Posts tagged trade show

2021: In Technicolor

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!

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

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!

Thank you

Conjuring Wonder, Year In ReviewDennis KyriakosJanuary 1, 2022virtual magic show, inspiration, corporate events, san francisco magician, eventprofs, event planners, year in review, trade show, tradeshowmagician, napa magician, conference entertainment, keynote, speaker

MS Ignite 2018

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.

MS Ignite Dennis Kyriakos Trade Show Magician.jpg

Thanks again to our friends at Magnet Productions.

Maximize Visibility, Trade ShowDennis KyriakosOctober 4, 2018tradeshowmagician, trade show

RSA 2018

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.

Trade Show, Traffic Stopper, Corporate EventsDennis KyriakosMay 1, 2018trade show, tradeshowmagician

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!

Trade Show, Traffic Stopper, Maximize VisibilityDennis KyriakosAugust 8, 2017trade show, tradeshowmagician, interactive trade show marketing

Bitdefender at VMWorld 2016 in Las Vegas

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.

corporate events, Trade Show, Traffic Stopper, Maximize VisibilityDennis KyriakosSeptember 4, 2016interactive trade show marketing, trade show, tradeshowmagician, corporate magician

Bitdefender at RSA 2016

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.

Bitdefender exhibit booth at RSA 2016, San Francisco

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.