How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

Children’s Magicians CRB Check – Is it needed?

by 15 Comments

Magicians CRB CheckTed writes:

‘Could you tell me if children’s entertainers need a CRB criminal record check in the UK? If so, which one and how to go about it. Also, where can I get public liability cover cheaply?’

The CRB has now changed to be called a DBS check (Disclosure and Barring).

Although a magicians CRB check or DBS check is not required by law for self employed performers, local authorities and some schools do insist that magicians show them the relevant certification before they are allowed to entertain children.

This can pose a problem. The law says that it’s not required and it could be an offense to apply for one, whilst many clients insist that magicians have the checks..

From the .gov guidance:
Eligibility is based upon the nature of the duties for the specific position. To be eligible for a DBS check a position must be:

• Listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 – this entitles the position to a Standard level check; and if
• Prescribed in The Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) Regulations entitles the position to an Enhanced level check.

Eligibility can also exist if the role involves regularly caring for, training, supervising or being solely in charge of persons under 18 and or vulnerable adults (within the meaning of section 59 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006).

From the information you have given the role of a children’s entertainer is not listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 and is not Prescribed in The Police Act 1997. The role of a children’s entertainer does not appear to involve regularly caring for, training, supervising or being solely in charge of persons under 18 and or vulnerable adults. Therefore, eligibility does not appear to exist.

Furthermore, as you are self-employed current legislation does not allow the self-employed or individuals to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on themselves. This is because they cannot ask an exempted question of themselves. Only recruiting organizations can ask the exempted question so they can assess an applicant’s suitability for a role as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.

For your information as the parents are present, then they are responsible for the children not yourself removing eligibility where it states does the role involve regularly caring for, training, supervising or being solely in charge of persons under 18 and or vulnerable adults.

Please note the submission of DBS checks for ineligible positions would be considered unlawful under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Under Part V of the Police Act 1997 an application for a DBS check must be accompanied by a statement by the registered person that the certificate is required for the purpose of asking an exempted question.
If an individual knowingly asks for a DBS check for a post which is not included in the Exceptions Order 1975 to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA), they would be in breach of Part V, section 123 of the Police Act, in that they are committing an offense by knowingly making a false statement for the purpose of obtaining or enabling another person to obtain a certificate under this part.
For more information on eligibility guidance, please follow the attached link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-check-eligible-positions-guidance

With reference to liability cover, I personally recommend you check out joining Equity. Equity deal solely with performers so they are very knowledgeable with reference to all aspects of performing arts and the legalities. Also, they are recognized worldwide, and once you join they are only a phone call away, should you want any advice. The cost of Equity membership is tiered to your income as a performer, so it’s a great way to get public liability insurance cheaply and all the other benefits and cover that the union has to offer.

Basic Magicians Skills – Hello and Goodbye to the Clients that Hire You

by 1 Comment

 

Magicians are not Ninjas - Say Goodbye to the cleint that hired you.
 
 
You may not believe this, but there are a few small, easy and painless magicians skills that many magicians simply aren't doing when they attend gigs:

Saying hello and goodbye to the client.

I'm sure you are just as surprised to hear that as me. It seems complete common sense, but many magicians forget all about this simple courtesy, way too often.

The event is in full swing, and it's professional to arrive acting like you know the drill and can get stuck in without any fuss. Trust me, if you ignore this small politeness, you are doing yourself a disservice in the long run. Here's why:

Hello

Your agent is NOT your client.

It doesn't matter that a faceless entertainment agency hired you as one of a dozen magicians performing that evening. Your real employer is the client who booked the magicians.
The agent just helped them choose which magicians to use.

Before you start, always take the time to meet the 'booker' and thank him or her for booking you.

Don't assume the client already knows you have arrived.

Have you ever hosted a party? It's pretty stressful. Chances are you will be arriving just before the client is expecting their first guests to be turning up. They have a hundred things to attend too. Don't think that this means you aren't one of the 'things' that also needs to be 'arranged'.

Clients worry about entertaining their guests. They are thinking about your arrival well before you even started your journey to the event.

They may seem unconcerned about your arrival, but that's only because, by the time you arrive, they are punch drunk on organizing things, and have switched to 'host' mode.

Make sure you meet the client as soon as you arrive so they can 'tick off' that loose end. The cliant can then move on to the next thing that needs to be checked.

Even if the client isn't attending, they may have left instructions.

You might be performing at a massive corporate event, and think that there is no individual client to meet. This is almost never the case. Someone will have been given the job of organising the entertainment. In fact, in these situations it is even more crucial to greet the client. This will be the event planner. They tend to feel even more compulsion to organise you as they are held responsible by their management. Find out, at the time of booking, who is your contact at the event, and make sure you talk with them before you start. They may have been given important instructions to pass on to you. If you fail to do this, you can be sure the blame will be passed on to YOU by the planner, if the client asks them why something that should of happened didn't.

The client may have VIP guests that need special attention.

You know the saying 'who's the most important person in your company?' The answer is usually not the 'boss'. It's the 'customer'. Well, at a gig the most important person usually IS the boss, rather than the person that booked you. Unless you know where the boss or his/her VIP guests are going to be seated, you may  disappoint the client. They DO need to brief you, and if they don't, you should ask to be briefed. It's vital that you work towards supporting the 'goal' of the event. Without knowing what that it, you are providing an inferior service.

Goodbye:

You don't want the client to think you left early.

Some people think the worst of people as default. Often they can be right to do so. You and I know that you are a professional, but the client may have had a miserable experience in the past with an entertainer, or simply not be that trusting a person. Saying goodbye, shows you stayed as long as you were booked to do so, and by implication you went down well and enjoyed working at the event.

If the client did not see you leave, he or she  can only go by the feedback from the people around them, that saw you. What if that person tells the client you were awesome but that they only saw you at their table, at the start of the dinner, what conclusions could the client make? Ensure that the client has no doubt that you completed your contractual obligation to them.

Even if, they are busy, they are expecting you.

Do assume that, just because, the client is dancing in the middle of the dance floor; they are not expecting a goodbye. It's essential that you wait until you can say goodbye. Looking back, the client may forget how swept up in the evening they were, but they will not forget that they didn't see you leave.

The client may be planning a thank you shout out.

Imagine you are getting in your car and driving out of the venue car park. The building is getting smaller and smaller in your rear view mirror.

Meanwhile, in the room the client walks up to a mic and asks for a massive thank you to the magician. The room falls silent as everyone looks around, wondering where you are. Someone laughs at the back of the room, and the client shrugs, makes a joke about you and moves on with the speech, awkwardly.  Don't let this EVER happen.. I was once a guest at an event, when this happened. In fact, I was the person at the back of the room that was a little drunk, and laughed out loud as everyone searched for the magician. The host (an old friend) ended up asking the guests to applaud me as the only magician left in the room.

You get to ask for a testimonial

Saying goodbye isn't just about the client. Getting feedback as you leave is gratifying (Although you should not put too much weight on compliments at a gig). The real benefit to you is a chance to ask for feedback in the form of a testimonial. Also, to ask them to call your agent later in the week and let them know how talented you are.

"Thanks, I had a great time, and I'm glad your guests enjoyed the magic. Listen, it would really help me if you could let my agent know what you thought of me."


Trust me, the result of this short thank you, will do your career as a magician more good than any splurge in a magic shop!

You may be asked for business cards.

There is a darned good chance that the client is extremely proud of you, and has been talking to guests though the evening and soaking up the compliments. In fact, the guests have been spending the evening chatting to the host and complimenting them about how phenomenal the evening is. It's almost a certainty that some have asked where you were found. Some will have also asked for your contact details. Not only to book you, but also to simply flatter the host. The result: The client may very well ask you for some cards to give to their friends. Only a fool would miss out on this opportunity!
 

So in closing, I hope you see that it makes no sense at all to slink off at the end of the evening, without saying goodbye. Equally, it a colossal mistake to arrive, set up and get stuck in to the crowd, without finding the client first. Resist the temptation to do this, and you will find you get more referrals, you will be in demand with more agents, and you will never have left, not knowing that another magician was secretly laughing at the back of the room, and got all your applause!

 

What is the Best Type of Advertising for Magicians?

by Leave a Comment

By Dominic Reyes

Advertising for magiciansWhere do you spend most of your time and budget advertising for work as a magician?

Ask any professional magician where they tend to get work and the usual answer is ‘previous clients and recommendations’.

It’s true, that good quality established magicians can build up a large enough client base. These repeat clients ensure that their diaries are full of enough work to support them.But what about if you are just starting out? As a new magician you face a difficult ‘chicken and egg’ problem. You need to find enough work to allow you to replace your existing income and focus on magic full time, but until you have built a large client base, you won’t have enough repeat customers coming back to fill your diary.

The answer to this problem is marketing. Getting out and finding new clients to book you. I recently asked a group of magicians, where they received most of their new clients:

Most magicians reported that their website as the biggest lead generation tool they use.

Here are some of the most popular ways you can advertise and my opinion on them:

1) Advertising in magazines
Generally, this is a waste of time. There’s no shortage of traditional print media companies falling over themselves to sell magicians adverting in their magazines. Especially wedding exhibition magazines. The return on investment is very low and your adverting budget is better spent elsewhere. Some magicians do get regular leads from print adverts, but many magicians that take out ads, fail to renew once the first contract has run its course. It can be very tempting when a space if ‘offered’ to you. Many times the space was filled previously by another magician, so it seems like a great chance to jump in. Ask yourself why the previous magician stopped their advert? It’s worth contacting that magician to see what they thought of the experience.

2) Magic entertainment agencies.
These should be a core focus of your marketing energy. Building relationships with agents is one of the best moves you can make to bring in good quality regular work. Read this information on how to  find a good agent.

3) Directly contacting companies.
Another smart move, but very time consuming. I would recommend spending an hour each day making phone calls and sending info packs to venues and companies in your area. You can can get more info in how to contact companies to book you as a magician here  

4) Paid Adverts for magicians on search engines – PPC
Many magicians advertise on Google using Adwords. These are the adverts on the right hand side of each search results page and sometimes at the top of the page. This can be quite expensive, but will bring in new leads for you to convert.

Here are two important points to remember:
1) You need to have a good website page for the advert to send visitors. You will be paying for each visitor, so unless your website is professional and designed to capture their contact details, you will waste a lot of money.

2) Avoid the most popular search terms. There is little point bidding on keywords such as ‘magic’, ‘magic show’ and ‘magician’. General ‘short tail’ keywords are far too competitive, which means you will burn a lot of cash for each visitor the keyword sends you. A great deal of the paid traffic will not be in the market for a magician. The best keyword terms are very specific to the visitors who are most likely to hire a magician. A good example of ideal keywords would be: “magicians in Sussex”, “magicians in London”, and “hire a magician in Bradford”. The secret is to be specific, so you only get paid visitors that are actually searching for a magician to hire.

5) Wedding Exhibitions
Wedding exhibitions can be a perfect place to market your services. It’s hard to beat a room full of people arranging huge events, and that are specifically there looking for suppliers. Read our guide on how magicians can get the most out of wedding exhibitions.   

6) Restaurants and bars.
Many working magicians take on regular weekly or monthly gigs with local restaurants and bars. Although these are very low paid, they can fill blank dates in a magician’s diary and can lead to more profitable gigs as the magician gains his or her reputation. Read some advice about getting work in restaurants and bars here.

7) Promotional Website.
This is one of the most important marketing devices a magician can use. It’s vital that you set up a professional website which showcases your services, shows testimonials, and allows clients to contact you. This is especially important when using PPC advertising as your website will be the landing page for the paid advert. I highly recommend that you commission a professional design company to produce your website.

Even if you don’t want to go to the expense of a designed website just yet, there is no excuse for not creating a single page, website or blog to act as your landing page for clients looking to book you. You can create a blog to act as your magic website for free and with no skills in programing required. The blog you are reading right now is set up on the free service: Google Blogger.

DO THIS: Create a website to showcase your services. You can do that right now, by visiting a free online website maker or use a blog platform. If you prefer to have a website made professionally, contact a few designers and chat with them about your ideas. Commit to spending a few hours this week to contacting some venues and clients to offer your services.