This is the most vital part of any street show, your hat. You can have a great show and be the envy of every magician but if you have not thought through your hat lines, you will not have a good hat, period.

Your hat lines will make the difference of loose change or a nice fat hat. The first thing you have got to over come to making a good hat is how we value our selves. I have had this conversation with so many street performers that find it difficult to state what they expect to be given. While I was in Canada I had a few drinks with a street performer that said I can’t ask for more than five bucks because I don’t think my show is worth more than that. I said to him “I have seen your show and it is worth more than just the price of a cup of coffee”.

Take for example the retail world. What chooses the value of an item say a pen? Is it the manufacture, the retailer or the consumer? You can say all three but ultimately it is the consumer that pays. No consumer is going to pay ten bucks for a cheap plastic pen but he may pay it for a silver one. It comes down to how much the consumer values the pen. We can apply this same principle to our show, appealing to the highest with in reason figure to the lowest that we think is acceptable.

In my circle show, I will start at £20 and come down to £1. I will say "If you can't afford that then this is my free gift to you but please don’t put change into my hat. If you can't spend it then neither can I." Coming back to this young street performer I asked "Do you think you are worth a cup of coffee?" He replied "Yes". How about a sandwich as well? "Oh, yes!" he said so that is about 10 bucks to start with.

A good busker is priceless.

Mario Morris