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Hi I am interested in performing magic in a corporate setting. What is the best way to start getting work in this field?

I am sure I have seen some DVD's/books on the subject are there any that are recommended? I am wary of these types of products so would be very grateful of any advice.

Nic

How'd you mean corporate Nik?

Corporate as in working for a company at their dinner party or event?
Or do you mean at a trade show?

Sorry should have been more specific, Tradeshows.
Nic

There are a couple of good tradeshow DVDs. I think Marc Paul does one?

Anyway, the point about them is that a) there's lots of work; b) you can get a grand a day; c) you are being employed as business development, not entertainment.

A big trade show costs the company from £5 to 100K. The whole stand gets created for the event and then torn down and thrown away. A good stand can cost £50K. Certainly there are cheaper options, but if you see the stands by Symantec or Oracle you'll see the really top end. Even the smaller companies have a huge investment.

They want pay back. If they are spending £80K, then they want return on investment. You need to prove that you can do that, which means being a business person not a performer. A trade show lasts, say, 3/4 days. For the company they won't mind spending £1K per day if they know that they will get a ROI, plus you can hire things like your own PA. But it's the ROI. You have to prove that you are worth it, which you do by showing you understand marketing, you understand that your role is not to entertain, it's to generate leads. You need to instruct your clients how to make best use of you - have the leads team follow you around, you ask for business cards etc.

Go to shows. Look up the earl's court website and see what's on. Infosec is coming up, that's a biggie. Most are free to attend as a visitor if you register in advance. Just go, go to a small stand and say "if you hired me, you would have had another 40 leads per day".

You could just turn up on day one, find a smaller site and offer to be their magician for free, on the basis that they may book you again. You'll find one who will take you one, that will qive you the qual and then you can use that in your future advertising as well as going to the others saying "see me on stall 26B".



And the beauty? You only need to know six tricks: a quick banknote change, an amitious card, maybe something with delites. You don't even need to be good. You do need to be a showman, you do need to get a crowd, but you only need to be good on the day of your audition.

If you are female and young, then you've got it made.

aporia wrote: but you only need to be good on the day of your audition.

I've found you have to be good on the day of the tradeshow too, or the client gets a little miffed.

Thanks Aporia, I could not turn up and not be my best on the day. I do have a marketing background but male.

Nic

I have done many trade shows. And you DO have to be good. Unless Aporia meant good from a technical point of view. I suppose if you are a showman that is the definition of good in it's own way.

I will say that experimenting with new material is a very bad idea for a trade show. YOu should know your stuff inside out so you can concentrate on the selling part of things even though you aren't actually doing any selling yourself.

You have to draw a crowd to the stand, entertain that crowd and script what you say so that your magic ties in with the company message so that you are in effect a living commercial.

The tricky part is what you do with the crowd at the end of your show. A lot depends on the requirements of the company and it is important that you find that out as soon as possible.

They may merely want you to entertain or they may wish you to attract leads or they may merely wish you to get people on to the stand so the reps can do their work.

It is really hard work although nowhere near as hard as some magicians make it out to be. Of course I have sold svengali decks at thousands of consumer shows over 45 years so I am used to the stamina required and also how to draw crowds out of nowhere and sell to them.

I will say that this is not suitable work for those who are not used to it. A company should never book an inexperienced worker who is not used to trade shows. A birthday party magician is not the right one for the job.

And yes. Many a magician has given up trade shows simply because they hate doing them. A lot of even good ones get burned out very quickly.

Not me. I could do them day after day, hour after hour and not get tired because of my experience with the svengali deck. I do find trade shows easy to do. Most magicians find them difficult and very few are qualified to do this work.

Mark was it you who fried my mind with a svengali deck when I was a young impressionable lad I wonder? Did you do the Ideal Home Exhibition, King's Hall Belfast, early 80s?

Yes. That was me.

Wow. I've never forgotten it. Now if only I could go back in time, shake my old man by the throat and tell him "buy the kid the bloody trick you cheapskate"!

If you want to bring back memories go to my website and look at the trade show page. Near the bottom of that page you will see a Real Player video clip of the demonstration. The quality of the clip is no longer marvellous although it was at one time. I don't understand computers so I don't know why that is the case. Anyway if you watch it you will see enough to get the gist of it. It was the exact same routine you saw in King's Hall, Balmoral, Belfast in the Holy Province of Ulster.

Oddly enough Kimmo also saw me do the routine when he was six years old on Central Pier in Blackpool. Luckily though, he had a more generous parent than you did and his mother actually purchased a deck for him.

That started him on magic and he ended up winning some daft competition in Blackpool which said he was the best children's entertainer in the world. It is ironic that he got this accolade in Blackpool where he first got his start in magic with one of my bloody svengali decks.

I had a horrible thought this morning. I must have performed the svengali deck more than any magician living. It gives me the creeps to think of it.

I even do it at trade shows as my last trick. No escape from the bloody things.

"showman that is the definition of good"

Sorry, I was a little hurried. I didn't mean that you don't need to be competent, but I was thinking more about the showman side, rather than the technical competence.

I've been to many trade shows and I always make a bee line for the magicians. What I have observed is that you don't need to have the card skills of Lennart Green to be successful.

Many times I have been to the stall with the most exquisite, brilliant magician and they have no more punters, generate no more leads and are therefore (in the eyes of the commissioning organisation) no more useful than the mediocre person down the row who is doing a simple ambitious (straight from the Ellusionist DVD) , followed by an ID, followed by a professor's nightmare.

I think that what I was getting at is that one needs a certain level of competence, but you don't need brilliance.

With trade shows, it's all about getting business cards and leads from the punters.

I've even seen some companies employ tall men who walk around in a suit and briefcase: that's it! They don't do anything, they are just tall ... and they get leads. Put a reptile in a tank and you will get leads.

I was thinking about this today, and cups-and-balls would be a good one, with a suitable final load.

I saw a magician at Infosec a year or two ago. He performed the three card monte exclusively. And he had a bell. There was something to do with ringing it whenever the (sponsoring) company name was mentioned. Anyway, he was competent, drew crowds and kept mentioning the company name (to the accompaniment of a bell). Job done, as far as the employers were concerned, I'm sure.
T.

Some companies want you to gather leads and business cards and some companies don't. Some want you to get badges scanned and some don't.
Some companies want you to get people to come into the stand to talk to the reps and some don't. Just because you have a big crowd does not necessarily mean that they are all prospects for the product. However, there are ways of sorting this matter out which I won't get into.

If it is just a matter of bringing people onto the booth and letting the salesmen figure out who is who this is what I say. Incidentally sometimes a company has a free gift to give away and I am assuming this in the following spiel.

"That is the end of my little show. I hope you have enjoyed it. If you have enjoyed the show tell all your friends. If you haven't enjoyed it then don't tell anyone!
Now before you leave I would like to conduct a survey. Those of you who now have embedded in your subconcious mind the sales message that ABC widgets are the biscuit raise your hands in the air"

(or whatever the sales message is. Earlier in the show I mention this message several times. I try to make it rhyme when I prepare my script for the product.) Anyway the hands go up and I turn to the salesmen and say "Keep an eye on these people" It gets a laugh. Now I continue :

"Now those of you who couldn't care less about ABC Widgets raise your hands!" There is always some wit in the crowd who will raise his hand and again you turn to the salesmen and say "Avoid that man!". Another laugh.Then I continue:

"All joking apart, do me a favour, come on the booth, pick up your free gift (if there is one otherwise omit this line) look at our literature, speak to our friendly consultants (never say salesmen) and they will answer any questions you have about ABC WIDGETS. May God bless and keep you because I can't afford to . Thank you very much"

This will bring them on to the booth particularly if the booth is a large one.They often applaud after the show which is always welcome.

I find this work easy but a lot of magicians don't. I personally think only a tiny minority of magicians are suited to this work. Alas a company that hires the wrong guy can be put off magicians on their booth for all time. That is a hazard for those of us who actually know what we are doing.

I believe it was Charles Greene, a top trade show magician who would gather the crowd, then have everyone grab hold of a rope. He would then literally lead them into the back of the booth where a small theatre was set up. He would perform an effect on the stage and then one of the salesmen would get on the stage and do his thing. While the salesman was doing his thing Charles Green would be gathering another crowd. NOTE I think it was Charles but cannot swear to it.

As for books or DVD go to the Master Eddie Tullock http://www.llpub.com/zenshop/index.php? ... ts_id=2035

While the work is not overly difficult, what you have to remember is that you are being paid a lot of money, you have to step up and represent! Then there are the specialty suits, I know a coorperate guy who at the end of the tradeshow was asked to entertain some of the bigger clients an a cruise ship. He had a really hard time because they were all drunk, all very wealthy, yet he still had to represent.

A grand a day is underselling yourself. But I guess that depends on the company and you.