When searching for entertainment options for your event you’ll naturally visit a few websites. After clicking through a few magicians you’ll start to notice something unique – many magicians and mentalists call themselves corporate entertainers – but what does that mean?

Let’s go back a bit and understand the world of magic.  Unlike most artists like musicians or comedians, magic, on its most basic level allows anyone to become a magician by just buying a trick.  Yes – you can walk into a magic shop and say I want that, learn the secret and within a few hours trick your friends.  But the word trick rarely equals entertain, so most amateur magicians are fabulous at tricking but barely scratch the surface at entertaining, while a professional, hopefully, knows that the entertaining part of magic is actually more important than the trick!

Now that we know that anyone can call themselves a magician – how do you know you’re getting someone who can entertain?  This is a tricky question (pun implied!) because a non-full-time magician (semi-pro or amateur) may be phenomenal and a full time professional may be horribly boring. So, how can you protect yourself from a bad act… check out their promo-video.  Are they showing you tricks or reactions? Are they performing for a real audience or random people on the street?  If their video shows them performing for a real audience at an event similar to the one you’re hosting AND they’re showing the reactions rather than the tricks you know you’ve found someone who can entertain!  Trust the video!

OK… but what is a corporate mentalist or corporate magician?

Just like other industries magic has specialties.  There are trade-show magicians, children’s party magicians, bar magicians, even church magicians!  When hosting your event you want someone who has entertained your market.  For example, if you’re hosting a kids party for your 6 year-old, you don’t want a bizarre séance master, you want a fun, energetic kids magician.  Magic is not one-size-fits-all, so getting your specialist will help make sure you’re getting the right entertainer for your event.  That’s where corporate mentalists and magicians come in. 

A real corporate mentalist or magician is someone who has experience entertaining an audience at a corporate event.  Why is that important… because in almost every case, no one in that audience has come to see the entertainment.  With that in mind, the entertainer knows they have to work hard to win the audience, perform an energetic and engaging performance and keep it professional.  This is not easy and if you don’t have the experience can be a sure failure.  And here’s the problem – most entertainers will say they do corporate events without having actually done them. 

So, how do you know if you have someone with the chops to entertain your hard-to-please group?  Check out their testimonials… do they have actual names and companies or just random quotes with a company name.  Every testimonial should be verifiable via a basic linked-in search.  You can also check out the companies they’ve previously worked for but be a bit weary of the claims.  One more option is to see who is on their schedule – if it’s available. 

Bad entertainment can ruin an event.  It will be all anyone talks about and that’s not a good thing.  But with a little due diligence you can book an established corporate entertainer and give your guests and attendees an unforgettable experience.  Or you can just book me!

Good luck!

About the author:

Michael Gutenplan is a corporate mentalist, corporate magician, and corporate entertainer.  Based in Los Angeles, he performs nationally and is considered the top-rated mentalist in the US.  His show, The Members Only Show is the top-rated show for private clubs.  He is the winner of the Boardroom Magazine Award of Excellence for Best Club Entertainment.  Michael is a professional magician and mentalist who will make your event unforgettable.