Hey Guys,

I'm still new to magic and mentalism, but I've been working on my craft for over a year, and I think I'm ready to start performing. I'm working on putting up my first stage show next month, and I'm thinking about approaching restaurants for walk-around work. My day job, however, is catering. That means I've been seeing a lot of weddings, birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, and corporate parties. A lot of these have entertainers come in, some of them magicians. I've been making an effort to get the business cards of the event planners for a lot of these events in hopes of approaching them later as a magician/mentalist. My question (finally) is, how do you guys approach event planners, or entertainment managers? Do you have a video reel of your performances that you e-mail them? I feel cold calling would be ineffective, and I can't really pitch them when I see them at an event (if I run into them). A reel seemed like an obvious choice, but I'd love to get some feedback from you professionals. A link to your own would be even better. Thank you so much for your help! And Happy New Year!

You definitely need video of performance yes.

But the video comes after the work in reaching out to meet them - and trying to meet them at their office or for coffee to find out their needs #1 and then showing them a taste of what you do.

Yea but it is VERY uncomfortable if you meet them and they ask for a video and you have none.

Meet them but have the video ready first.

Yeah, this can be kind of a which comes first the chicken or the egg. Here's my take on the whole thing since you asked...

First and foremost, you must be ready before you even begin to start approaching these event planners or banquet directors. By this I mean, you must have a well-created, well-rehearsed show or performance down and ready to go.

Second, you must unnderstand perception. Perception is reality to others. You might know your true reality, but their (event planners, directors, prospective customers and audiences) is often completely different. You have control over their perception and reality if understood, identified and utilized. One of the perceptions would be to distance yourself from the caterer image or perspective they may have. As of now, this is what they know you as and you have to work to overcome this and separate yourself from that. If they see you as a caterer first, you will only ever be considered as "that caterer that tries to do magic." This is why often as entertainers, media personalities, etc. we have to leave our home area (where we already are known and identified by a certain perspective) to a new area or perhaps performance market where you do not have already established identify to overcome.

Perception also pertains to how you are representing yourself. This is where your promotional materials come into play. Have professional photos. In this and and age of cell phone camera and "selfies" noting screams amateur or unprofessional more than self-taken or home-made photos. The exception would likely be live performance photos (real, not staged)that someone takes of you. Have a great One-Sheet, a Bio and a Video Demo, These are your perception and identity-makers (along with a website).

So the the question comes, how do I get a demo if I've never had any performing bookings? The answer is quite simple - do no approach these event planers and directors until you do. So focus your initial efforts on getting several (one is not enough, you have to have time to be bad first, critique your own performance footage, make adjustments and corrections and record again until it is demo-ready) performances of which you can record video footage. Perhaps offer your services to a charity, create an event or participate in a showcase or expo where you can showcase your performance. Record each performance. Do this for several more events AFTER YOU FEEL YOU PERFORMANCE IS DEMO-READY and record that/those performances to gain your actual demo footage. Storyboard your demo (shameless plug: I have a new entertainers resource being released in a few weeks that offers two completely different video demo storyboards among some other fantastic business tools for the performer) to create the perception, flow and content exactly as you desire. Maintain control over your image, others perceptions and your materials.

Of course you will be asked or even perhaps expected to have a business card if meeting in person and likely a webpage or website too to project the proper perception which you should also consider.

I will give you a word of warning I tell all new performers I work with. Be sure you are ready first - ready with your performance and ready with your proper and expected materials. You do not get a second chance to make a first impression. If your initial impression or perception is rookie, beginner, not good, not professional (especially for the wedding and banquet markets) you will always be branded as this. Even if you improve greatly over the next few years, others will always have that perception and you will always be battling to overcome and change that perception. So many entertainers attempt to start before they are truly ready and pay the price long afterwards. Now understand I do not express this to discourage you, but to offer a dose of true reality and to prevent you from having to deal with a more difficult and uphill path.

Now...once you do have a market-ready show, market-ready promo materials and are truly ready to hit the market(s), I would create your elevator pitch so you know exactly how you wish to identify and position yourself and to prevent you from stuttering and fumbling or being nervous when presenting or selling your services. Truth be told, most agents and event planners rarely work with anyone with little or no experience. So do not get discouraged if you get some "not interested" responses. So always continue to generate your own (paid or otherwise) bookings. You can approach these planners by phone or in person or through direct marketing resources. Understand it is a process and often no two prospects or contacts work out and progress the same, at least in the beginning.

Can I ask how old you are and where you are located? I would also have a concern if you are young as to being properly seen and believed as a mentalist as it requires some additional layers of things to consider as perception and believability is even more important.

I wish you luck and let us know if you should have any questions, as there are some here that always are willing to offer some great advice and direction.

A word about making a video. Storyboard it. Know what shots toy ate looking for and capture those in your performance. Don't try to capture just one performance and hope to get what you need. Think of the angles and making it a dynamic video. This will serve you well. In the end it saves a ton of time.

By the way you will probably land an agent round about the time you don't need one.

Thank you guys so much for all the help. Mindpro, I'm particularly grateful for all of your advice and input. I'm definitely not planning to approach any event planners any time soon. But since I am preparing to put up my first stage show, I was debating wether or not to record it with a decent camera. I was gonna record it anyway for learning purposes, but I was debating wether or not to invest in having someone actually shoot it with a nicer camera and microphone. To answer your question, I'm in my 30's, but new to mentalism. I perform sketch and improv comedy in a theater in New York so that is where I'll be making my debut. I'm hoping to do a couple of rounds of this show around the city as I work out the kinks, and find my tone/rhythm. I'm starting with the stage show because that's where I'm the most comfortable. I'm actually more intimidated by the walk-around aspect of performing so I'm thinking of doing some street/bar performing to get over that. Like I said, thank you for all the advice, and please feel free to keep it coming. I gotta go work a New Year's Eve party now so Happy New Year!

You are looking for not toy ate

Good to hear you have some performing experience as it should make the process easier for you rather than starting completely from scratch. I had wondered if you came from the theater or acting profession as the term "reel" is used more there than in live entertainment which more commonly calls it a demo. To me the stage work is what true live entertainment is all about and is most fulfilling as I'm sure you will discover. Strolling also takes a certain type of person and skills but the more encompassing skills of the theater (or improv) will be more present in your stage performance. Looking forward to following your journey. Happy New Year!

I love Mindpro's advice columns... always a plethora of nuggets.

Danny too. Love the line about landing an agent.

And I agree with much of what Mindpro said. I approached an event planner some years back and brought some "new" material that was not well tested - and after a few effects went wrong, lets just say that the planner never used me. The only break came recently when one of the head planners there went to work at the local Fairmont Hotel who have used me for some time.

She called me and hired me for a corporate gig - and said she remembered me from all those years ago but couldn't put a finger on why they never used me at her old shop (duh! because I wasn't ready!).

Happy new year.

BRETT

I agree Brett.

I have been lurking in the Tricky business section for a while now, especially since I am transitioning to becoming a full time professional. This is a whole different challenge and the entertainment business is new to me; I have always been in analytical roles in corporate America. Over the last 15 years, I have been always concentrated on my performances while constantly improving, studying, refining, studying more, and refining some more. I would categorize myself as a semi-professional based on the number of paid gigs I have done over the last three to four years. It took me years of toil to feel comfortable being in front of a paying audience with a quality show. This is due to the perfectionistic part of my personality; I am laid back with other people but am relentlessly critical of myself. Additionally, I have always desired to contribute to the perception that magic and mentalism both are art in its own way. Also, from as each of you have stated, it is the development of a quality product that should come first, followed by the marketing; it should not be the vice-versa. I wanted to be viewed by the few clients I have as an expert in my chosen field, not a person that just picked up a deck of cards yesterday and decided to call himself a magician today. I feel that I have accomplished this with feedback I have gotten from party planners and various laypersons who attended some of my shows in the past. I however am still pushing to improve since I am hungry and not one to stop growing and trying to improve. Also, you can have the best show in the world and starve if you don't have the clientele. That is what I am trying to work on now, putting a business model together and executing this model to gain and retain clients. Like I stated, this is a new dynamic for me since I alway concentrated on the show part; now, I am trying to concentrate on the business part of show business as well.

I am learning a whole different dynamic in terms of the business side of entertainment. The nuggets that each of you (Mindpro, Danny, and I am including you as well Brett) really help shorten one's learning curve. I am thankful for the wisdom and your advice each of you have posted on the Café.

Happy New Year everyone.

I'm right there with you, Mysterious One. I'm just farther behind. I'm hoping to get myself infant of people this year, and then we'll see where it goes from there. Glad to see I have good company on this long and complicated journey.