and even fooled Penn & Teller.

He creates character-driven, theatrical magic performances. It’s very rare, and very difficult.

Two years ago, in the heart of the pandemic, I invited Stuart on to my podcast Beyond Networking to talk about his pivot to virtual shows. It was a wonderful conversation, but we’d never met in person. Until last weekend.

After his excellent lecture on stage performance, I invited him to lunch. Stuart graciously abandoned the catered, private lunch for performers and lecturers to join me in the hotel restaurant.

I was shocked to discover he’s brought me a gift.

The Unintentional Gift of Gratitude

“Brian, I have to tell you something,” he said. “When I came on your podcast two years ago, there’s something you didn’t know.”

“Oh?”

“I was at my lowest point. I had pivoted to virtual, but we really weren’t selling tickets. It wasn’t going well. I didn’t know what I was going to talk about on your show. But you were so enthusiastic, so encouraging, so positive about my work and the world of virtual entertainment. When our recording was over my wife asked me how it went. I said, “I feel great!” Our conversation was a turning point for me. I never got to thank you for that.”

I nearly teared up as he told me.

A Shared Struggle

What Stuart didn’t know is that’s exactly how I was feeling about my podcast, and my work in general, at the very same time.

I’d made a successful pivot to virtual at the start of the pandemic, but 8 months later, at the time of this conversation, I had an infant son (literally 2 months old). I was on no sleep, completely exhausted, and barely keeping myself and my business afloat.

I was under tremendous pressure to continue providing for my family and had no idea if the “virtual event” thing was a trend. Everything was precarious. I was on the edge and totally burned out.

The True Magic: Connection

So I decided to start inviting people to my podcast who, in my eyes, had successfully pivoted to virtual. I wanted to learn from them, and also be inspired by them.

Unknowingly, Stuart and I both needed that conversation. He felt like I gave him a gift. I felt like he gave me a gift.

That’s real magic.

In the age of loneliness, the most selfish thing you can do is keep to yourself. The most generous thing you can do is reach out.

So reach out. It’s not magic, it’s connection.

Thank you, Stuart.