7 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Book a Virtual Magic Show (How to Choose a Magician)
So you’ve decided to host a virtual magic show for your company’s employees or clients. You have realized through your research that magic shows can work really well on Zoom, where everyone feels the thrill of a first-row seat and the potential to participate. But how do you choose which Zoom magician to host your Zoom magic show? Here are some questions you should ask to help you make your decision:
1. For what kind of audience did the magician perform before the pandemic?
Before COVID changed everything about events, when and where did the magician most often perform? Was the magician primarily performing at corporate conventions or bar mitzvahs? Family gatherings or annual meetings? Convention centers or theme parks?
The type of audience and venue that your magician is used to will inform a lot about the type of virtual magic show you can expect. If you’re hosting the virtual magic show for your company, you probably want it to be both sophisticated and clean, and possibly family-friendly. Is the magician used to prioritizing the entertainment of the children or the adults?
When I host a virtual magic show, I like to prioritize the entertainment of the adults, while involving the children. As “The Business Magician,” I haven’t performed a children’s birthday party since I was a teenager myself. Instead, I have long-performed at corporate meetings and business events. I also regularly performed a magic show at a high-end restaurant in Orlando, and another show at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort. While I love to include my audience’s children in the tricks that I perform, my priority is always challenging and delighting the adults in attendance.
2. Who will I be dealing with before booking and before the show?
Will you be dealing with the magician himself because he is a one-man show? Or does the magician’s business necessitate an assistant or team to provide prompt customer service for bookings?
What I have found works best for my clients is to have a small booking team—in my case, Amy and Erika—who can provide fast, expert assistance during the booking and planning process. They’re able to take you step-by-step to ensure the most successful virtual magic show possible, while answering questions along the way. I like to be involved, too, speaking to my clients on Zoom to learn firsthand about their audience and goals.
3. Will I receive any help boosting attendance at my virtual magic show?
Your virtual magic show will only be an astonishing success if your audience shows up. What role does the magician play in making sure your invited guests attend? Is the magician solely focused on performing the magic show itself and taken aback by this question?
When a client books my virtual magic show, my booking team shares a collection of promotional resources to boost attendance, including videos, photos, graphics, and sample invitation emails. In upgraded packages, I will film a custom invitation video, incorporating your brand and event goals into the message. Look for a virtual magician invested in the success of the entirety of your event — not just in the tricks.
4. Do you personalize the virtual magic show for my company?
Does the virtual magician perform the exact same show all day, every day? Or will she make any changes custom to your company?
When I host a virtual magic show, I include several touch-points to make the experience feel personalized to your business. When your guests log on, they will see a countdown trailer that includes your company. And at the start of each show, I always give a representative from my clients’ leadership the opportunity to say a few words about why they decided to host a virtual magic show. And in upgraded packages, I also will design magic tricks that are custom branded for your company, taking into account what it is that you do and are known for. Most importantly, your show will feature your people, and get them delighted to be interacting with each other.
5. How does the magician structure the virtual magic show?
The way a magician answers this question can be telling—have they thought about the flow of their show? Or are they simply presenting trick after trick?
In my show, I take my audience on a journey of carefully planned ups and downs, weaving in sleight-of-hand magic with theatrical mentalism, culminating in a grand finale. Every few minutes, I switch modalities to maintain everyone’s attention span—that means a new visual, a new camera angle, a new type of effect. Zoom fatigue is real—it’s up to the magician to have a real strategy in place to keep everyone engaged from start to finale. At the end of each of my hour-long virtual magic shows, I teach the audience how to perform their own magic trick, to extend the positive feelings and cement the memories of the show.
6. How is pricing established?
Does the magician charge per person? Per half-hour? For certain package collections?
I charge a flat appearance fee, with upgraded package options including additional customization—no matter how many guests you’re inviting. That’s because I want you to be able to focus on the experience and the job you already have to do; not spending time worrying about calculating how many guests you think will come and then counting how many people actually came. The preparation I do is tied to learning about your company’s goals, and that preparation is just as important whether 10, 100, or 1,000 guests plan to attend.
7. Does the magician do anything else for a living besides perform virtual magic shows?
Is this a full-time professional magician? Or is magic a side-hustle, and the magician has a full-time job of another kind? Learning about the magician’s day-to-day could inform how their magic show is unique.
Certainly a full-time professional magician is likely to have the greatest amount of experience—as a pro, I have performed virtual magic shows for thousands of professionals around the world.
However, a magician with a full-time job could be an interesting fit for you. A magician who is a teacher, for example, could be a great match for a group of students.
In addition to performing magic, I am also a motivational speaker and teach businesses how they can Think Like A Magician™ to step inside the minds of their customers and colleagues—all using magicians’ secret principles of perception. My expertise in helping professionals become better at what they do influences the way I present my virtual magic shows. It also gives me an opportunity to establish long-term working relationships for the companies for whom I perform.
Want to ask me these questions yourself?
Tell my booking team about your upcoming event, and we can start the conversation about your virtual magic show:
