Tricks of the Trade

Consider an idea that could bring more activity to your trade show booth thus increasing your business.

What is a trade show magician? Briefly, the idea is that you hire an entertainer to work all day on your booth. This entertainer is a magician who performs sleight of hand with cards, coins etc.

The idea is that he attracts crowds to YOUR booth and puts the audience in a good mood and in a receptive frame of mind to do business with you. The shows are generally about 5 to 10 minutes in duration and the magician will mention the product and company name several times during his demonstration. In other words, a living commercial. After the show your sales staff take over and deal with any inquiries that result from the performance.

In a nutshell, we believe the above paragraph describes the concept.

This idea will make your booth stand out from the other exhibitors. Put yourself in the attendee’s shoes for a moment. Which booth would YOU be attracted to first? One where nothing very much was happening OR one where an exciting entertainer was gathering a crowd, making people laugh and astonishing potential buyers with incredible sleight of hand while advertising the company product during the demonstration?

Again, which booth would YOU go to?

If you exhibit at other trade shows you may already have seen the plan in operation. If so, you will appreciate the excitement and fun generated if the performer knows his business.

The sales manager of a large, highly successful company confided to us “Our competitors spend more and more money on their trade show booths. Most of them give away expensive premiums. We simply hire a good close-up magician and we invariably steal the show. We’ve found a good performer who knows how to tie his magic in with our line, and he does a fine selling job for us while he’s drawing the crowds and entertaining them. We invariably win, with a much smaller expenditure than any of our competition."

October 21, 2005 Dear Mark, Just a short note to thank you again for your hard work and professionalism during our recent trade show. Your mastery of magic is one thing, but what I was most impressed with was your tireless effort during the trade show. You provided our prospects with seemingly non-stop entertainment throughout the duration of the trade show. Most impressive. I would also commend you on the way you were able to weave our sales message into your performance. We will definitely be working with you in the future and I would recommend you without reservation for those exhibitors that want to provide entertainment which is both 'out of the ordinary' and entirely professional. Sincerely, Jeffrey Stinchcombe Vice-President, Corporate Development Healthsource Plus

Yes, magic is a great selling tool, and one of its big values is as an icebreaker. Mark Lewis is a very experienced professional entertainer having been a performer for over 35 years. He has worked in the U.K., Holland, Ireland, the U.S. and Canada.

He is considered to be one of the best sleight-of-hand experts in the world.

Here is a quote from Illustrated Magic, a trade publication for magicians.

"The king of manipulators, in my opinion, will always be Mark Lewis. There is something strangely likeable and totally professional about this master showman. He is the Yehudi Menuhin of card manipulators, the Pavarotti of magicians, the virtuoso in whose hands the playing cards become not pasteboard but living creatures obedient to his commands. Red cards become black in the twinkling of an eye. Packs with blue backs are suddenly packs with red backs. They grow to giant cards and shrink to midget cards. If you think of a card he has found it before you have quite made up your mind. Whenever I see Lewis with a pack in his hand I expect the cards to burst into song. And he is equally at home doing magic with other things besides cards. His version of the sponge ball illusion is the best I have ever seen. I have also seen a group of other magicians devastated by seeing him push a glass tumbler through a solid table. These men were the best in the business and even then they had no idea how the trick was accomplished. Truly, Lewis is the acme of proficiency. At any gathering he dominates as a terrific entertainer."

Click here to see Mark do a card trick.

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