Thoughts from The Business Magician
Kostya’s Blog
2020 Keynote Speaker Reel
Looking for an engaging, funny, dynamic and relevant business speaker to impact your audience? On stage, I share secrets of perception and communication. These clips from my keynote speech, “Think Like A Magician™”, best represent the ideas that I share with business audiences at conferences and events around the world.
New Orlando Magic Show Launch A Sold Out Success
The Orlando magic show, 52! A Magic Show of Infinite Impossibilities, presented exclusively inside a private room at Capa Steakhouse & Bar at Four Seasons Resort Orlando at WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort, launched with two sold-out shows on December 17 and 19, 2019.
New Magic Show at Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort
I’m excited to announce the launch of a brand new magic show, presented exclusively at Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. 52! A Magic Show of Infinite Impossibilities is an unforgettable magic experience where the audience makes all of the decisions and no two shows will ever be the same.
Fool Us: No Tricks, I Just Do It
In Season 2 of "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" I fooled Penn & Teller and made Penn pretty mad about it. The performance video went viral and made a huge difference in my life.
Invited back for Season 5, I decided to do something different. Here’s the full video. And, if you're curious about what was going through my mind and what went on right before filming, my wife, Amy, and I discussed what we were feeling, just four hours before showtime in Las Vegas.
How A Magician Prepares for Penn & Teller: Fool Us
While viewers of “Fool Us” see 5-8 minutes of a particular magician’s performance, let me tell you about the 3 days each of us spends in Las Vegas getting ready for the showtime/showdown with Penn & Teller.
Our first morning began bright and early, with filming for the “bio package.” The total shoot takes about 4-6 hours and is different for each performer. Each of us worked with our own producer on our spot.
How Fooling Penn and Teller Changed My Life
Performing for Penn and Teller changed my life in one way I never expected. Up until then I had assumed I was going to remain, for the rest of my life, an anonymous, local magician. And this wasn’t a bad thing.
My friend and I would talk about how we would retire by the beach and do magic tricks into our last days. We knew that doing magic would always make us happy because it made others happy.
So as a teenager I embraced this fact with aplomb: to be happy in life I wouldn’t need to be famous, I just needed to do magic.
And then came the chance to be on national television and get a taste of national exposure.
Back with Penn & Teller: Fool Us - Season 5!
I’m beyond excited to share with you that I will be back on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” this year, performing on the fifth season of their amazing show. The video of my first performance has almost 10 million views and nearly 4,000 comments. My favorite ones are when people tell me that watching the video brings them immense amounts of joy and they’ve watched it 5, 10 or 20 times with their friends and family.
If You're In Sales, You Need To Think Like A Magician™
A sale, like a great magic trick, occurs inside the customer’s mind. And it is there where it is replayed, remembered and redefined continually after. The mind is the final battleground. Because magicians are masters of perception, they understand how to get into the heads of their prospects better than anyone else. That’s why the principles of magic can be so helpful in a business environment. If you’re in sales or customer service, here are four secrets to Think Like A Magician™.
How To Read People Like A Magician
Many people have taken personality tests to tell them who they are. But very few people can instantly assess the personality style of someone they meet. Thanks to this magical system, you’re now equipped to do just that.
You don’t have to rack your brain to search for the right word to describe someone. The magician’s method of four suits is simple to learn and easy to use in the real world. When you’re in the trenches of a presentation or negotiation, meeting people and trying to understand them on the fly, utilize the four suits to identify personality types quickly and easily. And then, give them what their suit needs.
The Most Social Audience at a Keynote Speech
Every speaker loves audience participation and social engagement. It's wonderful to get off the stage and see that people are talking about your presentation online, sharing pictures and quotes from your talk. But it doesn't happen every time because every audience has a different relationship with social media.
When I am speaking to a room of engineers, franchisees, or insurance adjustors, I don't expect lots of tweeting about my presentation. But when I was asked to speak at the 7th Annual Florida Blogger and Social Media Conference, I knew this would be different than any other speech. I just didn't expect this much social engagement.
The Importance of Social Proof
Over the years I neglected to ask my clients for testimonials. I was there to engage the audience! I thought the only proof necessary of a job well done was when my clients hired me back a second time.
But you and I know that nothing can help us make a buying decision easier than social proof. So at a recent business meeting I asked the person who hired me, a Director of Training & Development, to share her thoughts after I finished presenting my signature keynote, Think Like A Magician.™