JAM Session: January 14, 2025 Anything Goes Updated Dec 21
2025 IBM Ring 398 Monthly Meeting Topics
2025 Ring Meeting Topics
Following is a list of ideas that encourage productive meetings in 2025 will be posted immediately after the January Board Meeting.
2024 IBM Ring 398 Monthly Meeting Topics
Scheduled 2024 Monthly Ring Meeting Topics
Here’s our 2024 Calendar, subject to change. For the JAM Sessions, anything goes. For the Showcase Sessions, members are encouraged to perform magic that fits the theme of the month.
January 9 (JAM Session) and 23 (Showcase Session)
For the Psychic in Me -- Come prepared to mystify us with the best mind-boggling psychic trick you know. If you can fool the group, you’ll get a standing ovation. Wow!!! This is such a broad topic – all you need to do is pick from the 300 psychic routines you’ve done in the past. No excuse to be unprepared for this session.
February 13 (JAM Session) and 27 (Showcase Session)
Different is good – We all do cards and coins, ropes, etc., but tonight we will be looking for something really different. Go through your archives and come up with a routine so original that it will make us smile. Rummage through those 50 boxes of magic you haven’t visited in a while. Or go to YouTube and find something that you think will make everyone say, “How did you do that” – then don’t tell them.
March 12 (JAM Session) and 26 (Showcase Session)
Coin Night – Everyone has a few coin effects that are so old, even Dr. Lynn doesn’t remember how they’re done. Come prepared to walk us through the moves so we’ll be able to master them as well. Magic books are filled with good ideas that we’ve lost over time. With a little memory jogging, we can avoid rehashing the same old stuff. Let us know which props to bring to the meeting for hands-on training. It would be nice to learn sone new coin techniques.
April 9 (JAM Session) and 23 (Showcase Session)
String Magic. Cut and restored routines, invisible thread, elastic thread, beads on a string, ring and string. This session is so broad, coming unprepared would be embarrassing. Please be original.
May 14 (JAM Session) and 28 (Showcase Session)
Show Time – You’re on!! In the next 10 - 15 minutes, show us what you’ve got. All of us have close-up and parlor routines that we do at different events. Pretend that you’re approaching a group of bar patrons; you’re sitting at a table with other guests; you’re entertaining at a library or birthday party. Show us your routine. You do this often enough so you won’t need a lot of prep time for this presentation.
June 11 (JAM Session) and 25 (Showcase Session)
Gimmick Night – Present a new gimmicked routine using any type of prop you wish. However, it must be a gimmick that is fairly easy for the magicians to build. Complex purchased gimmicks don’t meet the criteria. You can use common gimmicked cards, such as double faced, double backed, etc. that each of us already has. Or use any prop readily available (magnets, double sided tape, rough and smooth, etc.) But you must demonstrate the gimmick in a magic routine in order to present it to the members.
July 9 (JAM Session) and 23 (Showcase Session)
Fool Us – Start thinking about this event now – early in the year. Work on this routine all the way to the July meeting. The attending magicians will fill in for Penn and Teller. Challenge the audience to determine how it was done. Can you Fool Us? A Ring 398 Fool Us award will go to the best performance.
August 13 (JAM Session) and 27 (Showcase Session)
Show us a Trick – A spectator hands you his shuffled deck. You’re on!!!! Let’s see what you’ve got. And don’t even think of showing us the same old stuff. We’re expecting something new, different and mindboggling. This is a meeting of magicians.
September 11 (JAM Session) and 24 (Showcase Session)
Comedy Magic – Some magic routines are funny because of their humorous script. Some are funny because of their audience impact. Some are just funny because the performer is. Some use unusual props that add humor to the act. Ex. The wrist chopper isn’t funny, but the presentation makes it so. OK, make us giggle, smile or laugh out loud. Be funny. This month may be a little more difficult, but planning will add a new twist to our magic.
October 9 (JAM Session) and 22 (Showcase Session)
Fright Night – OK, give it your best Halloween shot. If you don’t have any Halloween magic, try giving one of your favorite tricks a Halloween twist. If that doesn’t work, dress up in your best Frankenstein costume and scare us. Anything goes so long as it follows the season.
November 12 (JAM Session) and 26 (Showcase Session)
Prediction Night – We’ve all placed the prediction envelope on the table and proceeded with doing the impossible – matching a pre-determined outcome. What’s your best prediction routine? And it had better be good because this is a tough crowd. You’ll need more than a good card trick to get through this one.
December 10 (JAM Session) and Christmas Party Date To Be Determined
Bruce Hetzler bamboozling Lou Lepore
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