- No props (apart from chairs when performing the famous Marcel Marceau mime, "Bip On an Omnibus or The Omnibus")
- Avoid any verbal communication whatsoever - this includes singing and lip-syncing as well.
- Maintain an awareness of one's "imaginary fourth wall" or the boundary to your imaginary space around you, as if it were made of glass
- Maintain focus of the audience to a single performer and never allow multiple focus points at any one time
- Do not perform an action to completion; stop just short of completing something so as to retain its "illusion": e.g. when miming eating an imaginary apple, pretend to bring an apple close to one's face, do not bring it the whole way so as to create the perfect illusion for what one is miming.
- Exaggerate movements for clarity without over acting; do not under perform