The Complete Guide to Hiring a Magician in 2020

Your contemplating hiring a magician for your next event?

It can be difficult to know how to go about it, how does a magician work and how do I know that I am hiring a good one. Let me unpack this question and share with you everything you need to know.

Where to find a magician to hire?

Most people hiring a magician land are in one of these three categories.

1. You have worked with a magician before.

2. You have referral for a magician some you know has worked with.

3. You have never hired a magician (THIS IS MOST PEOPLE)

First thing before looking for a magician is getting clear on exactly what you want. Magicians come in all different shapes, styles and sizes. Each one will have there unique specialty for example, kids birthday parties, weddings, corporate events, trade shows. Probably the greatest difference between some magician is ones that work with Adults Vs Kids Magicians. Some magician cross over and do both but for the most part each magician will have a demographic that they work with on a regular basis. Once you are clear on what you want, now it time to research. Probably the best place is google. Most modern, professional will have some kind of website listed in google search. Google terms like “Magicians for hire” “Magicians near me” or location terms like “Magician Gold Coast”. If you are wanting a specialist magician than even more specific search like “wedding magician” or “kids magician” can be helpful. Each search will bring up a different selection of magicians. Start clicking and opening at least 5 different magician websites per each search.

Check list to look for

1. What is you instant impression in the first 10 seconds of opening the website.

2. Does this website have nice clear image of the magician themselves.

3. Watch show reels. Video is the absolute best way to get a feel for magician without having ever met before.

Narrow it down to your top 5 magicians and either call them direct or fill in an enquiry form. Tell them details about your event such as the type of event, number of guests, location, date of event and other specifics you may have. The magician will respond with some appropriate entertainment options and prices. If you can see that the magician has clearly has experience with lots of event and can when you contact them they are professional than you be assured that your hiring a magician who will do a great job.

Agencies

If you don’t have the time to research and want to take some of the guess work out of hiring a magician than an entertainment agency might be your best bet. Entertainment agency’s work directly with magicians and can organise all the logistics and hire someone that is reputable. Just be aware by not going direct with the magician but rather allowing a middle man to be involved it will cost you more. Reasonable amounts to pay for agency booking fee is anywhere from 10-30% If your happy to pay alittle more than the convenience of an agency can work well.

What does a magician do at my event?

Magicians might try to sell you a hundred different customised options but the truth is ther is really only two styles of magician entertainment that will suit 99% of events. Allow me to cut through the confusion and educate you quickly.

You can hire a magician to do roving magic. Which is basically having a magician work with your guests on a close up and personal level. The magician will work the room entertaining smaller groups at a time 5-10 people. They will bounce around the room making sure your guests are having a good time by sharing with them magic tricks. The magic acts as a nice ice breaker, getting guests laughing, mingling and having a good time. This style of magic is very flexibility with minimal setup. The magician has all his/her tricks in their jacket and can be adapted to both sit down and stand up situations.

The second option is larger scale stage show. This is essentially a magic show that is delivered to everyone at once. Whether it be a small gathering of 30 people or large 1000 person corporate event the magic show will entertain everyone at once. This style of magic involves everyone to be focused and engaged. At example at a large corporate event would be, the guests have finished main course and the MC announces a special performance, the magician proceeds to come out and engage everyone for 20-30 minutes.

Little tips about this option. The key for this option to work at its best to have everyone focused and engaged. I cannot emphasise this enough. Guests cannot be eating, the food will be to much of a distraction. Guests cannot be carrying out conversation and treating the show as background entertainment. Often you will pay good money to have professional show at your event if you can get everyone attentive than you can give them a truly wow factor experience.

To just repeat their is roving magic for small groups at a time and magic show for everyone at once. If you want to treat your guests to something special than a combination of roving magic and a magic show can cover all your entertainment needs for the night and give your guests different levels of magic to experience.

How much to hire a magician?

Everyone you ask who is a magician will say it depends but I really want to do better than that by actually trying to give you some tangible numbers. The reason it depends is because there are number of factors that decide price.

1.The experience of the magician

2.The day and time of the week you want to hire a magician. e.g weekdays vs weekends, daytime vs nigh time

3. The speciality of magician. Is it a kids party, corporate magician or trade show magician that you want.

4.How in demand the magician is.

The range of what you can is variable but to give you idea of the range some kids magician can cost as low as $300 for a complete birthday party package while cosentino, which I would regard as Australia’s most known famous magician could be hired for $25,000 + for a once off show. Please note these numbers are estimates and could change. As you can see the variance in price is tremendous. What is really a more important question is what are you willing to pay? If you just want any old “magician” to fill the gap at your party than you will get what you pay for. Like everything in life expect to pay for quality. Having your corporate guests all mesmerised by incredible magician is priceless, so pay to get the job done right. Roving professionals start from anywhere from $400-$1500 per hour, While magic shows go from $500-$5000 typically. I must disclaimer this is the most controversial part of this blog post and many magicians might argue with the information provided. I hesitate to give you numbers but I want to give you some tangible you could work with rather than being vague and not answering the question.

Tips to maximise the magician entertainment

Before the event one key thing is making sure your expectations match. Meaning have in exactly what you are expecting the magician to provide. This might seem unnecessary but there nothing worse than a magician under delivering.

Check list

Arrival Time
Start time
Finish time
How many guests are you expecting
Does the magician need a green room or space to prepare.
What conditions does the magician best work in. (This is underestimated but important)
Does the magician require and special AV requirements, microphone, sound system, projector, projector screen.
Is the magician a surprise for your guests or expected
What are the names of the important contacts at the event, (etc event planner, bride and groom, birthday individual, venue manager etc)

Ask the magician for advice, After all, if they are professionals they have probably worked in hundreds of different events and performing conditions. They can best direct you with what need to happen to make your event a success. Let me give you a quick example. Often if someone hires a magician for a stage show. A couple of easy adjustments that make things 10 X better. You are paying good money to have a magician you want to maximise the impact. The first tip is don’t have the show while guests are eating or being distracted. Initially it might seem pleasant to eat while having a some nice background entertainment to watch. This is a total waist of money.

1. Magic is visual, magic shows involve crowd participation and engagement. It doesn’t matter how great the magician is no magician can keep the attention of the audience when they are eating. To prevent this have the show at the end of a meal and organise that plates are not cleared or drinks are on hold during the duration of show.

2. Make sure the magician has a great introduction to settle the audience before the show and get them taking what they are about to see seriously. As a magician myself the impact of a good introduction with a focused crowd makes the world of difference. Just try it and your see for yourself.

How do pay a magician

Every magician will have a different terms and conditions of payment. As a rough idea most magicians will invoice you the full amount. 50% will need to be paid up front as a deposit securing the event the remainder before the event date.

Conclusion

Hiring a magician can be confusing and hard to know where to start. Hopefully this guide makes a simple process. All the best, just reach out if you need help I am here to help.

Fill out contact form below for entertainment options and prices

How to find a magician to hire?

If you don’t personally know a magician that you want to work with. Google is your best option. Any modern day professional magician will have a website listed in the google results. If you dont want the fuss of searching than an entertainment agency might be a good option.

How much does a magician cost?

It all depends but for a tangible range. Roving Magic $400-$1500 Stage Show $500-$5000

How long will a magician perform for?

Roving magic 1-2 hours. Stage Show 15minutes- 1 hour