I was wondering.. how do you all get people to volunteer to help you on the stage... ? Usually it's is quite difficult to find volunteers maybe because I think most people are just shy by nature. Any suggestions... ?

- You ask... if no one wanna raise their hands up.. then u get eye contacts. If a person looks at u.. means he/she is interested.... just shy to put up his/her hands.

- Im sure there will be a few...

- U pick which one u want... go up to them and bring them up on stage...

;)

if you make eye contact and the person is smiling,
you go up to them and introduce yourself, ask for the persons name and ask this person to help you out
get the audience to give a round of applause.

It's a fact that Asians are quite shy, compared to Western Countries.
I usually get a female volunteer rather than male as sometimes male are even more shy than female. Don't ask me why, it's just how I feel through experience.

Eye Contact, Practical Jokes helps.
If he/she is still a little reluctant to volunteer him/herself, use the audience to help you by giving him/her a round of applause.

Having watched so many professional magicians doing audience interacting act on Live/TV, I found the Amazing Johnathan has the most bizarre and interesting way to get a volunteer in his act.

Really? Do elaborate! Or better yet, is it on Youtube?

I think you should be able to find some clips taken from his performances on World's Greatest Magic & Comedy Central on Youtube. Although his way of getting volunteer is always 80% same all the time throughout his act, it's never bored to see it over and over again. It really describes his personality as a Comedy Magician.

Arigato!

I agree with Roy Foo on getting someone of the opposite sex.

Personally, I've never had trouble getting a volunteer. Often, when they hear "magic", they get all excited.

I oh-so-rarely pick a female volunteer, but you know, sometimes they're overly enthusiastic, which just makes it hard to pick out the cute little shy guy in the back.

I'd say crowd interaction and showmanship(everything from the way you stand, eye contact, what you say, etc) are very important. If you can get your crowd all excited then they'd gladly let you make a fool of them..

Hie Simon , this is the approach I use .

before you start your stage show , make sure you know the crowd and people whom you want to call out later .

Use this line:
` Sir , I would like you to please raise your hand and keep it like that for a while '

After that ,look to the other side and say ....

`Ok now I want a volunteer...oh I see somebody putting up thier hand '...

Hope this helps , it has helped me in the past .

LOL...

THat's a volunteer "force"

Magicians just love using thier forces dont they? They do it whenever they can!

hehe...

But yeah... that's a pretty cool way David! Im sure the audience will get a laugh out of that... :lol:

thanks for the ideas , I will use it next time.

Great piece of humor David~!
It'll sure come in handy in my future acts.
Credits to you.

No problem haha