UPSB v3
Presentation / Short presentations of ps
what do you do to amaze people instead of boring them with pens?
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Date: Wed, Sep 19 2007 23:11:37
Hi!
Damn.. I thought so long of this topic already... Well what is it about?
We all know that there are thousands of PenSpinners today, but what makes the difference between doing some combos and after 2 or maybe 3 minutes it becomes boring for outstanding people and the fact that you amaze people with a 10min show and they will think of you and penspinning for weeks or month or even years?!
Well, here is what I do...
What I think, is that the first thing to do is to don't spin a pen.
What I try to do is to first talk about it a little... most people get interested in it then...
here it starts! It's up to you what you say and how you keep people interested and it's up to you to make them ask for what it looks like.
But then don't pull out your pen and do a monster-combo with which you could have won the world-tournament..
simply explain what you're going to do.
I guess that most people get bored, because they don't understand what we really do. Each thing looks the same for them.. so the conclusion is that we have to explain it.
What I do is that I use both hands to show a simple trick: ThumbAround. I really explain the trick before I do it...
it matters on the situation but it is great to get people think "this is never possible..."..
If they think like that, you're done. You got them., but don't do a Ta as if it would be nothing now. It's something special! They never saw it before.. you should smile and act impressed.... that gains their sensation about that you really did that trick... They will look in your face and smile... thats what I want... I want make people laugh and smile...
The next thing is that you might try to teach the trick.. yeah still before you did anything else than a simple TA...
Already 2 minutes done right now... most people are still interested and many are laughing about it. If they laugh you did it right!
So if you had done 2 killer combos in the beginning, than now the moment would come where people loose concentration for looking after that fast pen in your hand.. but now we can act like that:
Try to teach a TA. Most people don't think that they can do it.. it's good if you got some more pens with you, so that more people than one can tryout a TA, but be sure to not loose there attention to you. Sometimes one pen is better...it matters of the situation...
ok all you have to do after those already 5 min. is to take that concept on:
You might try to do it with a Ta rev and than with ta harm and so on... but I prefer to explain that there are many other tricks... some easier ones but some really hard stuff...
Many people want to see more than a TA then. ok.. what we gonna do? we show it to them... but still no killer combo.. simply a sonic or a fingerpass with the comment "you may know that one from james bond - golden eye or just from playing around with pens in school or whatever..."..
What I try is to get people think of their own and how they maybe got in contact with ps until now.
That will keep their attention... it's all about performance...
Ok, now I show sonic, fingerpass.. I explain that I can do a sonic from 23 to 12, but that there is a concept of executing it from each finger to another while I'm showing the tricks. If people are still interested after this long 7 minutes I will go one like that.. if they loose attention I won't keep to the simple things but increase the level of what I'm doing.. A very good trick, which always impresses if you explain it first is a demon devil's sonic. It's impossible for outstanding people to believe that you're able to perform that trick. It's not that hard, but it's a nice trick for getting attention back.
Now I tell them about combining Tricks in combos and show some hybrids after I explained what I'm going to do.. its all about first explaining and than showing... otherwise people are not able to understand or to get the difference between the tricks and the different levels of tricks.
After some hybrids I'm getting in performing some combos.. not the hard ones, but some with a nice flow. I needs to look cool... you still can increase the level to killer combos now, but I prefer to stop at this point.
Its about 10 min. right now and you have to stop after 10 min.
If you are able to keep their attention so long, than they are now really amazed by penspinning and thats where you have to stop. If you go one you will loose your attractiveness and otherwise they will ask for more.. but don't do!! If they ask for more and you say no that's it for now... they will keep thinking of it and will tell all their friends about it. If you go one, they will get what they want and than many people will forget it.
After a longer time of at least 30 min you might go one if they still ask for it.. than the point has come where someone is really interested. Most time I got in this situation I will give this human a pen and teach the TA again and let him/her ( I prefer her
) try it out some time.. While they are doing so, I try to talk about the pen. I try to figure out that this pen is really special... I explain what I have done to get that i.e RSVP MX and than the final thing comes: when he/she wants to give the pen back I'm used to say "nono... you may keep it... practice and have fun". Of course on the pen stands a domain or something about where they can look for more of information. They will love you for that. You endow him/her with that special pen... damn! that's nice. He / She will not forget you or penspinning in the next weeks... And on the next day they will hold that pen in their hand and will think of you and looking for that domain or what ever they can find on the pen.
BUT a very (!) important thing about all that is, that you stop immediately if you see that people are not interested in it anymore. You have to really keep attention to that. If they get bored you have to stop! I know.. you would like to go on and go on and go on and go on... but STOP! Everything else would nerve them. We don't want people to think that ps is a boring nervy thing which is done by some nerds in front of their PCs...
Another thing is that you never should show everything you can even if you would like to... it's better to have something in the back for the case that you have to gain the situation again... don't show everything.. you dont know what people ask you next time when they see you... you have to always be able to do something better again... hard but think of it.. that's the way you can keep people being interested in ps...
It's all about performance.. it's good to know many tricks and to be a really good PSer, but I think that it is more important, to practice to perform. It's all about performance.. If you say "LOOK I'm the best PSer" and you drop the pen they will make fun about you... but If you do it like I wrote above they will excuse a drop, because they think that it is really hard what you are doing and that it's special that you at least can do it twice...
ok I think I forgot many things I do, because it depends on each situation what I do, but it's the main concept.....It's what I'm used to think of before I start... and than I do something different each time
That's the fun-factor for me...
Ok...What are YOU doing to make PenSpinning something special and not some boring skills?
I would love to read more concepts like that what I build up for me in the last years... it's important to exchange this knowledge to advance our performance and to become ps a more serious thing than some freaks spinning pens.. :
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Date: Wed, Sep 19 2007 23:31:58
I usually don't actively seek people to get interested in pen spinning. I usually just freestyle if I want to and if people are interested enough, they will come up to me and ask what it is I'm doing. If they start asking questions, I will answer them in a clear and concise way. Usually I get the comments "can you do that one thing that every Asian does in class?" and I do the TA and ask them "you mean this?". They usually say "yeah!", then I go on to explain how it works. I always say that it's hard at first, but it becomes easier and easier. Otherwise, ordinary students wouldn't have been able to pick it up anyways.
But I find that most people aren't interested. I have had a few people become just a little dedicated and they ask me to make a mod, so I do. They're grateful for it, but usually, they don't follow through. That's just how it is in Atlanta.
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Date: Wed, Sep 19 2007 23:33:32
well i think what robert was referring to is not a way to attract ppl to spin, but just a nice and easy way to present to other ppl what PSing is about in positive and interesting way. Doesn't mean you have to convince them to learn psing.
It's like if you had to present psing to a group of strangers. -
Date: Thu, Sep 20 2007 08:07:28
How long did it take you to write that long-ass post?
But yeah, you have a point. I guess explaining it and showing them that there are different tricks, they would appreciate it's difficulty a complexity more that way. I don't really perform for people though, so it doesn't much apply to me. But some people could take it into consideration
P.S. I didn't actually read your whole post, only the first few paragraphs, maybe you should have explained it and showed that different bits were different lol. J/K -
Date: Thu, Sep 20 2007 15:19:22
It's almost as if Robert was presenting PS in a salesman-like manner. Gather just enough interest, but do not show the full package. Instead, you go in steps to build up their interest until they just can't resist it anymore. While this is interesting, I can't bring myself to go through that kind of work. If I had to present PS to people, I would simply give them a little background information (it's different each time), then I show a single move, usually some Fundamental. Then afterwards, I will ask them if they know how it's done, which most of the time is "no". If that's the case, then I go on further to show them the move a few more times, just to test the waters if they really want to learn it. I don't like spending too much effort teaching if they're going to give up so easily. After that, the rest just kind of flows on from there.
There have been many instances where I piqued enough interest in a person, but after they try a few times, maximum of 2 minutes, they give up. It's disheartening to see this, but I'm used to it.
I wonder if Robert's technique will guarantee interest. -
Date: Thu, Sep 20 2007 20:02:34
Yeah I like Eso's idea of starting off slow. But then I would do something so very strange, like a rev backarouds. And maybe a transfer or two just in case I didnt get their attention with the other stuff. Ambidexterity is an amazing skill to many.
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Date: Thu, Sep 20 2007 23:00:12
It always depends on the people. Sometimes it's better to do not all that teaching-stuff but show off for only 30sec.
But what I meant was a routine IF people got at least a little interested in what you're doing there.
You can stop the routine every time or leave things out and so on.. I explained the hole thing for when people are interested. If they are not, than I totally agree to the posts above - I stop immediately and wait if there is someone interested or not. If not it's okay and you have to find an other topic for the evening
. You first have to find out how far you can go with them..
But I wanted to discuss what you do if psing gets the hole attention and you have to manage the situation.
Like "Hey, you know this guy?.. wait... .. hey come on and show this people some psing" and what are you going to do now? I try to get a little fun in it .. I don't like showing off 3 hard combos and to be done.. thats boring for me and boring for them..
Thats the point where the described routine comes in ... they want to see something and they dont know what's going to happen. Its up to you to handle the situation and I would like to see what you're thinking of to get a flow in your acting and presentation.. -
Date: Fri, Sep 21 2007 21:26:14
Here's a question (maybe 4
) for you Robert:
How many people have you:
Got into pen spinning enough for them to join GPC and stay there?
Got into pen spinning enough that they still learn new tricks now?
Got to learn more than one or two fundamental trick?
Got to learn just one or two fundamental tricks?
As excellent as your post is, and the theory does seem solid, I would appreciate if you could answer these 4 questions. -
Date: Sat, Sep 22 2007 22:04:38
You must have alot of patient to be able to go through that whole procedure.
When I show PS to people I do an average combo. Wait 5 minutes. The ones that's still trying to do the same thing, that's the ones you should talk to about more advanced stuff(like mods, different tricks, communities). After that it's just to use your hand and your mouth to get them more interested into the art. -
Date: Sun, Sep 23 2007 00:43:17QUOTE (Robert @ Sep 19 2007, 07:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...got in this situation I will give this human a pen...
So what are you? Alien?
Lol jk, I know what you mean, just something I noticed.
On topic:
Yeah, I'll try using your technique, most people that noticed my psing never asked how it worked or about the pen mod, etc, and the people that did ask only wanted to learn few tricks. -
Date: Sun, Sep 23 2007 15:41:43
Hi!
@Mats, your questions are justified of course!
It's not that easy to answer these questions since I often see these people one time and lose contact to them.
It's a fact that although I know some that joined the GPC, that the most did not.
The interesting thing is, that their friends often join GPC some weeks later .. I know many people that wrote me PNs or mails with s/th like "Hey, I'm the classmate of XY and he told me about ps and www.penspinning.de".
Thats what I tried to explain above.. I don't try to make this people become PSer. I try to let them have fun.. and if things work fine and they are interested I go further and further... small steps.. the thing is when the point is reached where someone wants to try it and he gets a pen, that he will think about it later on - tomorrow and the next days.. and he will talk to other people about ps.. and so on..
An other thing is that these people that I still have contact to, don't need to look for ps on the Internet... I know about 10 from the last weeks that still ask me for teaching them new tricks. None of them is a member of GPC (yet?), but they all told me about that they read on penspinning.de and some told me that they have a friend who needs a pen, too. From this 10 people 2 only can do a Ta all others ask me for the other fundamentals.
But I know that it is true that many people want to learn some psing and stop learning after a few tricks.
Of course you can not get anybody into ps, but I figured out - and thats what I wanted to discuss when I started that topic - that the method I'm using now, is much funnier for them and for me for the presentation-situation and that ps gets more attractive in comparison to just showing some combos. I didn't want to find out a routine to get as many people in ps as possible, but to get more out of the situation while presenting ps.QUOTE (yoonkwun @ Sep 23 2007, 02:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>So what are you? Alien?
Lol jk, I know what you mean, just something I noticed.
I'm sorry, my English isn't that good.. there was nothing in the back of my mind in this sentence. -
Date: Mon, Sep 24 2007 19:35:21
lets assimilate them all, Lead us Robert!
meh just joking ^^ pretty good theme, Robert. i will definately keep that in mind. -
Date: Sun, Sep 30 2007 08:35:39
Nice ^^
I think I'm gonna try that...could be interesting... thanks Robert ^^ -
Date: Thu, Oct 4 2007 03:35:16
That is definitely more intricate and wel thought out than what i do, if i catch people glimpsing at my spinning in class, i bust out a super combo to get them hooked
...seems this is why your way works... Hehe -
Date: Mon, Oct 8 2007 19:04:04
I agree with eso , i just do a few tricks freestyle and people ask me "wow how'd ya do that?" but the only thing i can think of is "practise" then they just get annoyed and turn away .yesterday though i had quite a croud that was cool but i still dont think anyone is interested in starting it up which annoys me!!
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Date: Tue, Oct 16 2007 00:01:36
"Pen spinning (PS) is a form of contact juggling that uses a small writing tool, like a pen or a pencil, to perform different tricks that not only sharpen your skills, but also amaze people." Kam
This is what Kam said. Not only pen manipulation but amazing people.