Yes, we still continue to face challenges but I firmly believe that it’s important to occasionally look at where you’ve come from and acknowledge your success — and failure. Do this often enough and with the right spirit and a clear path emerges in the direction you’re heading.

Despite the uncertainty of 2021, I was fortunate to present Virtual Deceptions at 44 online events and make appearances at 20 in-person corporate, private, and fundraising events this past year.

Here’s a taste of some of the most memorable moments…

The Return of In-Person Events

My first in-person event happened in May 2021. A team-building dinner for my new friends at Saltmine.

The event took place at Taplin Cellars, one of the oldest family-owned vineyard in Napa and Sylvia Taplin is the consummate host. The entire experience felt like being home.

The entertainment portion of the evening was a surprise for the team, so the folks at Taplin put me up in their cottage which doubled as a greenroom. After a fantastic meal prepared by The French Laundry, I was introduced and performed al fresco overlooking the vineyard.

What a joy to be back!

The Cottage at Taplin Cellars

The Cottage at Taplin Cellars

Greenroom

Dinner by The French Laundry

Sylvia Taplin thanking our chef for the evening and introducing the performance

Trade Shows

We saw the trade show industry open up this year with shows — large and small — across the country. One of the last events I did before locking down was the RSA Conference in February 2020 and we had no idea when the industry would be back.

Nice to see trade shows coming back and organizers adjusting the circumstance.

Stopping traffic for W Brothers at the Institute of Real Estate Conference Orange County Chapter Conference and Trade Show

Presenting for Bitdefender at Connect IT 2021 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

Presenting for Bitdefender at Connect IT 2021 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

In-Person Conferences

This year brought the opportunity to help a new client entertain conference attendees in Las Vegas and New Orleans.

Each reception included about 50 - 60 VIP conference attendees from across the country. And I designed a couple of customize presentations to get the client’s message across.

VIP Conference Reception at 1923 Prohibition Bar in Las Vegas

VIP Conference Reception at The Chicory in New Orleans

Speaking of Magic

As I mentioned at the top of this blog post, it’s important to look back and acknowledge success and failure. One of the things that kept me sane these past two years was finding a way to take the challenge we’re facing and do something positive with it.

“Every obstacle in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.”

— Epictitus

Making Zoom Magic

The more Zoom meetings I had with clients the more I realized I had something to offer.

MAKING ZOOM MAGIC is a peek-behind-the-curtain to share the process of pivoting from performing at in-person events to crafting a highly-interactive and successful virtual magic performance for corporate events. I presented the talk to a handful of groups — virtually, of course! — and walked attendees through the nuts and bolts to making their next Zoom meetings amazing.

If you’d like to discuss bringing MAKING ZOOM MAGIC or another customize presentation to your group please drop me a note here.

The Speaker Spring Board Podcast

Alfred Poor invited me to be part of The Speaker Springboard Podcast. We talked about the business of doing magic, and what managers and leaders can learn from it.

Yeah, we jammed a lot into 10-minutes but Alfred it really good at what he does and apparently I have a lot to say on the subject.

And that’s no lie.

Listen to the episode here!

Virtual Conferences and Meetings

As challenging as it has been, there have also been some exciting opportunities to emcee and entertain at sales and kick-off meetings and opening receptions at virtual conferences for clients like Guidewire, SingleStore, Clarizen, DocuSign, SNUG World, Side reUnite, the Society for Technical Communication, and more!

The Battery

Thrilled to be back at my residency at The Battery this year. It was great to see the membership and staff again!

I’ve been the Resident Magician at The Battery since 2015, entertaining casually in The Musto Bar.

In November, I presented Psychic Illusions for approximately 80 club members. The performance ran 90 minutes in length and featured an act rarely seen today. What a treat to be back at the club!

The Oracle Act

The Parlor at The Battery

Thank you

We made it! We’re one year wiser, one year stronger.

Thank you for your loyalty and support.

May you find much WONDER & JOY in 2022. I’ll see you there!

Dennis

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 just wrapped up the 2018 RSA Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. RSA brings in nearly 50,000 attendees and 500+ exhibitors, so competition for mindshare is fierce on the show floor.

We helped Checkpoint Software stop traffic at VM World, AWS re:Invent, Blackhat, Microsoft Ignite, and twice now at RSA -- that's a total of 6 times in the past 2 years. We've triple their leads and have made their investors very happy.

Are you serious about making a change in the way you market at trade shows? Looking for a proven method that will...

• BUILD CROWDS
• GET YOUR MESSAGE HEARD
• DELIVER RESULTS 

Visit Interactive Trade Show Marketing to learn more. And contact us today to schedule a free consultation and let's MAXIMIZE YOUR VISIBILITY.

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.

We performed at dozens of events in 2016. Here are just a handful of highlights from some of our favorites.

Enjoy!

Toyota President's Award Dinner

Toyota Motor Sales rewarded their top dealers from the Boston Area to a weekend at Calistoga Ranch. We entertained these VIPs and their spouses on the closing evening of the festivities with our after-dinner mind reading show. 

#bringingyoutoboston

This way to the reception. please.

Stage is set for 30 minute mind reading show.

A short testimonial from the Toyota President's Award Dinner. #bringingyoutoboston

Team Building at Facebook

Facebook brought us in for a Team Building event for Halloween.

The recruiting team were working overtime and were in "lockdown mode" for months. We were brought in for a 30 minute mind reading show that brought down the house. What a great group.

“Hands down the absolute highlight of the event! His performance was beyond incredible...off the charts, exceeded anything we expected and pushed the boundaries of what everyone thought was possible.”

— Vivian T., Meeting Planner, Facebook

Post performance photo with some very happy Facebook-ers.

"The Year of The Trade Show"

2016 put a number of big IT Security shows under our belt. In fact, we were in Las Vegas twice in August for two different shows! 

We helped to build huge crowds with custom=scripted presentations and amazing magic over the course of multiple days on the trade show floor.

And 2017 is looking even better.

VM World, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas

AWS re:Invent, Sands Convention Center, Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas

RSA Conference, Moscone Center, San Francisco

San Francisco Lithuanian Community Awards Gala

Performed at and hosted the SF Lithuanian Community Awards Gala.

We were honored to introduce and share the stage with Lithuanian dignitaries and ambassadors who were invited to celebrate with the local community.

Hosting and performing for the SF Lithuanian Community Awards Gala

Ken Fulk's Magical World Book Release Party

In October, we were invited to entertain at the book release event for Ken Fulk's Magical World.

Ken is San Francisco's interior designer du jour, having created some of the most elegant, sophisticated, and fun spaces and homes in San Francisco and across the country, including The Battery, where I entertain on Thursday evenings.

This event took place in the lobby and penthouse of The Harrison. A new, luxury apartment building, with interiors design by Mr. Fulk.

Ken Fulk's Magical World

Lobby of The Harrison, in San Francisco. Awaiting to entertain guests.

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.