Recently, I was approached by a division of Thomson Reuters that was launching their new brand at a financial services conference in San Francisco.

The newly named division, Refinitiv, sponsored the evening’s networking reception and they asked me to help with two things:

First, it was long, two day conference and they wanted to provide the cocktails, entertainment, and fun for the evening.

And second, they wanted to ensure attendees were aware of the transformation, why they changed, and what their new capabilities were.

After gathering information via phone conversations, emails, and their marketing materials for the event, I set upon connecting the dots.

Combining the powerful visual metaphor inherent in magic with some of the big ideas Refinitiv wanted to get across — transformation, re-branding/re-birth — is the most creative part of this process and I love it!

And here is the result that evening…

See those faces? That’s genuine wonder, excitement, and surprise attendees are experiencing and in that moment they are incredibly receptive to Refinitiv’s message.

Are you planning to sponsor a cocktail reception, hospitality suite, or kick-off meeting? Launching a new product or making an announcement? Perhaps you want to create an experience that will effortlessly open the minds and hearts of your audience to your specific message or brand?

Well then, let’s talk.

PS - And if you’re curious to see a “down-and-dirty” rehearsal of the piece I came up with for Refinitiv, let me know.

We’re just back from Orlando, where we stopped traffic at the Lenovo booth at MS Ignite.

We presented over 40 shows over the course of four days, performing content-laden visual magic and introduced speakers from Lenovo and their partners. And we filled the booth with attendees for every single show.

Lenovo’s goal was to book 42 meetings with their executives. During the presentations we notified attends this was available and when all was said and done, they booked over 90 meetings. Needless to say they are very happy with the results.

Thanks again to our friends at Magnet Productions.

Building awareness and shining a light on Check Point Software at VM World 2018 in Las Vegas last week. Many thanks to Magnet Productions.

We're back with Check Point for Microsoft Ignite, from September 25th - 28th. The conference and trade show attracted 30,000 attendees over the course of four days at the Orlando Convention Center, in Orlando, FL. 

This was our fourth time working with Check Point to stop traffic and build crowds at their booth. Our presentation included visual and amazing magic and mind reading, as well as custom-scripting that included information on Check Point's vSEC Cloud Security solution for Microsoft Azure and Azure Stack environments.

Maximizing visibility at Mircosoft Ignite 2017

Once the crowd reached maximum capacity, we turned them over to the selected expert for a brief in-booth presentation on specific ways Check Point seamlessly integrates with Microsoft. Then we came back to wrap up the session with more entertainment, messaging, and a raffle.

Introducing Don Meyer, (center) Head of Marketing, Cloud Security for Check Point, one of the experts offering in-booth sessions..

And finally, here's a brief, candid moment between presentations on the show floor. Photo credit https://www.lindahamlincreative.com/

Thanks, Linda!

Photo by https://www.lindahamlincreative.com/

Building crowds at Blackhat 2017

This year at Blackhat, we helped Checkpoint Software fill their booth with prospects and introduced speakers who presented on specific topics. And of course, we developed custom-scripted presentations that entertained attendees and got their message across.

Are you in charge of your company's trade show exhibit? Contact us to discuss building crowds and maximizing your visibility!

Currently at Cisco Live, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

This is my second time working for A10 Networks. At this show, I'm performing magic to draw in a crowd and once it hits maximum capacity, introduce a speaker who gives a talk on how A10 can help attendees deal with their pain points.

Planning your company's next trade show exhibit? Let's maximize your visibility.

2017 started off big with the RSA Conference at the Moscone Center. Our second time at the conference and our second time working for Check Point Software.

This time, Check Point had one of the largest exhibit booths on the floor, measuring 30 x 30. 

We performed twice an hour pulling in large crowds with magic and introduced presenters from Check Point who spoke to attendees on a variety of topics.

Birds-eye view of Dennis Kyriakos pulling large crowds into Check Point's exhibit booth. 

We helped Check Point Software triple leads and badge swipes at the booth. By the end of the final day, Check Point logged close to 3000 leads.

Tradeshow Magician Dennis Kyriakos

We're back in Las Vegas (our second time this month!) stopping traffic and building huge crowds for Bitdefender at VMWorld 2016 at Mandalay Bay.

Bitdefender originally hired us in April for RSA at the Moscone Center, in San Francisco. They liked the results so much they invited us back to VMWorld in Las Vegas.

This time they opted for a theatrical-style setting, performing one show every hour. And the crowds were HUGE!

Will you be exhibiting at a trade show this year? Want to build huge crowds and get your message across? Learn more about our Interactive Tradeshow Marketing Program.

Recently, I helped Bitdefender drive traffic to their trade show exhibit at the 25th Anniversary of the RSA Conference, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, from February 29 - March 3rd.

This was the first time that Bitdefender, headquartered in Romania, exhibited at RSA and they knew it was a huge show and an opportunity to connect with new customers and make a name for themselves. In fact, it’s one of the largetst IT security shows in the world and they had to knock it out of the park.

Three Weeks
About 3 weeks prior to the show it was confirmed that we were on. At that point, trade show clients receive a questionnaire to help me define their goals. They returned the questionnaire about a week later and it was time to get to work.

My first task is to use their answers to learn about what they do and cull useful information. Key phrases, bullet points that may address challenges they can solve, even single key words are helpful to push me in a direction.

In this case, words and phrases like “predict behavior,” “plan & configure” and “mitigate risk” kept popping off the page. Bitdefender also has a great catch phrase: “Unfollow The Traditional.” Yeah, I can do something with that.

Next, with that information in mind I looked at my active repertoire and began to make connections that were relevant.

This is the most creative part of the process and by keeping an open mind I often come away with something unexpected, fun, and useful for each client.

Two Weeks
Two weeks is about typical lead time for this kind of work. And while keeping an open mind is important for creativity, it’s also important to be pragmatic. Experience has shown that if something isn’t working, put it on the back burner and don’t waste time on it. The key is to keep things simple and serve my client’s needs.

At large trade shows like RSA, attendees are often pressed for time. They are running from keynote speeches, to meetings with specific vendors, to breakout sessions. Some people may only be there for the day and want to see as much as they can without wasting time. But my job is to give them a reason to stop and listen to what my client has to say.

Showtime
I arrived at Bitdefender's booth early on day one to load-in my table, step, and sound system, meet with the team, and prep for the opening networking event.

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Bitdefender exhibit booth at RSA 2016, San Francisco

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Trade Show table and step

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Portable Sound System including wireless microphone and receiver

And then it was showtime!

Over the next four days I stopped attendees in their tracks, entertained and educated them on Bitdefender’s GravityZone product, and drove qualified leads on to their sales team.

They also gave away a total of 4 GoPro cameras for those who listened to their full-length presentation and I helped gather crowds for that as well.

As you can see, the team at Bitdefender was extremely happy with the results.

Are you planning to promote your business or product at a trade show? Let’s talk about maximizing your visibility today!