Handling Mic Issues

I turned my mic on and…nothing.

It wasn’t working. And I had about five minutes till show time.

Horrified, I quickly told my client what was happening.

She looked out at the 350 or so kids gathering and nodded.

When it was time to start the show, she explained that sometimes technology doesn’t always work. The kids would need to be good listeners, she said.

I in turn explained to the kids that because my mic wasn’t working, I would raise my hand in the air if things got too loud.

You know what? The show went well.

I would have been happier with my mic, of course.

A day later, I’m still not sure what went wrong. It’s a relatively new mic, around four months old.

Curiously, it worked just fine for the second group of kids later in the day.

Sometimes you just can’t predict technology.

What to do if your mic fails you…be prepared.

Consider these few strategies to cope with a dead mic if you’re in a stage show situation.

1. Learn to project with your diaphragm.

I’ve had some theater training, so I know how to project my voice. That’s helped me tremendously in situations where a mic isn’t working.

Don’t think you can shout your way through a 45-minute show. Your voice will be shot halfway through your show.

Projecting from your diaphragm means the force of your voice isn’t coming just from your vocal cords.

If you haven’t already, take some voice lessons and theater classes. It’s been a game-changer over the years.

2. Set up a signal; to let the kids know to calm down.

This is the first thing I did. Since I perform a lot in schools, I know most have a hand signal or certain rhythmic clap to get kids’ attention.

This is essentially an anchor the school sets up.

An anchor is a trigger that causes people to think or respond in a certain way.

Your name is an anchor. When you hear your name, you look up. We are conditioned to respond to anchors.

Some with handshakes. Here in North America (not sure about other parts of the world) most of us are conditioned to respond and shake hands when someone holds out their right hand.

So schools use anchors to settle the kids down.

They drill whatever signal they use into the kids’ heads right from day one of school. And they reinforce it throughout the year.

Knowing this, I quickly reminded them of the anchor. These were good kids, and it worked great.

Here’s a neat trick…because these anchors are so ‘set’ in kids’ minds, they often will respond even outside of school.

If I’m performing at a fair, library, or some other event, I can raise my hand or do the rhythmic clapping many schools use.

And the kids respond!

Keep that in mind even if you never work in schools.

3. I changed my presentations.

My scripts became a lot shorter.

I used fewer words.

Each word had meaning.

I paused.

A lot.

By doing this, I made what I did easier for kids to hear me, even without my mic.

It’s an old vaudeville trick I learned about from mentalist Lee Earle.

Houdini was used to speaking to crowds without a mic. He too used short sentences.
4. I smiled.

Sounds silly, right? Nope.

The kids listened exceptionally well.

But when something funny or amazing happened, they reacted to it. After all, that’s the point of a magic show.

When the climax of a joke or trick occurred, I simply allowed the kids to react. I’d smile, nod, and generally act like this was how things were supposed to go.

In other words, never let them see you sweat.

So the show progressed well enough and both kids and teachers saw me apparently enjoying myself.

I think –I hope—this translated nonverbally to the audience that things were great. I didn’t want them thinking “Oh, that poor guy” throughout the show.

5. I watched my time.

Because I had to pause more to let reactions play out, the show was in danger of going long.

I kept my eye on the time and cut out my second-to-last trick.

Fortunately, in the context of the show, no one was aware that anything had been cut.

After the show, the principal sympathized with me for the kids “getting a little rowdy.”

I told her, “Oh, not at all. They were perfect.”

Amazed, she replied, “Really?!”

“Yes,” I explained. “During the show, they were supposed to react. They laughed at the silly stuff. They gasped at the magic.”

“But,” I continued, “when it was time to refocus and settle down, they did so perfectly., They made doing the show without a mic as easy as it could possibly be.”

“Wow, thank you!” she said. “I’m really glad to hear that.”

The show wound up being so successful that one of the teachers snuck back into the assembly area a while later.

“Your show was great! But you gotta tell me how you did…” and she wanted to know how I did one of my effects.

Let’s be honest.

Having your mic die right before your show sucks.

But it’s not the end of the world.

Keep calm and you can still pull off a good show.

Professionals are paid to pull through, regardless of the problems that may occur.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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