Thoughts from The Business Magician
Kostya’s Blog
Redefining The Purpose Of Your Business During A Pandemic
In my keynotes for business organizations, I speak about methods, results and effect. As the world is transformed by this global pandemic, I wanted to use my own principles to ensure I’m on the right path and that I remain effects-focused.
This Franchise Used A Virtual Magic Show To Engage Their Franchisees Across The Globe
If your franchise is looking for a way to engage your people, consider hosting a virtual magic show or a virtual keynote speaker for a unique and powerful experience.
How I've Pivoted My Business From Physical to Virtual
I'm thankful for the opportunity to embrace change head on. I was able to pivot my business by going back to the core of what I do: engaging and entertaining. And by finding my bigger purpose: bringing people relief during a difficult time.
Embracing Digital Leadership
As a facilitator of live events, I’ve never embraced the digital world. Now, having the choice to do that or do nothing, I’ve decided to pivot.. In this time of “physical distancing,” it’s time for “digital socialization” and a new era of “digital leadership.”
Questions About Perception And Change
I’m obsessed with perception. It’s what I speak about, it’s what I think about. The following questions are perceptual. I don’t have any answers, yet. I hope to get the answers over the next few days, weeks, years and decades. As I do, I’ll share them with you. For now, here’s what I’m questioning while our family is self-isolating at home:
Perceiving Your Work-Life In A Time of Crisis: Diving In or Tuning Out
This is an unprecedented time to reconsider, re-evaluate and re-think the relationship you have with your business. If you’ve taken care of the fundamental physiological and safety needs to get you through the Covid-19 crisis, you now have a choice of what to do with your time.
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.
2019: The Year of Magic Partnerships
Orlando magician, Kostya Kimlat, partners with corporations and organizations to bring magic to events world-wide.
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.
How a young magician become the world's most famous hacker
Kevin Mitnick is a “white hat” hacker who abides by the law and breaks into computer systems to help corporations and organizations figure out the weak spots in their security. Before that, the FBI had called him the “most wanted hacker”, and arrested him for 5 years, keeping him in isolation, afraid of what he could accomplish even from his jail cell. And before that, he was a budding magician.
Hosting an event with little or no alcohol? Here’s the kind of entertainment that “sober curious” people go crazy for.
if you’re hosting an event and looking for entertainment that will delight both drinkers and the newly minted group of “sober curious,” interactive, strolling, close-up magic is the greatest shared experience you can create for your audience. Magic has universal appeal and is the ideal form of entertainment beloved by people who aren’t drinking just as much as those who are.
This College Footballer Mastered Misdirection (A Magician's Perspective)
North Texas punt returner Keegan Brewer is a magician—a “sleight-of-body” magician. Here’s how he successfully used principles of magic to misdirect his audience (the opposing team) so that he could score a touchdown. (Spoiler: Brewer was successful because he understood in that moment that using an audience’s expectations to fool themselves is diabolically effective.)
My Life Story in Print (So Far)
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with J Life Magazine, which was interested in telling my story from my childhood in the Soviet Union to my career and the Penn & Teller stage. Here's the story in full, told by the talented Allison Slater Tate.
Healthcare CFO talks about hiring keynote speaker, Kostya Kimlat
After hiring Kostya Kimlat as a keynote speaker for her group for a third year, Karen Fauer, of UltraGroup Healthcare, discusses her expectations and reflections on his keynote presentations.
I just started thinking about it, because we do our conferences every year, and I wanted to do something different. So I started researching him, looking online about him, and I just saw all these interviews with people who had just ...
Why I Lie To Children
Last week, I spent a couple of hours lying to children. It’s the most beautiful lie I can create and I’m hoping they believe it completely. Let me explain…
These kids are usually ages 5 to 18 and they’re patients at a local children’s hospital — Nemours Children's Hospital — where I perform monthly magic. I stop by the individual rooms and each child gets to experience their own personal show.
When the kid is the right age, I ask them to participate by putting their initials on a quarter, or make a drawing of a smiley face or a butterfly. Then I ask them to clutch the coin in their fist and imagine themselves getting stronger and stronger.
3 Strategies to a Successful Trade Show Exhibit
I’m a professional speaker who became “the business magician” after the focus of my work became trade shows, conventions and sales meetings. Here are my thoughts and tips for any company exhibiting at a trade show. They are applicable to any industry where people gather to talk to other people about how they can work together better, smarter and more effectively.
The Best Keynote Speakers Share This Purpose
The purpose of my keynote speech is to do what Seth Godin describes: “ to communicate emotion. To create tension. To bring change.”
This quote comes from a great interview in Forbes magazine by Michael Solomon. In the same article, Richard Schelp, co owner and CEO of Executive Speakers’ Bureau writes that “the biggest success is when the keynote speech inspires the audience to leave different than they came in.”
It’s taken me 15 years to develop my Keynote Speech and turn it into an hour long transformative experience. My journey to create an ideal keynote speech started with wanting to “do something fun and different” for corporate audience that had grown tired of the expected.
The Perception of Magic in Culture is Changing
The zeitgeist is changing. In today’s social world magic is cool and popular.
And in my real-world performances people are approaching me before I approach them, asking to see some close-up magic.
I think what's most important is that people are starting to understand that magic takes skill. They understand now that I am not some charlatan pretending to have powers. Because I have made the choice to highlight my technical ability instead of a mysterious force, people are more open, accepting and interested. They’re not scared of magic, they dig it. And while they still incessantly make jokes about me taking their watches and wallets, they now have a positive correlation to magic.
Lifestyle Changes That Last, Like Magic
Practicing magic for 20 years has taught me that practice never ends. You're constantly refining ideas, perfecting techniques. The levels of learning make themselves very clear.
I’m starting to see that the positive strides I’ve made in changing certain behaviors have each taken a year or more to develop. And they follow a pattern similar to the one that comes when anyone goes for a lifestyle change.
I find something I want to change, I find a reason why I want that, I learn how I can accomplish it, and then I am disappointed at myself and disapprove of my inability to do so easily. I then forget about the goal, and the efforts leave my conscious thoughts.