A Party at Reggia di Venaria Reale

FISM attendees dressed all in white to eat, dance, and maybe watch some street magic. (This photo was taken from a Masters of Magic video)

The Palace of Venaria is magnificent. It was the site of FISM Italy 2025's "white party" (this refers to the dress code), where a five course meal, wine, beer, and an evening of entertainment awaited attendees.

But attendees have just spent hours hunkered inside the main convention stage tent without very many breaks for food. They have just spent the past hour likely standing inside a city bus.

They were tired, hungry, and magicked out.

For the street performing competitors who spent the evening entertaining FISM attendees, our biggest challenge was simple: Can we get people to care?

The 12 finalists were split between 3 spots and 4 timeslots.

First shows began at 8:00pm. Last shows started at 9:30pm.

People didn't even really start arriving at the venue until 7:30pm -- and at that time, the only thing on their mind is food.

There would be no judges formally scoring us this evening, so everything came down to votes. Can we get people to watch us? Can we get people to vote for us? And can we impress a garden full of magicians?

The party began.

8:00pm: At our spot, the first performer did his show. The people who were ostensibly his audience sat at their tables and ate their food, barely glancing up in his direction.

8:30pm: The second performer worked harder to get people's attention. He was more aggressive. His Italian, which gave him an advantage with the public in Turin, became a disadvantage here with international FISM attendees who weren't Italian speakers.

9:00pm: My turn. Stopping and building a crowd (especially in tough conditions) is one of my strengths. I announced my show, got people to stand up, and moved people to stand in front of the tables -- blocking the view of anyone eating so that, if they wanted to watch, they would have to stand up and actively engage. People were still just getting to the venue and most people were still eating, so the crowd was small, but the show was really quite fun and dynamic.

Here's a short clip from the show

And then I packed up, joined the party, and ate. By the time I was done eating, the garden was packed with people, and the rest of the event just became a fun night out.