The midnight session will take place in the Alfriston Room at the Lansdowne Hotel, tickets will be available from the Registration Desk from Thursday onwards at £10.

This session is strictly limited to just 40 people which should provide a very intimate and close session

Full Details on the British Ring site and on our own event listing for the convention here

Don’t forget to check out our guide to finding and booking a hotel for this convention here

The midnight session will take place in the Jevington Room at the Lansdowne Hotel, tickets will be available from the Registration Desk from Thursday onwards at £20.

This session is strictly limited to 60 people which should make it a session worth getting to!

Full Details on the British Ring site and on our own event listing for the convention here

Don’t forget to check out our guide to finding and booking a hotel for this convention here

Close up will be catered for in the International Close-up Gala with Nick Einhorn, Bob Kohler, Derek DelGaudio, Glenn Farrington, Jon Armstrong and Jason England, as well as Juan Tamariz providing a one-man Close-up Show. There’s also two Late Night Sessions of stand-up magic during the convention

Lectures throughout the Convention are provided by Juan Tamariz, Geoffrey Durham, Jeff Hobson, Nick Einhorn, Kalin & Jinger, Levent, Guy Hollingworth, Mike Bent, Michael Finney, Bill Herz, Oscar Munoz, Bob Kohler, Gene Anderson and Michael Weber, as well as a “Hard Core Card” session by Jason England and Derek Delgaudio. There are also seminars by Paul Freeman, Michael Symes, Roy Field and John Palfreyman.

Two competitions, for The British Ring Shield for stage magic and The Zina Bennett Trophy for close-up magic take place during the week, as well as Ali Bongo’s Micro Magic Marathon and a mammoth Dealer’s Exhibition are all in the registration fee of £125 per person (£100 for British Ring Members and their Partners). Day registrations are also available.

Children’s Showtime with Terry Herbert, Dave Andrews, Jonathon Shotton, The Safire Magic Light Puppets and Mike Bent can be attended for an additional small fee.

The convention is featuring a Midnight Audience on the Friday with Juan Tamariz in the Jevington Room at the Lansdowne Hotel tickets will be available from the Registration Desk from Thursday onwards at £20. This session is strictly limited to 60 people. Paul Wilson is also holding a midnight session in the Alfriston Room at the Lansdowne but limited to 40 people at £10 a ticket.

Full Details on the website: http://www.britishring.org.uk/ and on our own event listing for the convention here

Don’t forget to check out our guide to finding and booking a hotel for this convention here

“Having scored such a hit at previous IBM and Blackpool Conventions with his Vampire and Dove Act, we were thrilled to discover that Rafael has three other stage pieces, unseen in England, that he will be performing over the weekend” said Noel Britten, who books the acts for the Convention “Rafael’s acts are always beautifully produced, with wonderful off-the-wall magic, great costumes and a wonderful tongue-in-cheek presentation.”

He will be starring in the Gala Show and also appearing in the Stand Up Comedy Show on the Friday night.

This adds to the stunning line up for this year convention which includes, John Lovick, Richard Turner, Andrew Goldenhursh, and Richard Kaufman. Further details on the International Magic Convention Site

The Magic Convention Guide also provides a guide to hotel booking in the area, and all the latest information as we reporting it can be found here

He is a regular performer at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, where he has been nominated each of the last eight years as Parlour Magician of the Year. He is also an author, probably best known for his book Switch which offers a comprehensive guide to the $100 Bill Switch, and includes history, variations, subtleties, performance theory, presentation ideas and 60 stand-up and close-up routines.

Well known for his insightful product reviews in Magic magazine, John will be performing close up and lecturing over the course of the weekend and appearing as his alter ego, Handsome Jack, during the Stand Up Comedy Show on the Friday night.

If you have never witnessed the “Handsome Jack experience”, and it’s highly likely, as this will be another first time UK Convention appearance, you will not want to miss Jack’s ability to take time-honored plots and give them fresh twists, performing routines you will never see any other magician do all in the guise of his wonderful comic creation.

Further details on the International Magic Convention Site

The Magic Convention Guide also provides a guide to hotel booking in the area, and all the latest information as we reporting it can be found here

The Magic News Wire also has a great interview with Ken Scott organiser of the SEAM 2008 convention..

The official site for SEAM 2008 is www.seam2008.org

Remember if you wish to provide a report of the event..

please let us know: info@magicconventionguide.com

We provide a number of excellent advertising areas on the site, and if you are a lecturer, you can have you contact details and lecture info placed onto the site as well..

Convention organisers, we can report on your convention, just give us access to take photos, talk with artists, and generally get the vibe of the event. Just check out the options here.

Drop us a line and we can talk about how we can help, and you can help us.. info@magicconventionguide.com

Magic Convention Guide caught up with Shawn, and we had a interesting chat about magic, lectures, embarrassing moments and what he thinks of the convention scene…

Read the full interview here

This year’s event is going to be just as exciting. But you’re not going to know exactly what it is until it starts on the Sunday!

“There are a number of reasons why we are keeping the exact nature of the event as a surprise,” says Noel Britten, event coordinator for the Convention, “but undoubtedly one of them is that there seem very few genuine surprises at Conventions nowadays, which seems strange when surprise is our business. Stan Allen at Magic Live did not announce what any of the events were going to be before they happened. As a conventioneer there, there was a certain level of anticipation and the excitement was palpable as the event unfolded in front of you, if the performer or happening warranted it. I think this will undoubtedly warrant it!”

Guesses to what the event may be can emailed to noelbritten@talk21.com under the heading “2008 Surprise Event”.

The first person to guess correctly will have their full registration cost re-imbursed at the Convention. Multiple entries are allowed, so let the guessing begin!!

More Convention details on http://www.internationalmagic.com/acatalog/Convention_registration.html

You can also check out our event listing as well for full line up and guides

Sponsored by Magicbox and The Customs House Theatre the convention will be hosted by the Customs House Theatre in South Shields and the Sea Hotel will again be the venue for the Welcome Evening and the Midnight Show.

Acts booked to date (subject to contracts!)

David Williamson ~ USA
Rick Maue ~ USA FIRST EVER UK APPEARANCE!!
Banachek ~ USA
Steve Axtell ~ USA FIRST EVER UK APPEARANCE!!
Don Driver ~ USA FIRST EVER UK APPEARANCE!!
Bob Sheets ~ USA
Paul Dabek ~ UK
Jasper ~ UK
Russ Stevens ~ UK
Kockov and Uncle Al the Kiddie’s Pal
John Archer
Stephen Williams + more to be announced

Check out our event entry for full information and website details. We’ll also be putting up hotel info and guides soon..