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Hi all;

just a question out of curiosity.

How would you define "corporate" magic, and how does it differ from table hopping. The customers / venues are different (I guess?), but aren't they both very similar in terms of moving table to table, types of effects?

Just wondering.

Thanks
LP.

Some people class corporate work as working for a cororate company at at trade show, drawing in the crowds!

Well, that's what I thought, but I see Martin Sanderson has a set of corporate magic DVDs which don't seem to involve drawing in crowds, but rather entertaining business people, which I thought was called table hopping. In that context I don't see how it is different from entertaining at a wedding for instance?

Yeah, I have heard coporates described as both trade show work but also awards ceremonies/company events with a dinner & guest speakers which is not really very different from a magician's point of view to a wedding or birthday booking. Quite a grey area though.

Russ

I've got the Sanderson DVDs and, although I haven't watched them for a while, I think the two titles have a bit of a mixture of table work as well as some work he does at a trade stand. (Can't remember which DVD includes what effects, though!)

I agree that the table hopping stuff is very similar to wedding work, etc -I think it comes down more to the client you're dealing with. Martin does cover some good stuff on one of his DVDs about dealing with corporate clients, etc...

I agree though - in terms of the actual work, there's not a huge heap of difference


Sean

Magic is magic, your effects are your effects non of that has to change. Corporate work is working for a corporation, usually a trade show. Corperate shows pay a heck of a lot more unless you are an idiot. 3M sets up a booth at 3 day trade show and has a budget for the booth alone is in the thousands, then they rent a suite in the hotel to throw a party for their really big clients, add in food, booze, entertainment we are talking a million dollar plus budget. A good corperate magicican will make a few thousand for a few hours work. A great corperate magician will make a heck of a lot more and I know a few magi who are on retainers for companies and will be flown anywhere in the world by the company to work a convention or company party. Its great work, and its not always easy and be prepared for really wealthy, really influential, really drunk people telling you "Hey magic boy, show me a trick will you, make my wife turn into Angelna Jolie" And you have to be polite and respectful back. Check your pride at the door.

Table hopping is a performance style whereas corporate is a tag for an audience.

You can do a corporate parlour show if you see what I mean.

Corporate is usually a reference to trade shows (booth), coctail receptions (strolling), award ceremonies (tables)

There are indeed siilarities to weddings where you will usually perform a mixture of strolling and/or table work

yeah as said, a corporate magician is usually hired by a company, either for clients or to entertain at a company party. quite a lot of the time i have seen a magician use info about the company in his act.. e.g., three thought of numbers add to the year the company was started

i agree though as far as the work goes.. not much difference, unless you were going to try something like that.

bmat wrote:Magic is magic, your effects are your effects non of that has to change.

really? i dont do corporate work and never will, but people like lior manor do - and i've read what he has to say on the subject...it seems its more about getting the company's message across during some effects, and tailoring what you do to suit the company you are working for in some ways...

and isnt it that because you have more people milling around and surrounding you - angles will have become more of an issue?

thats definitely true iain,

i think thats the defining point, encorporating the company`s message or ethos... so i suppose you would tailor your delivery or patter more than anything...

You are correct Ian a good corperate magician will tailor the magic to the corperation. That is usually a change in patter, routine, or prop. But the magic is essentially the same. A good childrens show magician will also make sure to change some things in the show to be unique to the child, torn and restored newspaper with the newspaper being about the childs birthday party, or high stock quotes for the corp. For my definition that is all about presentation and the routine. The magic however has not changed.

Hope that makes a little more sense.