Planning a corporate event is no small undertaking. The venue, the catering, the logistics, the guest list, and each decision carries reflects on your organisation. Yet for all the care that goes into the fundamentals, entertainment is sometimes treated as an afterthought. It’s sometimes thought of as something to fill the gaps rather than something to shape the entire experience.
If you ask me, that’s a missed opportunity. The right entertainment doesn’t just keep people occupied, it changes the atmosphere of a room, accelerates conversations, and gives your guests something to talk about long after they’ve gone home. And few forms of entertainment do that more effectively than a professional corporate magician.
How your choice of entertainment choice matters more than you think
Most corporate event entertainment falls into one of two camps: passive or static.
A live band or a jazz trio sets a tone, but guests tend to listen from a distance. A casino table, or a photo booth draws small clusters of people, but only those who choose to participate. Neither format actively brings guests together or sparks the kind of genuine interaction that makes an event memorable.
Close up magic is in a different category entirely. When close up magic is performed well, it’s both interactive and reactive in equal measure.
For me, when I perform close up magic, I’m reacting in the moment. Every routine is tailored to whoever is standing in front of me. A well performed close up routine doesn’t show off a few tricks, it pulls people in through conversation, comedy, and a unique shared experience. It’s that moment when two colleagues turn to each other in disbelief, “Did you see where it went?” That’s worth more than any icebreaker game you could put on a conference agenda.
The events where close up magic works best
Corporate events come in many shapes, and close-up magic fits comfortably across a wide range of formats. The most common bookings tend to be gala dinners, awards evenings, conferences, fundraising events, and corporate anniversary celebrations. As you might expect, December brings a significant uptick in enquiries for Christmas parties, so if you have a date in mind for that time of year, it’s worth getting in touch sooner rather than later.
Within those events, there are two formats that work particularly well.
Walkaround magic suits the arrivals period. This is where guests collect a drink, scan the room, and look for someone they recognise. It’s often the most awkward stretch of the evening. It’s the moment before the night has properly started. A close up magician working the room during this period changes everything. Rather than hovering in a corner, guests are immediately drawn into what I’m doing. I’ll help to introduce them to the people beside them, and the event gets off to a genuinely strong start.
Table magic works best across dinner events. Performed table side between courses, it guarantees that every single guest, sees a personal show. And for larger events with 150 + guests, I can help co-ordinate a team of magicians to ensure complete coverage without any guest feeling overlooked.
Magic as a business tool
One of the most underused aspects of hiring a corporate magician is the potential for genuine brand integration. This goes well beyond having your logo on a playing or your company colours reflected in my outfit, though both are entirely possible.
A good corporate magician can tailor routines to reflect the purpose of your event.
Launching a campaign about empowerment? Routines can be designed so that your guests appear to do the magic themselves.
Focusing on teamwork and collaboration? Group routines where everyone plays a role can reflect that message in an unforgettable way.
The aim is for the entertainment to feel like a natural extension of your event, not a separate segment bolted on at the end.
If your event is a conference, then this level of adaptability means that magic can also be a useful too during the day’s activities too. As well as evening entertainment, magic can be structured as a team-building exercise where guests are taught a handful of simple routines and then challenged to perform them for their colleagues. It’s creative, low-pressure, and genuinely different from the workshop formats that have become standard on many conference programmes.
For trade shows and exhibitions, a magician on your stand creates exactly the kind of buzz that draws foot traffic. Sales messages woven into the performance make your brand stick in a way that brochures and banner stands simply cannot replicate.
Stage magic and full event hosting
For events that call for a more formal performance, there is also the option of an after dinner stage show. This can serve as a headline act in its own right. It can be a proper theatrical performance with full staging, or it can be woven into a hosting role, where shorter pieces of magic punctuate the flow of the evening between speeches, awards, or announcements.
Combining the role of host and performer means the magic becomes part of the structure of the event. Transitions feel seamless, the energy of the room stays consistent, and guests remain engaged across the full arc of the evening.
What to look for when hiring a magician
Not all magicians are equal, and the corporate environment places specific demands on a performer. Your guests may include senior clients, board members, or key business partners. These are people whose impression of your event will shape how they think about your organisation. The entertainment has to land.
In short, don’t trust your event to an amateur. Read more about my approach to magic here.
Technical skill is one part of the picture. But equally important is how a performer reads a room, adapts on the fly, handles different personalities, and represents your brand throughout the evening.
Professional credentials matter here too. I’m a Member of the Magic Circle, for example, which is a meaningful indicator that I’m a performer who has been assessed to a high standard by peers in the industry. It’s the kind of assurance that matters when the stakes of the evening are real.
And, of course, I would always recommend looking at a magician’s website for photos, and videos that show them in action – such as the ones on my home page here – and for feedback from previous events, just like the review below.
★★★★★
Ed has a really special gift! He managed to weave incredible magic into our event and made it look easy. I think everyone took something positive from the night, and Ed really helped to get the night off to a great start.
Blake Webb · Close up magic · Corporate Event
A final important thought
The most successful corporate events are the ones where guests leave having had a genuinely good time, not just a professional obligation fulfilled.
They remember the conversations they had, the moments that surprised them, and the feeling that whoever organised the event clearly put thought into every aspect of it.
Close up magic, when it’s done well, generates all three, and that’s what I want to provide for your event.
If you’re in the early stages of planning and wondering what kind of entertainment will make the biggest impression on your guests, get in touch with me, and I’ll be happy to talk through what would work best for your specific event, format, and audience. Every booking starts with a conversation, and there’s no obligation to take it further than that.
Simply, once I have all of the details, I’ll provide an accurate quote and all of the information you need to make an informed decision. I look forward to talking with you.
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