Normally at the start of a new year many people like to have a think about the months ahead and to formulate some sort of plan for the year. Whether it’s booking holidays, resolving to be fitter or see friends more, or to get that job promotion, or to attend the local magic club more regularly, it seems to make sense to have some resolutions to work towards.
Until two or three years ago, although unexpected things happen in all of our lives from time to time, basically we knew with reasonable certainty what was likely to happen at various points in the year and we would make decisions based on those assumptions.
How that has all changed thanks to the pandemic! My paper diary for the last couple of years is full of appointments and events that have either been changed (sometimes more than once) or cancelled altogether. Regular annual magic conventions were mainly cancelled or at best converted to some sort of online alternative. Shows already booked were usually cancelled and new enquiries virtually stopped. The world as we knew it, was totally uncertain and unpredictable.
So as we stand on the doorstep of 2023 and look out over the next 12 months, can we feel any more confident about things? Well, the pandemic, although still with us, is no longer defining how we live day to day. Magic events are returning to their regular scheduled slots, and shows have been picking up, so the hope is that this year we will be able to return to some form of normality.
But what is now ‘normality’? I think that many things have changed possibly for ever. People have become used to staying at home more and accessing everything online, and many now work permanently for at least part of each week from where they live. Gatherings at weddings and other parties seem to consist of smaller numbers of people, and the idea of attending live magic lectures online has not disappeared altogether.
So when we make magic plans for this new year, perhaps we need to think a little wider rather than just trying to search out what we had before. Yes, the Blackpool Magic Convention in February has returned apparently without missing a beat, but I wonder whether the difficulties that still exist with international travel, and the expense for dealers, for instance, of attending conventions abroad, will prevent many of them from attending?
Magic dealers have had a fairly torrid time of it over the last few years, and with opportunities for face-to-face selling disappearing for some time, revenue for many will have dropped to dangerously small levels. Those with a strong internet presence have survived, but those without that selling platform to fall back on will have struggled.
But let’s be positive and hope that there are no more big traumas for us all to cope with in 2023. Getting back to attending live conventions and making local magic club meetings a regular thing once more, should help us all to discover enthusiasm for magic again. And if shows continue to pick up this will create income for performers to spend with the dealers again so that they too can have a better year. Yep, let’s hope there really is some light at the end of the tunnel.