爲感謝一衆「香港愛心魔法團義工協調小組」的愛心魔法義工一直以來的支持和無私奉獻，「香港愛心魔法團」在「香港愛心魔法團義工協調小組」主席Margaret的統籌下於2026年1月24日舉辦了2025年的義工嘉許茶聚以感謝各位2025年間熱心服務的義工（尤其是代表本團參與服務了「第十五屆全國運動會香港賽區義工計劃」的30多位愛心魔法義工（特別是：小組組長謝桂珍、阮愛玲、關艷芬）。茶聚當天感謝各義工出錢又出力，準備了各款美味和別出心裁的美食，也感謝永明金融有限公司贊助場地，感謝本團創團理事會副主席方錦聰先生Kenny和特別嘉賓Magic Michael LAM到場支持並爲大家分享了精彩的心靈魔術，感謝張懷基分享和教授小魔術、鄧玉群的剪紙教室、本團創始人兼創團理事會主席MagicWilson溫思聰也出席支持和跟大家愉快地歡度了半天。感恩有大家，社會變得更美好！

踏入新的一年，在2026年1月5日，香港愛心魔法團義工協調小組安排了多位義工（龍惠娟、張懷基、王煒琪、陳燦忠、梁月開、林少芬、周文英、周桂英、黃詠賢、郭淑娟、羅文苑和黃凱儀），浩浩蕩蕩地走進香海蓮社普光學校為有需要的學生提供一次剪髮體驗，亦為作爲照顧者的家長打打氣。當天雖有個別參加者大地哭，但愛心魔術師立即獻上小小的愛心魔法緩和了學生們激動的情緒，義工們運用熟練的剪刀，耐心地為小朋友們打造靚靚的髮型，亦讓照顧者們（爸爸媽媽）欣然地見証子女們克服心理關口（包括恐懼理髮和與陌生人接觸），帶著靚靚心情上學去。再次我們感謝義工們的愛心、耐心、善心和無私奉獻出寶貴時間，齊心合力去面對另類的挑戰！

Magic and Improvisation

WAN Sze-chung
Head of the Academy of Caring Magic Limited, Hong Kong
Published on 16 March 2025

“Changes go faster than plans”, especially in the dynamic business environment nowadays. The ability of improvisation has prime importance to team performance.

Improvisation is subject to changes, first-time and redirection while an individual can predict and explore the possible ways of development by relying on what had happened and what continued to play (Barrett 1998, p. 151). By reciting Moorman et al. (1998), Akgun et al. (2002, p.117) points out that the term “improvisation” comes from the word “improvisus” (a Latin word) that means “not seen ahead of time”. In other words, it is also interpreted as putting plans and implementation together with immediate actions while it is about designs and processes that are continuously reconstructed. According to Weick (1998, p.544), the prefix “im” gives an opposite meaning. “Improvise” also refers to the opposite meaning of “proviso” while “improvisation” is about dealing with those unforeseen and without fixed rules beforehand.

Improvisation has been adopted in different areas, ranging from performing arts (such as Jazz improvisation and theatre improvisation) to team improvisation, requiring individuals to think quickly and adapt to fast-changing environment with innovative solutions. Wan (2006) applied Magic, with the concepts of spontaneity, motor skills, problem solving skills, attention, cognitive skills, psychological skills and perception, offers an effective tool for developing such improvisational skills. Magic tricks often involve elements of misdirection, spontaneous thinking, and adaptability, making magic an effective tool for improvisational training. Misdirection, a fundamental technique in magic, teaches individuals how to guide audience’s attention in an effective way, and translate the skills to manage focus (Hugard & Braue, 1974). On top of that, one’s ability to recover and manage the situation from a failed magic trick or performance requires high level of resilience and adaptability, which are essential qualities for improvisation.

Improvisation training can take different forms. A simple example is to use simple magic tricks as a starting point for improvisational activities through which participants can be given a basic trick and to create a spontaneous performance, incorporating suggestions and inputs from audience. This encourages communication, interaction and feedback and enhances the performer’s ability to think on their feet through creativity, collaboration and adaptability (Lamont & Wiseman, 2005). Another simple example is to use magic as a tool for problem-solving. By giving the participants a seemingly impossible problem relating to design a magic trick and asking the group to brainstorm solutions, in order to develop their critical thinking and adaptability skills. Such activities are adopted to encourage learning through experimentation and learn from failure (Nisbett & Ross, 1980).

Overall, Magic, with creativity, adaptability, and unexpected, facilitates the development of improvisation skills. Skills and experiences learned from magic training can help individuals become more adaptable, creative, and confident in their ability to address uncertainty and transform challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation of organizations.

References

Akgun Ali E. and Lynn Gary S. (2002), New Product Development Team Improvisation and Speed-to-market: An Extended Model, European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 5, No. 3 2002, pp.117-129

Barrett F. & Peplowski K. (1998), Minimal Structures within A Song: An Analysis of “All of Me”, Organization Science, 9(5): 558-559

David Pogue (1998), Magic for Dummies, IDG Books Worldwide Inc., USA

Ed Rose (1998), Presenting and Training with Magic – 50 Simple Tricks You Can Use to Energize any Audience, McGraw-Hill Inc., USA

Fairley Stephen G. & Stout Chris E. (2004), Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching, John Wiley & Sons, USA

Gardner Howard (2003), Multiple Intelligences After Twenty Years, Harvard Business School of Education, USA

Hepworth Dean H., Rooney Ronald H. & Larsen Jo Ann (1997), Direct Social Work Practice – Theory and Skills 5th Edition, Brooks Cole Publishing Company, USA

Hugard J. & Braue H. (1974), The Magician’s Handbook, Dover Publications, USA

Lamont P. & Wiseman R. (2005), Magic in Theory: An Introduction to the Theoretical and Psychological Elements of Conjuring, University of Hertfordshire Press

Law Bridget M. (2005), Gesture Gives Learning A Hand, Monitor on Psychology, Vol.36 No.10 Nov 2005, American Psychological Association, USA

Nisbett R. E., & Ross L. (1980), Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment, Prentice-Hall

Wan, S.C. (2006), An Exploration of The Use of MAGIC as a Training Method for Personal Development in Hong Kong, Dissertation submitted on the Completion of International Programmes in Educational Studies – M.Ed. (Guidance and Counselling), University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2006

Weick Karl E. (1998), Improvisation as a Mindset for Organizational Analysis, Organizational Science, Vol. 9, No.5, 9/10 1998, pp. 543-555